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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 654 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's episode of the podcast I'll be speaking with Cara. She is the mother of a child with type one diabetes who has a unique perspective about anxiety and type one. While you're listening today, please remember 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 healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. Are you a US resident who has type one diabetes, or a US resident who is the caregiver of someone with type one? If you are, it will take you fewer than 10 minutes to fill out a survey at T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox that will help people living with type one diabetes. It also supports the podcast when you finish the survey, head over to t one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box. Join the registry take the survey support people with type one.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. Head over to contour next one.com forward slash juicebox get a look at that little meter that does so much Contour Next One. If you're looking for the diabetes pro tip episodes of the podcast, they begin at episode 210. They're also available at juicebox podcast.com, and diabetes pro tip.com.

Kara 2:01
My name is Kara. We live in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada and my husband have two kids sleep by and Keon and Levi's six and he's our type one diabetic.

Scott Benner 2:17
When you were saying where you lived it cut out a little bit, but I heard British Columbia. Is that enough? Yeah, we're in Penticton

Kara 2:23
Penticton. Yes, We're originally from Vancouver, but we moved to Penticton, which is like five hours away from Vancouver.

Scott Benner 2:33
How do you make a decision like that? You look at the map and you think what name sounds really ridiculous. I'm gonna go there.

Kara 2:40
Yeah, it was actually after Levi was diagnosed, and we just wanted like a simpler small town kind of life. So yeah, and then my parents are also here. So that's kind of

Scott Benner 2:55
you move closer to some people to Okay. Yeah, exactly. Originally.

Kara 3:00
We're originally from Vancouver.

Scott Benner 3:02
Okay, so your parents found this place and you kind of followed them?

Kara 3:06
Yes. Yeah. Gotcha.

Scott Benner 3:09
I want to start with that if you don't mind what? Sure what precipitated the move.

Kara 3:16
Um, I, we were kind of always thinking about moving away from kind of like the city life like both of us had long commutes. And then when Levi was diagnosed, it just really solidified that we needed to be home more and just have kind of an easier slow paced life. And just like our our hostel hospital that leave I was went to was, like, maybe an hour and a half in traffic on a good day. So just knowing that link where he goes now is like five minutes down the road. And

Scott Benner 3:58
yeah, there's traffic in Canada. Yes, there. Sorry. I learned something new every day. I know. I know that people probably think I'm just at this point, leaning into the idea of teasing people from Canada, but I'm not you said there was traffic. I was like, huh, wow.

Kara 4:16
Yeah, yeah. No, it's It's like a full on city,

Scott Benner 4:21
Vancouver. Yes. Also a major exporter of American television.

Kara 4:27
Yeah, it's like Hollywood north. I think they call it

Scott Benner 4:31
Have you ever been an extra on something?

Kara 4:33
No, but it is pretty common. And there usually is like, parts of different streets shut down for movies and commercials and stuff.

Scott Benner 4:44
Okay. I remember one time I interviewed Victor Garber, who has type one diabetes as an actor. I interviewed him in between shooting a television show that he was making at the time and he was in Vancouver. Oh, right. So yeah, but you're not there anymore. None of this really matters. Yeah. Would you describe where you're at now as like in the middle of nowhere or is it just a smaller place?

Kara 5:09
Yeah, it's just a smaller place like there's maybe 30,000 People in our town. And then it's sort of the bigger town in the area. So it's like small town but not too small.

Scott Benner 5:26
30,000 people Yeah, that's not that's not huge. It I mean, I think I live I think I live would it be nice if I knew I was gonna say like, the the population in my towns maybe under 15,000. Okay, even know how many square miles it is? I don't imagine it's much. It's interesting. I like the idea. I often dream of moving somewhere a little farther from people.

Kara 5:49
But yeah, it's been good. Yeah.

Scott Benner 5:52
So how old is Levi now? And how old was he? When he was diagnosed?

Kara 5:56
Levis? Six. He's almost seven. And he was diagnosed at three.

Scott Benner 6:03
Okay. That's a while. He so he's coming up on four years. Yeah, I guess so. Do not think about it.

Kara 6:13
was trying to think the other day how many years it was, but Yeah, almost four years.

Scott Benner 6:20
How old's your other child?

Kara 6:22
He's two. Oh, you

Scott Benner 6:23
just had him recently? Yeah, gotcha. Okay, so you you kind of got through the beginning of the diabetes thing and then just kind of got back to your plan your your family plan.

Kara 6:35
Yeah, we found out I was pregnant, I think like a month after he was diagnosed. I wasn't exactly planned. Like it would have been nice to have a little bit more time but

Scott Benner 6:49
no more freakout time when you didn't have all the hormones running around maybe? Yeah, exactly. That definitely makes sense plus your side job of skinning Wallace's or whatever it is you do up there.

Kara 7:01
making maple maple syrup. Yeah, it

Scott Benner 7:03
takes a lot of effort, I would imagine. So yeah. So it was his diagnosis, like out of nowhere, or do you have other autoimmune stuff in your family?

Kara 7:13
It was kind of out of nowhere. But we do have some auto immune stuff in the family. And some like type one diabetes, but distant, like my great grandfather. But it was never really on our radar. He didn't have anyone close to us that had it.

Scott Benner 7:35
Yeah, I used to be your your answer used to confuse me when people would say like, No, I was it was completely out of the blue. But yes, there's a lot of type one in our family. But I understand that idea now that really no one believes that this is going to happen to them.

Kara 7:50
Yeah. And I think we never really asked if anyone, like I would never think to ask if any of our great grandparents had diabetes. It just wasn't relevant to us.

Scott Benner 8:02
I was there any other autoimmune in your, in your, in your family, your husband, yourself and your two children?

Kara 8:09
Um, my mom has some thyroid stuff. My grandmother had sclera Derma. But that's kind of it.

Scott Benner 8:18
sclera Darmowe? Yeah,

Kara 8:21
I don't know too much about it. I just know it's like an autoimmune

Scott Benner 8:26
type of localized scleroderma, a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to skin blood vessels, muscles, internal organs. Disease can be localized to the scanner involve other organs as well. symptoms may include areas of thicken skin stiffness, feeling tired, poor blood flow to the fingers or toes with cold exposure. Wow, that's interesting, did it? Do you know did it impact her life terribly?

Kara 8:51
Yeah, she had to have like her joint three point replaced slightly in her hand. And then she just always like she had nerve pain. And I don't think there's too, they know too much about it. But she had a lot of like, different symptoms that they attributed to it. So

Scott Benner 9:12
it's interesting. You did you did you know her? Well, or?

Kara 9:15
Yes. Yeah, we were really close. I lived with her for a few years too.

Scott Benner 9:19
Did it shorten her life?

Kara 9:22
Um, I It's hard to say like she also had lung cancer. So that probably didn't help but I think the Scleroderma was in there as well.

Scott Benner 9:34
Okay. Yeah, that's kind of fascinating. I'm looking at it now online. Just teaching myself that's really interesting. Okay, so your son's diagnosed. You living in Vancouver at the time? Can you walk me through what happened?

Kara 9:50
Yeah, so our whole diagnose going to the hospital experience was really awful not because of Levi but because of the hospital in times of care and our whole process going through that. Levi since been diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD because of medical trauma. And then he's recently diagnosed with ADHD as well.

Scott Benner 10:24
What leads you to get diagnosis and that what's going on in his life that makes you say, this isn't? Right.

Kara 10:31
Yeah, so, um, he every like in the hospital when they had to do an injection or a finger poke. He would act like like his arm was being chopped off, like he would scream and fight and kick, and it would take him a really long time to recover. And the staff just told us like, this is normal. He's young, he'll eventually get used to it. But like months and months later, it was still still happening at home like we would have to hold him down. Usually would take two of us he like broke so many needles are scratched himself with the needle.

Scott Benner 11:18
Pulling away and resisting. Yeah,

Kara 11:21
just like every muscle in his body with fight against getting, like even the finger pokes. It took like months before he was like, okay to do that. Yeah, and he had like, really bad night terrors. And even just us walking towards him, he would kind of jump and be like, What are you doing what's in your hand? They're like, any trust he had towards adults, or medical staff was completely gone. Yeah, and it just seemed like this is not normal. This is not getting better. It's, it's getting worse. So

Scott Benner 12:03
how we kind of gone for before you looked into it.

Kara 12:07
Um, I'm a bit in the hospital, we asked like, this seems a little bit more than what we would expect. And then we came home, we kind of kept pushing this and saying, like, it's not getting better. And we are eventually referred to a psychologist. But they were at the hospital where he was diagnosed, and even just pulling into the parking lot. It retriggered everything for him. And the psychologist wasn't able to do their assessment because he was just so elevated and wouldn't even go in the door. And so I think the psychology

Scott Benner 12:49
actually jump in the car and meet you for a maple Longjiang or something and just do it at nothing. What the hell?

Kara 12:56
I know, that's what you would think. But we had we realized that we kind of had to adapt to their schedule and their agenda and Levi, what Levi needed wasn't really considered.

Scott Benner 13:14
Got a good experience overall. Hey, can you talk a little more about the impact on you and your husband, having to like restrain your son and all the other things that went through that, like, how did that build up on you over time?

Kara 13:33
Yeah. I mean, obviously, it was heartbreaking. And I remember just getting like the injections ready, like feeling this dread. And one of the things that they would tell us is that if you're nervous, he'll feel that and so try and just stay relaxed and don't react to him. So we tried to do that. But yeah, it was hard. And I think one of the things is, as his parents, we were his main source of comfort. But were also the main source of re triggering him and causing all this trauma. So he, there is a shift in our relationship for sure. Like the trust that he had is of being his mom and dad, I think waned a bit.

Scott Benner 14:31
Yeah, so first of all, I don't know enough about the psychology of small children to know if treating them like a skittish horse is the right way to approach if you stay calm, he'll be calmer. Yeah. Did that work at all? No, no, no, no, no, you weren't able to. Hey, we're just hanging out buddy. Everything's fine. I'm not holding a syringe. But prior to this, anything I mean, I realized He's He's super young. And so it's difficult to like, But was he like skittish before this? Or?

Kara 15:07
No, not at all. Like he is, like, Adventurer kid, like just go all the time. No fear, no shyness. So I think that really like there was a huge change in him. Like that hit us like this is this is really affecting him Did anything

Scott Benner 15:27
happen in the hospital that was like crazy out of line? Like did a like a clown with weird makeup in the room at the time or like there's there's something that they stick him a ton with? You know what I mean? What they have trouble finding his veins was? Yeah,

Kara 15:42
like. I mean, not really. But kind of like when they did the IV, he fought them a lot. And so they had to wrap them up in a sheet so that he couldn't flail around. And I think there was probably three or four nurses holding him down. And then one of them was trying to get the IV and so that kind of, I think, like, set the tone for the rest of the hospital visit.

Scott Benner 16:14
He just had a real adverse reaction to that happening.

Kara 16:18
Yeah. Like he saw the kind of like the needle come out and was like, No, this is not happening. And then it kind of escalated from there.

Scott Benner 16:28
So you said he had an adverse reaction to the two of you because he starts relating you to the care. Did you ever have a third party who wasn't a doctor with somebody else? Try to do it to see if it? If he was anywhere, I'm trying to figure out like what you could have done back then. I don't imagine there was much.

Kara 16:45
Yeah, and he was he actually only wanted me to do it. Because like, he needed that comfort. And I think, even though I was the one doing it all, like I was also like, mom, so if anyone was gonna do it, he referred me to. And it kind of still is that way with his pump and his Dexcom like, he usually only wants me to do it.

Scott Benner 17:14
Present day does he still fight and squirm or is that mostly over?

Kara 17:21
It's way better. He is on anxiety medication, which has really helped. But he's still I mean, compared to where he was, it's full 180. But like, we try and do it when he's sleeping, or it's like a bit of a thing. Like he has to be alone, he has to have a few minutes to like pick where it's gonna happen. And he needs a little bit of recovery time afterwards. But it is way better than it was for sure.

Scott Benner 17:52
You or your husband or people in your family any anxiety in the family.

Kara 17:58
Yeah, my side of the family is is pretty riddled with anxiety and depression and like I've dealt with anxiety my whole life so and, and kind of have like, my attitude has always been like, just deal with it. Like I've been to counseling for many years and stuff. So I think that that's probably why I recognized it and Levi as well that this isn't just him being scary like this something a little bit more.

Scott Benner 18:30
So first of all, you've moved me off of Canadian rodeo onto to riddled with anxiety for the episode title. So excited about Canadian rodeo, and I don't know what I'm gonna do. But so you you take medication for anxiety?

Kara 18:50
Yes, I have, like, on and off. Okay, since I was I don't know, like a teenager.

Scott Benner 18:56
So now this is asking you to suppose but do you think if it wasn't the diabetes, something else would have brought this out of him?

Kara 19:04
Yeah, maybe? I don't know.

Scott Benner 19:07
I mean, riddle. Riddle. Riddle makes the assumption that everyone's got to, like, you know, I mean, is there somebody in your family that you all look at and go how is this one not having any anxiety? Or does it? Is it really I'm laughing at you laughing trying to think of a person in your family who's?

Kara 19:26
Well, I mean, my it's mostly my dad's side that we're all a little crazy. And my husband like he is just always like, he's the good at suppressing everything and just sort of like marching on. Yeah, so I mean, maybe it's hard to say probably it's

Scott Benner 19:50
impossible to say I've asked you a question. There's no answer to I just wanted to see what that's all.

Kara 19:55
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised but but before the diabetes I wouldn't say he was like an anxious kid.

Scott Benner 20:03
But this lit something up in him. Yeah. Is there a plan to take him off the medication at any point? Or do you think this is a long term? situation?

Kara 20:16
Yeah, so the problem is that he still is pretty young. And like he goes to a place therapists pretty regularly. Any he asked to kind of go through the trauma that's happened. But because the age that he's at, that's really difficult, and it takes like a really long time. So our hope is that as he gets older and kind of can have more perspective on what happened and why this had to happen, and all of that. But until then, we're just sort of gonna keep him on it, and slowly work towards that.

Scott Benner 21:03
So you can move them to weed when he's a carrier like I don't mean to like do you manage with any recreational drugs?

Kara 21:13
No, I it just makes me more anxious. Really?

Scott Benner 21:17
Well, lucky. Yeah.

Kara 21:20
Yeah, well, or not? I don't

Scott Benner 21:21
know. That was sarcasm. I know. It's not for everybody, but some people report great. You know,

Kara 21:31
I know I'm jealous. Like, have some have a great sleep like, that sounds amazing.

Scott Benner 21:37
But did you try it and then just go Oh, great. This made it worse.

Kara 21:41
Yeah, I've like we, because it's legal in BC. So like, there are weed shops, like every corner. We will like go into like some of the fancy ones and try some of the gummies and stuff. But every time I just like, I hate it. Okay, so

Scott Benner 21:58
I am not an aficionado. And it is to say that I've literally never tried it. But from what I hear smoking gives you a different situation than eating it. Because of the way your body metabolizes it. So yes, yeah, try a pan or something at some point. Yeah. Yeah. But being serious, do you see that as, like, let me ask you like, how to think about this. If, if I got headaches constantly, and I had a baby and the baby started getting headaches, I would find it to be incumbent upon me to figure out how to manage the headache for myself so that I could pass that to my kid and tell them hey, maybe this do you have that feeling about all this? If you feel like it's your job to figure this out, so that they can have relief?

Kara 22:43
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I like that's how I feel about my own mental health. Like, I need to be really good. So that I can be there for Levi. And then I think just having like a better understanding of it, so I can I help them when it when it starts to come up.

Scott Benner 23:06
Your father give you any advice. Sorry, say that again. Your father. Did he pass any advice on to you?

Kara 23:15
Yeah, my dad's actually a counselor. So he's, he has lots of good advice and tips and stuff like that, but it's also just so different in kids.

Scott Benner 23:27
Okay, yeah. situation. Yeah. Yeah. Listen, an argument can be made that, uh, if I walked into a counselor's office, and I said, How are you doing? Because I'm kind of anxious. I might be like, I'm gonna find somebody else. It's like a, it's like, it's like, it feels like I'm hiring a roofer with the leaky roof in his own house. Yeah. No, it's not fair. Actually. It's meant to be stupid, but I just I do think it would, it would strike me if I was in that situation. I might be like, huh, my counselor seems a little jumpy. But, so his so your dad's advice. I thought maybe your dad's advice was like, sweetie, they make a makeup whiskey and the, the, you know, I don't know, like, you know, because people manage this stuff in all different ways. They manage it with food, they manage it with anger, they manage it with liquor, or they manage it with weed or harder drugs even. Because it's no joke, right? Like, can you give me an example of what that like how it can cripple a day? How sorry. So is there are there examples that you have from your life? That would explain to us what anxiety can do to a day in your life?

Kara 24:41
Um, like for me or for Levi?

Scott Benner 24:44
Well for you, and then we're gonna talk about Levi after

Kara 24:46
Okay. Um, yeah, like, I always feel like if I'm having an anxious day, it's like, you're in a crowded room where everyone is like talking are yelling, and you just can't like, think clearly. But then you're trying to like get all the stuff done, you need to get done.

Scott Benner 25:09
So a noise in your head that doesn't allow you to focus on any one thing.

Kara 25:14
Yeah, or just it's just this like kind of background buzz like intrusive kind of. Yeah, I wish I had a word.

Scott Benner 25:26
That's a pretty good. Do you have ADHD as well?

Kara 25:29
No, no. Okay.

Scott Benner 25:31
So that's how it manifests for you. And then does that just make things? And the Putin does that roll into depression ever for you?

Kara 25:38
Yeah, for Yeah, for sure. And then, when I had both kids, I had postpartum depression. So there's definitely like a hormonal aspect to that.

Scott Benner 25:50
Yeah, no, I mean, obviously, plus the plus the realization that you have to take care of these kids and pay for

Kara 25:56
a little Yeah. And then diabetes.

Scott Benner 26:00
That some smartass rolls around to let you know what college costs are. I mean, you guys. That's University. I mean, but know why you have to be so fancy about it. So this is something for you. How are you?

Kara 26:12
I'm 32.

Scott Benner 26:15
Okay, so then how does the anxiety impact Levi's day?

Kara 26:21
Um, he gets very, like, rigid and stuck. Like he won't like if he has to go to school, he won't want to go to school, you won't get dressed at school, he, like won't kind of follow what the class is doing, or the teachers doing. Like sometimes they'll even just go like sit in the corner and ignore anyone trying to engage with him. And then he also gets like, pretty severe night terrors. Mostly where he thinks that there's somebody coming to like, give him a poke. And so he'll like, try and push you away or try and hide or.

Scott Benner 27:10
Yeah, so he hit does he wake up screaming or how does that happen?

Kara 27:16
Yeah, he'll wake up screaming. Yeah. And then you come in and he gets like, he's aware of that. There's a person but it's he's still dreaming. So he thinks that you're somebody trying to get him.

Scott Benner 27:27
Okay. Yeah. Plus, you're the person who actually does give him the pokes. So yeah, exactly. Have to hire a third party calming person. Just for that. I was thinking I hear my wife yell at night sometimes. Do you think she's coming? She thinks I'm coming to poker. Oh, probably. A different anxiety hair, isn't it?

Kara 27:49
Yeah. Totally.

Scott Benner 27:53
Like, gosh, this poor i Oh, God, I'm gonna curse I get Jesus this it's a lot, you know? Yeah. Yeah. The ever get a break? Does he ever have days where it doesn't impact him?

Kara 28:08
I'm like, we try we, we try and kind of given as much normalcy as we can. And activity is a huge stress reliever for him. So like we back on to basically for us that just kind of goes on forever. So he spends a lot of time out there and running and friends. And so we kind of try and do that for him.

Scott Benner 28:38
I say, so, so that you think that that's being in an unconfined space that helps him? Is this? Is it being away from people like what do you think about just being outside? Do you ever I mean, I don't know how you might not know but what do you guys,

Kara 28:55
I think, when he can be like in control of what he's doing. So like he's outside and he has this whole thing going on in his head of what he's doing and he can like he likes to lead if we're hiking, he'll be at the front and he thinks kind of he's like the expert on everything. He'll explain like, this is this kind of mushroom. And this is this kind of bird and

Scott Benner 29:25
I don't know at all I have to get him a podcast. Yeah, exactly. So is How old is he now? Seven? He's almost seven. Yeah. Is he not ready to be put in charge of his pokes and his broads and things?

Kara 29:39
Um, yeah. So he, he can do a finger poke. And he we actually started looping a few months ago. So in those few months, he's become a lot more independent.

Scott Benner 29:54
And help him does that alleviate his anxiety like taking you the rest of you out of the situation?

Kara 30:02
Um, I don't Yeah, I It's hard to tell. I think he's feeling a little bit of, like the burnout from it, especially at school. Because he knows that he needs to be responsible and kind of like on all the time, so we've noticed when he comes home like he's just doesn't want to engage with the diabetes stuff.

Scott Benner 30:23
Yeah, I don't think any of them do. But yeah, by any of them. I mean, any people with diabetes? Yeah, yeah, I have a question. It's gonna sound accusatory it's not so don't read it that way and answer it for me if you can.

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Have you ever been in a situation where your anxiety makes you put something on his act? Put something on him that doesn't exist? Do you ever get so anxious that you're like he's he's not okay. But he the your husband goes he looks fine to me. Just like no does that ever happen? Or does your husband not have the nerve to say that? Yeah, you do live in the woods and you probably know how to use an axe so I might not say much to you either. But

Kara 33:25
yeah, um I don't know like my I really like internalized my anxiety like it's it's very like physical for me so I'm not like worried about a particular thing. I just like feel anxious.

Scott Benner 33:44
physically sick. Sorry. Will it ever make you physically sick? Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, stomach issues. Stuff like Yeah,

Kara 33:53
yeah, not for a while but yeah in the past good for sure.

Scott Benner 33:58
Yeah. Vacation did you find that helped you?

Kara 34:01
Um, I yeah, I've taken probably all of them and haven't really found one that works. So

Scott Benner 34:12
all of them and yeah, nothing good. So SSRIs like intake uptake inhibitor stuff like that you you know you don't find much relief from

Kara 34:21
no and if I do it's like for a few weeks and then I it stops working so

Scott Benner 34:28
I'm almost afraid to ask this. I don't want me to ask a question somebody can answer me in a way that even shocked me but what what's your leading in the woods like what helps you?

Kara 34:39
Um yeah, I think just like trying to stay balanced and and everything like not, it's really easy to get burned out. So I try and like not take on too much like a sloth of why we're living where we are and Do you know that balance is really having fun and resting and doing work and parenting and all of that kind of stuff? But

Scott Benner 35:09
is there activity that makes you feel freer? Yeah. Can you not think of one or do you not want to tell me what it is?

Kara 35:20
I just I think it's just like a it's like, a bit of everything. It's not like a particular thing.

Scott Benner 35:26
Being in that place helps you more. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna bleep all this out. But like, I'm so worried that one day I'm going to ask somebody a question and be like, Hey, what did we beat your anxiety and someone's just gonna blurt out like, I gank the neighbors. It really, really calms me down, Scott. I'm so worried that one day somebody is literally gonna say something that I'm like, I'm not. You guys will know if I don't know how to answer something crazy happen. Yeah. I won't leave all that out later. Some people will just have to wonder what I said to you. But I do have like a genuine concern that one day something's gonna happen that I'm going to be like, uh, you know, I don't know. Yeah. So when you don't know how to answer, I'm like, she trying to talk around something? Or does she know?

Kara 36:14
I just don't think I have anything like that interesting that I do to help us just sort of like, the boring like, life balance thing.

Scott Benner 36:22
Well, listen, I think you're being a little dismissive because you guys made a big move. You moved yourself to somewhere else to support your mental health. That's a really big deal. And it's, it's thoughtful, because for no reasons. Who cares why, like that Big City Life of Vancouver. It's not right for you. I wasn't saying that sarcastically. Did my tone inflect sarcasm maybe I will. Yeah. Yeah. Like, but you know, like being in a more hustle bustle situation just wasn't right for you. And your job? Yeah, yeah. Are you a stay at home mom? Or did your job like switch okay to that?

Kara 37:01
Yeah. So I'm a, I'm a social worker I work with like, in mental health and substance use. But once Levi was diagnosed, like I've never worked full time, just because I have to kind of be around for him. And it's impossible to get childcare for a type one diabetic.

Scott Benner 37:23
A deer can't watch your children.

Kara 37:26
No, unfortunately, not.

Scott Benner 37:29
But I asked you a question that I asked of every mental health professional who falls into your category again, it's gonna sound accusatory, it is not. Why is there something about people who struggle with mental health that draws them to want to work in mental health?

Kara 37:46
Yeah, I think it's a bit of that. It's like, I love the science part of it. Like, why why people use drugs? Why, like, all that kind of nerdy stuff. And then I think just like, the stigma around mental health, and especially substance use, I've always been kind of, like an advocate and love sort of the political side of that. So it just seemed like

Scott Benner 38:15
fits for you. Yeah, but is there any feeling of like, if I can help them? I get help myself?

Kara 38:23
Ah, yeah, I don't know. I mean, because usually the people I work with like they're living on the streets and like ferry and trenched in drug use and that, so it's, I try not to see myself in that because you can go down kind of like a dark hole that way. Yeah.

Scott Benner 38:44
No, I worry about people who do your kind of work. Yeah. And I've interviewed a number of them. Did you ever hear the episode? Josh has all the fields? Yes. Yeah. Right. So and Josh has been back on since then. I've recorded with him. It's not out yet. I'm gonna tell you that the second time he came on was more emotional than the first time he came on. Oh, my God, by the end, you're like, Dude, where are you? I'm gonna come give you a hug. And it's it, but he's in that he's in that industry. And he, I don't know, like, there's part of me that just thinks like, Oh, my God, like, quit your job and go do something completely different and see if that doesn't help you. Yeah, I don't know. Like, I could be 1,000,000% Wrong. Please, everyone believe that. I believe that. It's just fascinating. You know, like to, I mean, you know, you have one conversation with somebody and you think I spoke with a therapist today who's depressed, or then you're a social worker and you have anxiety Your father has his situation like, you know, Josh described his life the way he did. And on and on and on. It's just really, I don't know people are fascinating. That's for certain.

Kara 39:50
Yeah, I think it's just everyone has their their thing. Like, I don't know if you could find somebody that's completely Lately, mental health free check could do that work? Like?

Scott Benner 40:04
You have to understand that we're all a little bit maybe,

Kara 40:07
yeah, yeah, I think you got it, you have to have gone there a little bit to get it.

Scott Benner 40:13
Where else you end up being me where I'm I'm basically on the verge of going, why don't you just stop? Which I don't think, personally, and this podcast has actually helped me a lot understand, you know, different psychological issues. But I would tell you that I don't have any perspective on it. So it does sometimes boil down into my head to like, just like don't do that then, which I realized, I realized isn't the answer. But it's an indication that I don't have enough depth of perspective.

Kara 40:45
Right. Yeah. I mean, I do agree that there is a level like you need to be solid. And you need to know what, how you're feeling and what triggers you and your boundaries when you're doing that kind of work. But yeah, I think everyone's at least everyone I've met in the field has at least some level of something.

Scott Benner 41:07
No kidding. Yeah, that's good to do. Well, it's like an incestuous circle them because don't therapists, the other therapists? Oh, yeah, we should just move you guys all to an island with

Kara 41:21
a tribe will be really self aware and healthy.

Scott Benner 41:25
You'll be really anxious aware people.

Kara 41:28
Yeah, exactly.

Scott Benner 41:31
Well, I have a ton of say, even though nothing that I've said, but indicate otherwise, I ever have a ton of empathy for you like, because of the conversations I've had with other people. Yeah. It's just it's really something if I if you came into your office and described your situation, what would you tell yourself?

Kara 41:53
Ah, yeah, I see. I mean, I think I just have a lot of compassion for myself like this. It is hard. And so I think sometimes I do get in that, like, I'm not doing good enough has a one C is not low enough. Like he's, we could be parenting better. And so you know, just acknowledge, like, this is hard. And so just, like, do it with compassion and go easy on myself. And you? Yeah, you know,

Scott Benner 42:26
a few 100 years ago, you would just wander away from him and leave him in a cold place by himself.

Kara 42:30
Yeah, exactly.

Scott Benner 42:33
That that horrible joke aside, people used to have 910 kids knowing that some of them wouldn't survive. And they did treat them as expendable if they if they proved to be too much or a problem in the family. Yeah, exactly. And that's how you ended up with I mean, is that where the term survival of the fittest comes from? I have no idea. But But it shows that in a short amount of time, as human beings we've gone from, hey, you broke your leg? Tough luck. Would you like us to beat you with a stick or just leave you? Wolfie. And two, we're taking people who have significant issues and trying very hard to shepherd them through an entire life, that that change has happened in just a few 100 years. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. It feels like we're not up for it yet.

Kara 43:25
Yeah, I think I think our brain is still still a few 100 years behind, how we how we cope and deal with all of that.

Scott Benner 43:34
Yeah, we have these great goals and no tools for them. Mm hmm. You know, that's good, though. I mean, it's, it's good to have aspirational ideas for society, and realize that you're going to hammer your way through like I used to hear people say like, every time I turn on the news, something different eat me, don't eat me, bla, bla, bla, they can't decide. And the truth is, yeah, they can't decide because we keep studying people and then looking at things and men science expands. And, you know, on and on and on, we're still figuring it out. Do you buy into the idea that anxiety in a modern person comes from some degree can come from the fact that our lives are so easy that we don't have anything to worry about really compared to the way our brains and our bodies are built up, you know, run from wolves and you know, exist outdoors and stuff like that.

Kara 44:30
Yeah, I mean, for sure. Like, that's a whole fight or flight thing like we're running away from the lion but there is no lion. And I think like, we we don't get to like complete the stress cycle. Like we're always just stress we never have that relief of, of realizing you're free from the line and you can relax like we're just constantly like at one 100 all the time.

Scott Benner 45:02
Is that what you're that? Is that where your move was hoping to? To help with?

Kara 45:07
Yeah, part of it for sure. Yeah.

Scott Benner 45:11
Yeah, no, that's such a good point. Like, there's always, like, we're always on tilt, basically, right? From the moment you wake up, you know, like, your alarm goes off and you pick up your phone your phones, like, here's your first appointment, or you know, you have to be at work or then you know, you have to be at work and you have to take a shower and you got to get dressed. You have kids and they d those kids are going to get into a car and they're going to drive to school by themselves and you're worried they're gonna have an accident. And are they going to get to college and be in you haven't even like you mean like setup yet? Yeah, no. And then it just piles on and piles on and piles on when you get home. It continues. And I guess right up the pit. Some people are many people have trouble sleeping. Even. Because, yeah, so we are. We're basically like goldfish living in a frying pan. Like we're we're not right for our surroundings. Yeah, exactly. Oh, all right. I'm understanding. Yeah, what do I do care? How to make my life better?

Kara 46:10
But I know that's the golden question. I,

Scott Benner 46:13
I need help from you. What are you talking about? That's going to make you nervous. You're going to be like, right now I feel anxious because I can't help the guy from the podcast. But exactly. Is it um, so for Levi, I guess we're saying that 300 years ago, he would have been great, because we could have just set him out with a stick and don't like bring some food back you a little crazy person. And he would have he would have went out there and been like, ah, and done it probably. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Interesting. I didn't mean crazy person in a pejorative way.

Unknown Speaker 46:43
I got it. Yeah.

Scott Benner 46:44
Did you get it? Like, I'm Canadian, I can handle it. Yeah. Why did you want to come on the podcast?

Kara 46:54
Um, I just thought that, like, I haven't heard many parents come on, talk about the struggle with their kids diagnosed at a young age and how traumatic that can be for them. Because I just any of the comments or conversations were usually like older kids, and that transition and the teaching them and the responsibility, but I just hadn't heard the, the younger kids and like how scary that is, and how that can affect them going home in the months after that.

Scott Benner 47:35
Yeah. Have you ever heard me kind of brusque against the idea that kids are so brave and resilient? Like I always say, like, well, what's the alternative? Yeah, yeah, I know, people like to say they're like, Oh, my God, my kids so brave. I'm like, is he brave? Or is he seven? And there's nothing you can do about it? Because yeah,

Kara 47:52
and people say that to us all the time. Like, oh, you're doing such a good job. Like, the alternative is that he's dies. So

Scott Benner 48:01
you wander away from in the woods and just leave it there. But yeah, exactly. Yeah. There is no.

Kara 48:08
Yeah, like, we don't have a choice. So yeah, and I think too, like we really had to, like push to get any type of recognition that Levi was dealing with this a little bit differently. That like, we felt like we were the only people and like, this was something they've never heard of before. Like, it was many emails and phone calls to the hospital and the endocrinologist just to like, get them to consider that he might need extra support. should ever

Scott Benner 48:47
have to video him to prove it. You guys have cell phones right? Off the video or anything like that.

Kara 48:54
Um, I thought of that, but I just felt like it wouldn't be fair to leave. I like that's a really vulnerable moment for him.

Scott Benner 49:05
dehumanizing, right.

Kara 49:07
Yeah. Yeah, I just didn't feel like that was he would like that.

Scott Benner 49:15
Yeah, yeah. No, no, I appreciate that, too. I was just wondering how far you had to go to to get them on your side plus your health care systems different there. It was that part of the struggle?

Kara 49:28
Yeah, like I'm not sure how it would work in your situation. But like for us, you have to get you can't just go to a doctor, you have to get a referral. And like you, you have to, they're not just like giving out referrals freely like they have to really believe that you are needing the help. So like for us to get referred to the psychologist. It took like, a few months of constantly calling and emailing And just like being that squeaky wheel,

Scott Benner 50:03
do you think that they just thought that you were overreacting and the kid was just being a kid in that situation?

Kara 50:10
Have you ever? Yeah, yeah, I think and I. Yeah, I think they thought I was overreacting and that Levi would just be okay, that he would eventually get over it.

Scott Benner 50:24
I wonder, I wonder how much of them do they know what you do for a living?

Kara 50:30
Um, as few points they did, we actually had to get the social worker to come in when we are the hospital. Because we wanted to take Levi to the playground. And in kind of a subtle way, they told us if we did that they would take away Levi from us.

Scott Benner 50:49
Wait, wait, wait, slow down. When was this?

Kara 50:53
This was during our like Education Week,

Scott Benner 50:56
I said after diagnosis during the time, he said the hospital said, Hey, we're gonna roll out of here and hit the swings for a second like you can. But then we're gonna make him a ward of the state or whatever you guys have up there? Probably. Yeah. So we

Kara 51:09
have like the the ministry of Child and Family Welfare, I think.

Scott Benner 51:19
Sorry, is that a Harry Potter thing? The Ministry of Magic or something? What do you guys do? Your leaders? Yeah, it's

Kara 51:26
kind of it's kind of like that just a lot more depressing. I think

Scott Benner 51:30
your guy is too pretty. It's ruining everything. Yeah. You need a more grizzled person to run things you can't I get when your man pops up on TV. I can't go but a handsome guy. Like it doesn't. Anyway, so So the ministry of something or other like they were going to take your kid from you? Did they say that? Or did they just kind of like, I mean,

Kara 51:48
you say it directly, but they kind of, like danced around that idea. And the social worker said, like, we wouldn't take him away. But kind of like, if you do this, we're going to have to take steps towards that direction.

Scott Benner 52:07
If you do this, if you go outside to the swings.

Kara 52:11
Yeah, because Levi was like, panicking, scared that a nurse is going to come into the room at any moment and give him an injection. And we're at the hospital for like eight plus hours a day doing this education thing. And we're like, he just needs a break. Like we can one of us go out to the playground and they're like, if you do that, then we're gonna maybe take him away from you or put you down as like a non compliant parent or

Scott Benner 52:43
goodness. I thought Canadians were nice.

Kara 52:47
Yeah, so Did I what happened?

Scott Benner 52:50
That's a bizarre story.

Kara 52:52
Yeah, they're they're very rigid, like you have you had to follow kind of their agenda on, on how to do things.

Scott Benner 53:02
So maybe Canada's not as free as I think it is. Is that possible?

Kara 53:08
Yeah, I don't know if it's Canada, I just think it's like the the hospital and the kind of like, the

Scott Benner 53:16
carry, I think it's right for me to take your one experience at a hospital and pay for the entire country.

Well, what a valid statement from you, okay. I won't generalize Canada, which, in my mind is, is like permafrost with a tree in the middle. Oh, my God. Yeah. So, but that's a bizarre story. Like, I mean, that's an overreach in my opinion.

Kara 53:45
Yes. Yeah. They were, like, extremely rigid in how they wanted us to do things.

Scott Benner 53:54
How did you manage that? You just go oh, sorry. Okay, we won't go outside.

Kara 54:00
We eventually got permission to go out for like, 10 minutes. And that was like a huge deal. But it was hard because like, I was on no sleep. And I was like, still in shock that this was even happening. So I wanted to like push more and really, like, this is not okay, and everything, but I just didn't have it in me.

Scott Benner 54:26
Are you pregnant at that point, and don't know it yet.

Kara 54:29
No, I wasn't pregnant then. At that point, okay. No. But and then I saw it like, you know, a few months down the road, maybe I'll pursue this and, and write some kind of letter or something. But yeah, it just was like too, too painful, I think to go through and

Scott Benner 54:50
like when you have a bad experience at a hotel, and you're like, I'm gonna call tomorrow and then you're like, yeah, it was only $100.

Kara 54:55
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Scott Benner 55:00
Let the other people find the answer. No, but there's only so much you can do at some point, right? Like, there's so much energy and time. And

Kara 55:10
yeah, it just at that time, like we were so exhausted and like there was just no space for us to start this whole thing. Yeah. Yeah,

Scott Benner 55:22
I hear you. I mean, what is your what are your thoughts for his future? Like, what do you think's going to happen? Do you think he's going to be a kid who 14 1516 years old has trouble managing the things that he needs to do? Or do you think that you're finding your way through this?

Kara 55:43
Um, I that that is the worry that, like, we're always concerned that it's all kind of going to be too much for him. But I mean, at the same time, like, as he's getting older, he really is taking on a lot more responsibility. And he's very, like, proud of his diabetes. Yeah. And like, we're doing every like, he's going in counseling, and we anything we can to give him like this really solid base, as he's growing up. But yeah, I mean, that is a worry, we have for sure

Scott Benner 56:28
you're describing a life that seems a little untenable, first of all, and it also mirrors a person I'm thinking of that I know, listens to the podcast, who's whose child is, you know, maybe a senior in high school, that age has had diabetes for a couple of years, who has a lot of these similar problems. And he does become more difficult when they get bigger and stronger. And, you know, yeah. And they even think a little more clearly for themselves. Well, not so clearly, I guess. But, yeah. I mean, it might be a blessing that you found it about it so early, and you can get ahead of it. Because yeah, yeah, it's it can turn into quite a thing does he ever make you take his gear off? Like me? He's looping? Is he using Omni pod? Dexcom?

Kara 57:16
Yeah, his Omni pod index calm.

Scott Benner 57:19
He's never trouble wearing those.

Kara 57:22
No, he's pretty. He's pretty good with that. Like, I don't think he remembers not wearing at least his pump. He. He's just, it's just kind of always been there.

Scott Benner 57:35
Do they do that rapid eye therapy with him?

Kara 57:38
Yeah, that's it's hard. Because he's so young. But that's we're working towards that.

Scott Benner 57:45
Yeah, firstly. How far back do you remember being anxious?

Kara 57:52
Oh, like, probably? Forever. Like my earliest memories, I think. Yeah.

Scott Benner 58:00
Wild it is. It's really a wild statement to think of, especially like, you know, to think of you as a five year old, you know, being like, ABCD we got to get out of here, man.

Kara 58:11
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's just always been been a part of, kind of who I am.

Scott Benner 58:17
That's great. So and you do manage? Okay, like you, if I asked you to quantify your life in on a happiness scale, or do you live well, with it? I guess is my question.

Kara 58:30
Yeah, for sure. i Yeah. i I mean, there's moments where I've struggled more than others, especially when my kids are born. But um, yeah, I think I do pretty, pretty good.

Scott Benner 58:44
Do any plans to have more kids? No.

Kara 58:48
Definitely not. No. We call diabetes like our third kid, because it just takes so much. time and energy. Yeah, and money. Exactly. And then both Levi and our other kid are just like, crazy, like, energy. Yeah. Well, yeah, full boy all the time. From like, 6am to 8pm 100% all the time.

Scott Benner 59:18
Like, you're just gonna look out the window one day, and they're gonna be like riding a squirrel chasing, like another animal or something like that. Yeah, like, Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. As your husband like that. Does your husband have a little bit of that like wild streak in him?

Kara 59:31
Yeah, yes, for sure. He's, he can kind of go on forever. Even Even he agrees like he could not handle another child.

Scott Benner 59:42
Another one. He doesn't want any more people like him running around. Yeah, exactly. How did you end up picking this boy with all this crazy energy?

Kara 59:50
You don't think about those things when you're first dating like

Scott Benner 59:55
to get you divorced. I don't want to ask you don't listen. Since God with hindsight, I see what you're saying, but think about the dorky kid who understood science and said, Hey, you're cute and gone that way. Yeah. It says what kind of work is your husband do?

Kara 1:00:14
He's a plumber. Okay,

Scott Benner 1:00:16
so he's got a he's got a pretty, like steady jobs as far as hours go. He could be home at a certain time to help you most of the times.

Kara 1:00:24
Oh, yeah. Most of the time it is. He does like service work. So it is some kind of depends on a day, but where we live like everything's five minutes away, so even if he is late, it's really not that big of a deal.

Scott Benner 1:00:42
I was super excited to hear your toilets. Sorry, I was super excited to hear that you had toilets. Oh, wow. Plumbing. Fancy.

Kara 1:00:54
Yeah, you should really, really come and visit and see for yourself find

Scott Benner 1:00:58
out that I look like I'm in Ohio when I'm there or something like that. Or just like no.

Kara 1:01:01
Like Vancouver is like Portland or Seattle.

Scott Benner 1:01:07
Wizard. Is it got the hippie vibe? Oh, yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah. That's the part of the country. It just makes you feel that way. I guess. Yeah, I was just in Seattle.

Kara 1:01:19
Oh, you should have popped. Oh, I guess cat because of COVID. But

Scott Benner 1:01:22
yeah. Oh, really? You still keeping us out?

Kara 1:01:25
Yeah, I think so. Are there some some type of rules? I'm not too

Scott Benner 1:01:30
sure. I listen, I have to go somewhere with some people pretty soon and I'm looking desperately for a way to get out of it. Yeah, these people are definitely gonna make me sick. But that's really something. Yeah, I mean, I was I only ever been there once. It's a very specific vibe. You're not wrong. And I get it. Like I would see why it was attractive to you. Yeah. And want to do and want to live that way. How was it work when you moved? I'm not joking now. But schooling still okay. Up there. You're like that stuff for your kids feels right.

Kara 1:02:11
Um, yeah. The, the diabetes stuff was school has been really hard. Just they do. They're like do not die care, but not really the managing it and steady kind of lower levels. Like they would be happy if he was, like, just rode high all day.

Scott Benner 1:02:37
He would be okay. That kind of thing.

Kara 1:02:39
Yeah. So we just pulled them out of public school. And he started private school this week. which already has been so much better.

Scott Benner 1:02:52
You guys are doing all right. This plumbing pays okay. Yeah, I mean, wasn't a euphemism for like Canadian mob or something like that?

Kara 1:02:59
No, no. Just close. Okay. Yeah. Well, you're making

Scott Benner 1:03:03
me think I should have become a plumber like, private school for the kid. It's not bad. Yeah. You're like, you're like, maybe not. I mean, is there a big pile of money sitting around?

Kara 1:03:16
No, no, the private schools pretty reasonable. So

Scott Benner 1:03:20
you're able to do it. That's nice. That's really great that you could find something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have anything? Like, is there anything I because I realize I don't know what I'm talking about in this like context that have I taken you so far away from what do you want to talk about? Are we getting through things pretty well?

Kara 1:03:38
Yeah, no, I have nothing I can think of that. I didn't talk about

Scott Benner 1:03:45
so you're thinking I'm doing a good job. Yeah, for sure. That's really what I was trying to get to target. You just, you know, you're doing a great job. Thank you. I mean, she's gonna make me work for my compliment. I mean, I know, I want to make sure that we're not skipping over anything, because I do find a lot about what you said. Fascinating. And I did find a lot about you. Interesting. And I know that's not what you were expecting when you came up. Yeah, yeah. But you I appreciate that you kept going and hung with it. How long have you been listening to this silly podcast?

Kara 1:04:17
Oh, man, like, pretty early on? Probably Probably around three years.

Scott Benner 1:04:24
Yeah. Figure out looping through this through me.

Kara 1:04:27
We did. Yeah. Yeah. And it was it was like, I remember the day that I found it because it was like you were seeing everything that we thought was how we should be doing diabetes. And we're getting all this pushback from the endocrinologist and the diabetes nurse and all of that. So it was like, Oh, my God, yes. Like, we're right. This is like we're not crazy. Like he shouldn't be high all the time. And

Scott Benner 1:04:59
yeah, No, yeah, that's excellent. So what did they have you doing? That's that seemed like wow, this isn't right.

Kara 1:05:07
Um just things like wanting his a one C like around eight and just not being as aggressive with the insulin.

Scott Benner 1:05:22
Have you bolusing like after meals?

Kara 1:05:26
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Which that like with his school they were only allowed to Bolus after a meal so like every day he would come home super high and then crash out and it was just like a mess.

Scott Benner 1:05:41
So are you seeing better is his his panicky nature better now that his blood sugar's are more stable?

Kara 1:05:50
Yeah for he is a lot calmer with specially with the loop. Like in the night time we get this like super steady low numbers. And even just that I think he's sleeping better. We're not having to wake him up to do a juice or a correction.

Scott Benner 1:06:13
And that's good for you. Not just for him.

Kara 1:06:15
Yeah. Oh my god. It's like slept through the night for the first time since diagnosis.

Scott Benner 1:06:20
Oh, what's your husband dressed up too much? Because he's, he's a professional pipe player. By mistake. Third boy what you know, it's gonna be a boy, by the way, and he'll be as like, you know, energetic as the first two and then yeah, 100% What are you gonna do then? If the strap one of them do a bear and just see what happens? Yeah. Have you ever seen a bear?

Kara 1:06:43
Yes. When's the last time we have bears quite frequently?

Scott Benner 1:06:47
And still you don't move?

Kara 1:06:49
No. Bears are more like past like a raccoon or just bigger. We don't have we don't have like grizzly bears. They're like,

Scott Benner 1:07:02
Well, yeah, like, like Winnie the Pooh, like little bears. Or

Kara 1:07:06
we have like black bears. So they're like, medium smallish bears. They're not really aggressive. I mean, we wouldn't want to go pet it, but you can just tell it to go away. You know, run away.

Scott Benner 1:07:18
Yeah. That's what would happen. You don't think it would hear me crying and come kill me? No. Cuz I'd start crying. And I think it'd be like, I don't usually kill people, but this guy deserves it and then just come get me. Yeah, that's all they really eat honey or No, not really. No, that's disappointing.

Kara 1:07:40
I mean, I I mean, I guess they could if they came across them, but we don't really have like honey hives.

Scott Benner 1:07:48
Have you ever seen a bear walking with a sad donkey? No, never see a lot of what you see on television. It's not real.

Kara 1:07:54
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:07:56
Don't don't believe what you see. Bears are pests. Mm hmm. You've never once thought I will probably die at the hands of a bear.

Kara 1:08:06
No, never interesting.

Scott Benner 1:08:07
I would think that 24 hours. I would have anxiety. If I came to where you are. You'd be like, come up here. It's really common. I'd get up there and be like, no, no, I'm gonna die.

Kara 1:08:17
We do have like cougars and snakes. Like, so. There are scary things, but the bears are rock. Bottom as less. Yeah, we have rattlesnake.

Scott Benner 1:08:26
Yeah. Are you afraid of those? Yes. 100%. Right. See? Maybe you're not anxious. Maybe you're just being reasonable. Just think of that. Think like maybe if you move somewhere with some concrete on the ground, you'd be like, Ah, I'm probably gonna be alright.

Kara 1:08:46
We do have a house or not like camping.

Scott Benner 1:08:49
No, but I'm saying they think the snake could come in your house, right?

Kara 1:08:53
I guess so. But yeah, never really more like if we're out in the wilderness. I

Scott Benner 1:09:00
don't know. That seems like a lie that you're trying to trick me to come in there and being killed by a rattlesnake is what I

Kara 1:09:05
know. Like we were proper neighborhood and

Scott Benner 1:09:10
Scott, they come and get our garbage.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:13
Don't have a do.

Scott Benner 1:09:14
I don't have to burn it outside.

Kara 1:09:16
No, we have a garbage truck that comes once a week. Super

Scott Benner 1:09:20
fancy. Alright. I appreciate this. One day I'm going to I was gonna say One day I'm gonna come to Canada but that feels like a lie. So not going to say that out loud. Somebody did ask me to speak in Canada once and I think I was on my way to agreeing to it and then you know COVID And now, right? I don't think I'm ever going to speak in front of live people ever again. Yeah. Which may be fine when the the flying the flying is not fun. I don't I don't love that part of it. But if I was to visit Canada, I'm on the East Coast. Where should I try first?

Kara 1:09:57
Um, I like So BC is the West Coast. And the East Coast is like very far away. So we don't really like It's like California and New York.

Scott Benner 1:10:10
Alright, so I mean, I guess I got to just do the touristy thing and go to Niagara Falls or something like that.

Kara 1:10:15
I guess so I I don't really know. Like, it feels I personally wouldn't want to visit the east coast of Canada. It's a lot colder and um,

Scott Benner 1:10:26
are you about the bad mouth east coast of Canada? Go ahead. I those people just trash What are you trying to say?

Kara 1:10:33
No, it's just it's like a very different vibe there than in BC.

Scott Benner 1:10:37
I was joking. By the way, like I just okay, somebody from Manat. Manitoba, Manitoba Z's right.

Kara 1:10:44
Yes, that's like the prairies like very flat and not much going on. They're

Scott Benner 1:10:50
lovely people. Is my point. Like when I was at trashes I can go I was I was literally, I mean, I think it was obvious. I was joking, but I don't know if you all get the sarcasm or not. So sometimes, I mean, we're an hour into it. Now. You got to think that the only people left listening are people who are like, legitimately think like Scott's great. I mean, who would be laughed at this point? Yeah, but Okay, so you don't really know where I should go? No. Have you ever been to Alaska? No. Does that seem like a wilderness to you when you think of it?

Kara 1:11:22
Yeah, it's kind of like service very touristy. So I don't know if

Scott Benner 1:11:29
I interesting gentrifiers to go there. Yeah. See, is there a place that you think of, if I said, move to this place, and you would have the reaction that I'm having about where you live?

Kara 1:11:42
I'm probably like, Wisconsin, or like Utah, or something like that.

Scott Benner 1:11:50
Interesting. Wisconsin. Too cold.

Kara 1:11:53
Yeah, like cold and hot or like, little too conservative.

Scott Benner 1:11:59
Right. And Utah desert? No good for you.

Kara 1:12:03
Yeah, cuz it's like, that's a little Mormon.

Scott Benner 1:12:06
You have a lot of Mormon listeners. We cannot say anything, even a little judgy. about Mormons. By the way. Hold on a second. Let me just put up a disclaimer here. I love you guys. I don't know anything about your religion. But I love all your Mormon listeners. And don't listen to Kara. She didn't just not at all.

Kara 1:12:24
I just don't know enough about it. It would just be like culture shock.

Scott Benner 1:12:28
I gotta tell you the amount of people who I've interviewed who are Mormon who after done interview and say things about being Mormon that Oh, no, no, like, they would say, well, they're being recorded is those numbers are growing as well. Yeah, maybe you're onto something. Maybe you're not. I don't know, I just want people to learn about diabetes. So yes. My last big question, which I should have asked a half an hour ago is, does this anxiety impact? Levis blood sugars at all? Like, do you see issues with that?

Kara 1:12:57
Yeah, for sure. We see that quite a lot. Like if he's nervous or anxious, like he will just spiked up. And pretty quickly, too.

Scott Benner 1:13:09
Okay, so then I can see where the loop would be valuable because it's giving him insulin when he needs it. Whereas in the past, have there been times where you thought like, hey, his blood sugar is 130. But if I come at him to adjust that, then I might drive it up instead of down because the anxiety?

Kara 1:13:27
Yeah, I mean, yeah. You could have, right, yeah. And it's, it's always kind of a guessing game. Like, is he anxious? Is this like, just something D? Like, it adds another level to try and figure out what's going on.

Scott Benner 1:13:45
Okay, now, I would imagine, so the loop and algorithms has been valuable for you, I would guess.

Kara 1:13:50
Oh, yeah. It's been like life changing. Good.

Scott Benner 1:13:54
Good. I'm glad. What would you share as a onesie with me?

Kara 1:13:59
Right now? He's 6.8. Wow, that's really great. Yeah, and that was we were just doing loot for about four weeks when you have that. So I'm excited to see his next agency. Good for you.

Scott Benner 1:14:12
That's excellent. Well, I I really am impressed that even through all this, you just took the bull by the horns and figured out those management ideas. And it's not easy. You know, it's a lot of a lot of initial upfront work to get that thing set up. Mm hmm. Yeah. Good for you. And you. I mean, you you have a computer and everything. It's fascinating.

Kara 1:14:32
Yeah. computer and internet and Yep.

Scott Benner 1:14:34
Yes. You didn't have to plug a pine cone in anything to make that

Kara 1:14:37
work. No, no, just the regular plug.

Scott Benner 1:14:41
You know, I'm kidding, right? Yeah, yeah, but there's enough truth in it that it makes it tolerable. Is that right? Maybe maybe don't get you protecting Canada now. I had no trouble with taking a swipe at Utah but Canada. No, no, no, it's okay. Yeah, Is there anything left that we should talk about that we haven't? Oh, no, I don't think so. I really appreciate you doing this. Yeah. Oh, thank

Kara 1:15:07
you.

Scott Benner 1:15:08
Did your nervousness go away at some point?

Kara 1:15:11
No, but

Scott Benner 1:15:14
you have the same level of nerves now that you had when we began?

Kara 1:15:18
Yeah, I think so. It's just very intense. Like, I probably listened to you every day. So it's very strange. Hearing your voice reacting to mine. Just feels very like, surreal.

Scott Benner 1:15:31
You do have that feeling like people describe to me sometimes that I asked them a question. And it feels like they're like their cell phones asking them a question.

Kara 1:15:39
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:15:41
I'm sorry about that. That's okay. Is there anything I could have done to make you more comfortable?

Kara 1:15:48
No, I don't think so. It's just, it's just a weird thing like it. You're just like, your voice is a common thing in our house. So

Scott Benner 1:15:57
yeah, that's nice. I mean, that's very nice. Thank you. You should try some narcissism, because that would really help you get through. I did an interview yesterday for a different podcast. So I got approached by, I get approached by a lot of podcasts to be on podcasts. And I just I sometimes I don't even respond, but mostly I say, No, thank you. But I got one. And it was like, Well, I want you to be on the vagina blog podcast. And I was like, yes. I don't even know why you're asking me. But I definitely want Right, right. So I recorded an episode. And, like, I It's no matter what I told myself, like, as it was getting ready to like, I was getting ready to go on, I knew we were going to be connected in a second, like I get in my mind. I'm saying it's her podcast, not yours. He's gonna ask you questions, and you're going to answer them. And then she's going to decide when you move on to the next question. And then four seconds, I don't I just took the whole thing

Kara 1:16:53
for Oh, my God,

Scott Benner 1:16:54
I was like, Oh, I'm so sorry. I was like, I don't know another way to do this, I don't think. But I was incredibly comfortable. And what I'm saying is probably psychologically too comfortable.

Kara 1:17:05
Right? Or you're perfect for the job you have? Well, that's

Scott Benner 1:17:09
a nice way of saying if I think I need about 10% of whatever you have, and you probably trust me, you'll need a couple of percent of what I have would balance your right out. So Right. Like, yeah, look, everything's fine. We're good. Yeah, yeah. Am I from a professional? Perspective? Am I broken? Or?

Kara 1:17:27
Um, I don't know. I, I'm not qualified to say so. But

Scott Benner 1:17:32
first of all, you're Canadian. Secondly, you help people. I'm saying you're qualified. You know, what I meant was, and I'm not going to push you into something you don't understand or don't want to talk. But I just meant like, Is there is there a point where, like, this should make me I've never felt nervous making this podcast once in my life. Right. But like, the first time where this time or if anywhere in between? If you said, if you told me that five seconds from now, I was gonna get off with you. And I don't know that today's show was gonna pop up in front of me and I had to talk about this. I wouldn't even like blink an eye. I'd be like, let me make another bottle of water. Yeah, you know, so I thought maybe there was something wrong with me.

Kara 1:18:13
No, I think you just found your niche.

Scott Benner 1:18:16
Yeah. All right. What's that I can't trust you. You're not afraid of bears, but the.

Huge thanks to care for coming on the show and sharing her story. And another thank you to the Contour Next One blood glucose meter for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Go to contour next one.com forward slash juice box to get started today, with the best little meter you're ever going to see. Don't forget to take that T one D exchange survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box looking for those diabetes pro tips. They're right there in your podcast player. They begin at episode 210. And you can also find them at diabetes pro tip.com and juicebox. podcast.com.

Not too much else to say I got some really great ratings and reviews recently on Apple podcasts. Thank you so much to whoever left those. I appreciate when you guys share the show with other people. It is how it grows. And you have my heartfelt thanks when you do that, whether you're telling your doctor or a neighbor or somebody you bumped into at the Costco what else? As support the sponsors, please there's links in the show notes of your podcast player and links at Juicebox Podcast comm to today's sponsor, and all the sponsors. I appreciate when you use those links very much. Oh, if you're listening in a podcast that please make sure you're subscribed or following in that app. And if you're listening online Consider listening in a podcast app they're free and they're handy I mean you got your phone everywhere so you don't I mean pretty easy it's pretty much all I've got I'll be back soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast