#687 Go Forth and Be Diabetic

May 24, 2022Scott Benner

Leigh Anne has type 1 diabetes.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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 687 of the Juicebox Podcast.

I'm just going to admit right now that I don't know how to describe Leann, so Leanne has type one diabetes. She's an adult in her 30s was recently diagnosed when she recorded this. And that's all I'm giving you. While you're listening. 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 health care plan. Or becoming bold with insulin. I have a buy me a coffee page. It's buy me a coffee.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast. And some people are members and with their membership. Usually they're promised the reading of their of their name, which if I'm being honest, I'm woefully bad at doing but recently Donnie became a member and asked me to read you this. A shout out to Nolan and Jen Dean, and everybody remembered, loved and affected by the combination of diabetes and mental illness. Thank you, Dani very much. And thank you everybody who buys me a coffee

this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo Penn. Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash Juicebox. Podcast is also sponsored by us med Are you looking for a great place to get your diabetes supplies us med is that place, head to us med.com forward slash juicebox right now to get your free benefits check. And if you don't like the internet, you could use your phone by calling 888-721-1514. And just before we get started, please remember to check out touched by type one.org and find them on Instagram and Facebook. Amazing, amazing, amazing organization doing just you'll see you'll see what they're doing for people with type one, when you visit touched by type one.org

Leigh Anne 2:28
My name is Leanne. I am a unfortunate marathon runner and an accountant former bartender and I recently was diagnosed with type one diabetes.

Scott Benner 2:39
You're an unfortunate marathon runner because you're bad at it. Or because

Leigh Anne 2:43
because I just don't know how I ended up being a marathon runner. It happened accidentally.

Scott Benner 2:49
When did it happen accidentally.

Leigh Anne 2:51
I ran my first half marathon in 2017. And I don't know if you know this about runners, but they're a bunch of enablers and I said I would never run a full marathon. And then two years later, I was training for a full marathon and brand one lately. It

Scott Benner 3:11
sounds like you're about to badmouth a big group of people. So that's exciting for me. enablers. What do you mean?

Leigh Anne 3:19
Oh, it's yeah, you I joined a running group. And they know they're enablers. But I join a running group. And I would say I love half marathons, I don't ever want to do a full, there's no reason to run 26 miles, you can do it. And they just kind of like, put little thoughts into your head and they're like, Okay, but you could run a full marathon if you really wanted to. And so, you know, you get a whole bunch of people telling me you can do something you're like, you know what, maybe I'll give it a try.

Scott Benner 3:47
Okay, what's there? When I was a kid, there was this anti drug campaign. And I can remember one of the, one of the sentences from the commercial was like, it'll make you feel good. It was like that. And so is that what they're doing to you? Are they trying to drag you into their hell? What is happening? Yes, yes. Why don't they just stop running? Is it because they bought all those sneakers? What are they doing?

Leigh Anne 4:10
I don't know. I tried to stop running. And then I that's how I learned that I actually really enjoyed it. Because I had to stop for a while, like, right after my diagnosis while I was trying to get things under control. And I was like, wait a minute, what do you mean, I can't go out and just run like I used to? Because, yeah, that was good.

Scott Benner 4:28
I reclined my chair way back. I feel like you and I are gonna have a chill conversation. I want to get in the right mood for this. You tried to stop running? And you couldn't? Yes. Correct. I don't think you understand. So if you just don't run, you've stopped running. So what happened when you stopped running?

Leigh Anne 4:50
I just I went stir crazy and it was just I didn't realize how much I actually enjoyed doing it even though I only enjoy it while I'm running the process of getting ready Need to go for a run is not super fun. Like my wife and I have to go

Scott Benner 5:05
talk my wife was sex. So. Okay, so I shouldn't have said that. I'm gonna end up leaving it in but whatever. So. Okay, so the prep for running sucks. You like the doing it? So what do you just like the I mean, just there's some sort of like an endorphin thing that happens while you're running. Yeah,

Leigh Anne 5:26
I used to think that the runner's high was a myth. I think it's just, there's something about the sense of accomplishment, like the first time I ran a half marathon is just like, I actually did this because I'm not a super fast runner. I average like, maybe a 12 minute mile, which my brother calls jogging. So you don't run you just

Scott Benner 5:49
to him? First of all, that's Yeah. Talk to people that way. Are you an addict? Be honest, in other ways? Yes. Super, is one of the things you're addicted to is being really honest with people. What? What are what are some other things that you maybe do? Is it impulsive, or compulsive or I don't know what the word is.

Leigh Anne 6:12
I just, I think I just really love the race atmosphere. So like this past year to year and a half, two years is kind of sucked because you don't get the excitement of race day and 100 1000s of people running around you doing the same thing happened. And then my running group, we always go drinking after we run.

Scott Benner 6:34
It's just another excuse for people to drink. Is that all this is?

Leigh Anne 6:39
Yes, pretty much.

Scott Benner 6:42
You get the feel healthy, and then get loaded for two days. Yeah, I listen. People are very predictable. You hear what I'm saying? Okay, so that was in 2017. That had nothing to do with diabetes, although I want to try to make the case that running gives people diabetes, we can go down that road, but I don't think it's true. No, so you see you, we should probably talk more about your diabetes. I love it. When I'm like 15 minutes into it. I was like, I think people want to hear about diabetes, too. When were you diagnosed just a year ago?

Leigh Anne 7:15
January 2020 2021. Just this year? Oh, January 2021.

Scott Benner 7:22
What did you do, like get diagnosed and immediately as to be on the podcast? But

Leigh Anne 7:27
pretty much like I well, I found your podcast because I when I was in the ER, I didn't have a room so I didn't have a TV. So I I spent my time on Reddit trying to like figure out what was going on. So I found your like, your podcast immediately. And then I had a very I kind of go into like when I need to learn something about something new. I go into the deep end like it's like, alright, this is my new obsession for the next two months. Everything is about diabetes.

Scott Benner 8:00
We're just having addictive nature. Before we get into that because I have a question about can you pull that bell off that cat or whatever I'm hearing back there? Is it a bell on a cat? It is a bell on a cat. But listen to me closely. I'm a genius. I just spent

Leigh Anne 8:16
like 20 minutes before the show stealing all their toys so they wouldn't make noise.

Scott Benner 8:20
But you didn't tell the people you didn't tell me your tats, right? No, I did not. I don't know if the rest of you are getting this but I might be empathic or something. Or I don't know whatever one of those words. I'm gonna talk over while she's chasing the cat runaway cat run? I don't care if the rest of the podcast is her chasing that cat. Oh used to wait your headphones. Sorry.

Leigh Anne 8:47
Yeah, I have their wireless so I can keep

Scott Benner 8:53
them off. I was bad mouthing you to your face. I mean, not bad. mouthing, I was making fun of you directly to you. I didn't mean that.

Leigh Anne 8:59
No, he was a kitten. So he's hard to rank.

Scott Benner 9:02
I don't want to hear about your problems. I was trying to set up a situation where like six months from now you were listening to your episode and like he was talking crap about me while I was chasing that cat around. But it didn't work out that way. Anyway. I'm getting quite an ear for what's happening in people's homes from doing this podcast. All right. I appreciate that. You didn't hurt the cat, right?

Leigh Anne 9:24
No, I just shut him into a room.

Scott Benner 9:27
You couldn't catch him?

Leigh Anne 9:30
No, he's tiny and wily.

Scott Benner 9:34
Alright, so let's get back into this. Or what was the how was I know my question. I tell you what, I must have slept well last night. I'm very clear headed right now. Reddit. A lot of people tell me they hear about the podcasts on reddit but I don't go on Reddit because the idea of it scares me. Am I generally thought of well there if I'm not gonna tell me make up a lie, but because I'll never go look So just tell me,

Leigh Anne 10:01
yeah, what I did is I made a post on one of the type one, sub Reddits. And I was like I was just diagnosed, tell me what I should ask when I go to the endocrinologist and what you wish you knew at the beginning. And the two things that came up a lot was your podcasts and think like a patriot

Scott Benner 10:22
don't have to bring up what else came up, that's fine. But it's a pretty good book. I can't read. So I'm not sure. But I hear good things about Gary's book for certain and Jenny's on all the time. And Jenny actually works for Gary. So I don't know if people know that or not that Integrated diabetes services is owned by the author of Think like a pancreas. It

Leigh Anne 10:45
took me longer than I would like to admit to put those two together because I was listening to you and reading the book. And then like, three months later, I was like, Oh, wait, hold

Scott Benner 10:54
on. To you. I don't really spoon feed information to people. So there's a way of communicating that I think of is more long form. And I don't just mean like over an hour and a half. I mean, like over the years, like, I feel like we're building a thing here together. And so I think it's weird when people come on and say, obvious stuff. That's not conversational. If stuff comes out in conversation. I'm happy about that. But I don't make like short declarative boring statements. I try not to do that. And like coming on and being like, this is Jenny, Jenny works for Gary. Gary wrote that book, you know, like, I don't talk like that. So. But that's cool. So you went right to Reddit, where I'm generally thought of well, which Thank you, Reddit. I appreciate that. Huge shout, I will never be there. So please don't bother saying You're welcome. I won't say. But. And it's not for any real reason other than I mean, I don't really do social media to begin with. And I think I've read it a social media, right, like it's a message board. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. I don't have time. I'm busy. I wish I wasn't though. It sounds amazing. I mean, you went there and got what I'm calling rock solid information. Yes. Okay. So you're in the hospital. Reading. There's no word for reading, like you can is reading, editing. You know, when I say editing, like if I'm sorry, let's just rabbit hole for one second. Sometimes I say to people while I was editing this episode, I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I hate that word. The word editing makes me like when I say it in context, like I'm editing the episode. I'm okay. But when I use it, descriptively Oh, my God, I sound crazy. I have to stop. Nevermind, reading it is. Okay, so you were reading in the ER and heard about a podcast? You start listening to the podcast in the ER?

Leigh Anne 12:48
Yes, actually, I did.

Scott Benner 12:51
Wow, you're insane. But I love it when people do that. So your doctor comes in and you're like, don't worry, you don't have to explain anything to me. I have a stranger on the internet. I heard about through Reddit. He's explaining the whole thing right now.

Leigh Anne 13:05
I was a little bit in shell shock about that whole period because I no one in my family. There's no history of diabetes in my family. And I originally went to patient first because I thought I had COVID.

Scott Benner 13:21
Okay, to

Leigh Anne 13:22
think that, you know, you have something that you potentially will get better from and now you should go to the ER and I was like, do I have can I just go home and take a nap? Like, please go to the ER, yeah, I'm gonna call you tomorrow.

Scott Benner 13:36
Wow. So you go there. They tell you to go to the ER, you go to the ER finally check the Reddit. I went

Leigh Anne 13:46
and took a nap.

Scott Benner 13:47
Went home and took a nap. Sorry. What generation are you and what are they? How do they classify your age?

Leigh Anne 13:54
I been told I'm a geriatric millennial.

Scott Benner 13:58
Oh my god. I don't know what any of that means. I hate the internet. Now. I'm just realizing I it's at the core of what I do. I hate that everything is brand new.

Leigh Anne 14:07
Give me me. Um, yeah, I'm an I'm 33. So Oh, and then my 30

Scott Benner 14:12
year old. Okay, I'm just teasing you you're not old. Do you have a married right? No, no. Okay. Are you like in a significant relationship? Or were you when you were diagnosed?

Leigh Anne 14:24
Not when I was in diagnosed. Look, not when I was diagnosed, but I am now

Scott Benner 14:30
okay. So what? I want to go back to the shellshock part. Do you remember anything doctors were saying to you in the ER?

Leigh Anne 14:39
I'm not really I know. So. My mom's a nurse and her good friends a PA in an in a different era and a different location in the state. And she was the one who I texted her my labs after I left patient first and she was the one who told me to go to the ER and I was like, Well, if she's saying to go, I should go And I, by the time I got a good doctor talk to me it was, I want to say eight or nine hours after I got into the ER. And the like, the intake doctor finally got out to me because I was like, they had just gotten all of their patients that it was like the rush of COVID cases right after Christmas. Okay. And so I was in the lobby for 12 hours waiting for the doctor to get back to me. Like when I first went in, he's like, I want to put you want to IV drip, and reran these labs, it took them two hours just to put me on the IV drip. And then like another four hours, and the doctor came out and talked to me, he's like, we want to keep you here. I was like, like, here in the lobby. I was like, No, well,

Scott Benner 15:52
how long do I have to sit out here with all the COVID people?

Leigh Anne 15:56
Like, he's like, who's like, well, we'll take you into the bat. And he's like, Well, he's like, I can't guarantee you'll have a room, but you won't be out here anymore. And I was like, Okay. And then he very casually is like, you're gonna keep an eye on your labs, your your pH is a little off. He's like, if it if it changes any at all, we're gonna have to take you to the ICU. And I was just like, okay, like, that's a very casual way of saying that.

Scott Benner 16:20
Yeah. You know, I think it sucks. But one of the like, I have a personal story about this, that I'm not ready to tell you. But having to send somebody into the emergency room during COVID was really terrible, especially if they're overwhelmed, you know, or older or something like that. Like, it's just, you need somebody there who's not going through a health crisis to help you listen to what's being said. I think like, I think that sucks. You know what I mean? Because like you said, it's like he's like, just like, you know, and then we'll send you to the ICU and all you're probably thinking is ICU. I've heard those words on Grey's Anatomy, they sound bad.

When you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. G Bo Capo pen is a ready to use glucagon option that can treat very low blood sugar in adults and kids with diabetes ages two and above. Find out more go to G voc glucagon.com forward slash juicebox G voc shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit G voc glucagon.com/risk.

If receiving your diabetes supplies is a constant headache, just know that it doesn't have to be. You could be using us met. US med prides themselves on the white glove treatment that they'll be offering to you. They carry everything from insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies to the latest and CGM like libre two and the Dexcom G six. US med accepts Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers better service and better care is what US med wants to give you head over to us med.com forward slash juice box to get your free benefits check or you can call 888721151. For us Matt has served over 1 million diabetes customers since 1996. And they'd love to add you to that list. So if you'd like to get 90 days worth of supplies and fast free shipping without all the headaches, check out us med there are links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now. And links at juicebox podcast.com to G vo hypo Penn, US Med and all the sponsors are you a US resident who has type one diabetes or is the caregiver of someone with type one, if you are please take just a few minutes to go to T one D exchange.org forward slash juice box and fill out the survey. When you do this, you'll be helping people with type one diabetes and supporting the show. The survey is 100% HIPAA compliant, completely anonymous and takes hardly any time at all. I completed it in fewer than 10 minutes right from my iPhone T one D exchange.org forward slash juicebox.

You know like what does that mean exactly? At this point do you have any idea what's actually wrong with you or they're just looking at your labs and it doesn't look

Leigh Anne 19:48
um well the the the patient first doctor mentioned, diabetes and metabolic acid It doses in a sentence when I was there, but both of those words went out my head the second I left patient first. So at this point the, this the intake doctor, he did say we suspect that you have acute onset diabetes, and I'm just sitting here like, I don't even know what that means. But that means like, I do think I was far enough ahead. And just general life of knowing like, there's diabetes, and there's two types, and it has nothing to do with eating sugar or not eating sugar or your diet. Like, that's about what you know. That's about what I knew I didn't.

Scott Benner 20:37
So when did they get you out of chairs? Are you vape? Are you vaping? What is that noise? Oh,

Leigh Anne 20:43
no. All right. Okay, that's fine. I have my hand up my hands on your my face with you're not supposed to do during COVID. But you know,

Scott Benner 20:50
don't wait. Are you by yourself? Yeah, I don't think you can give yourself COVID

Leigh Anne 20:56
No, but you're not supposed to touch your face. Oh,

Scott Benner 21:00
I'm not picking my nose right now. No, I'm just kidding. Or if I wasn't, I mean, how would you know? Yeah, God, they

Leigh Anne 21:06
got me into a room in at midnight, and I got. So that's 12 hours after I arrived at the hospital. Okay. And then they, you know, take blood and all that stuff. Around 4am. A nurse comes in and offers, she's like, we have a round, but you have to transfer to this other hospital. And I was like, I have a room. I'm in a room. I don't my cars here because I drove myself to the ER because I again, had no comprehension of like, how bad things were at the time. And, and I was like, No, I'm just, I'm in bed. I'm asleep. So I declined the room, not knowing I saw on the news later that like, every hospital, like south of the river, had no rooms left the night that I was admitted, like, no rooms in the hospital. So like I just passed up a golden opportunity to have like an actual room. Not in the ER.

Scott Benner 22:09
Oh, okay. Yeah. So you're now you're living in the ER.

Leigh Anne 22:12
Now I'm living in the ER. I was lucky enough that the nurse practitioner came in in the morning. And when I still had the room to kind of explain my diagnosis. And she just kind of went through it. She was great. She went through it. I don't remember any of the exact words. She said. I just remember nodding my head. And I'm, I'm a runner. So I have like, I always had like emergency information on my watch that I wear. So like the first question I asked her, I looked at it, I pointed out my Road ID and I was like, Oh, I guess I'll have to update this then. She's like, Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Do you have any questions about diabetes? I was like, I don't even know what to ask you right. Now you have an idea. I'm so when I went to patient first, my blood sugar was 256. But the last time I had eaten, that was that was a Monday morning. And the last time I had eaten was Saturday around four o'clock.

Scott Benner 23:19
Oh, okay.

Leigh Anne 23:23
And my a one C was 13 and a half. 13.5. So, um, and I was in and I was there all by myself because I was an adult. So I couldn't have any family come in

Scott Benner 23:41
all evidence to the contrary, by the way. You would go into an older age, but I mean, not an adult. Did you call anyone in your family or someone like to tell them? Oh, yeah. Yeah,

Leigh Anne 23:58
I call. I called my mom. When I left patient first, like I talked to her a lot, like, very frequently along the way again, because she's nurse. Um, my dad, I didn't call him until they told me they were admitted me to the hospital. I was like, Well, I guess I should call him now. Because while they live close by, they couldn't do anything. Um, my mom did come up to my house and like, bring me a change of clothes. And then like, she stayed at my house and cleaned it, which was really nice.

Scott Benner 24:33
That's what parents do. They're like, Oh, I'll make something easier. Or how bad is your house? Was it really dirty?

Leigh Anne 24:39
Was it wasn't really it wasn't. It's not super dirty. It's just like, I don't do maintenance cleaning. Like,

Scott Benner 24:46
what does that mean? Or they're stuck to things. What are we talking about? are like, Oh, the toilet?

Leigh Anne 24:52
I don't think I don't think my bathroom looks dirty. But she would come in and like scrub the grout. And like, all right, kids. She really like she like cleaned it cleaned it. Oh, thanks.

Scott Benner 25:03
You mentioned the river. Are you in Ohio? Chicago, something like that.

Leigh Anne 25:08
Virginia, Richmond. Oh, so

Scott Benner 25:09
there's a river there. I only know like two other rivers. Obviously there's probably more than two right? Oh, wait, I Rio Grande. I might know more. Let's not do that now.

Leigh Anne 25:22
So I can't call my mom. She was on speakerphone. While I talked to like the nurses in in the nurse practitioner and she asked questions I think she was on she was on her best behavior. And I'm really appreciated that

Scott Benner 25:37
so your mom was trying to pick out information to At what point do you think you solidly understood what was going on? Like how far from sitting in chairs in the ER until you were like I have diabetes? I have to take insulin, there's gonna be meters and testing. Like, how long were you there till you got to that?

Leigh Anne 25:57
I don't. Honestly, I don't think I really comprehended what this was all going to be until like, a month after I got home because it was just like, I so when I was little, I was supposed to take shots every day like growth hormone shots for like, completely unrelated thing. And I didn't do it because I didn't like shots. So the I knew enough about diabetes. I was supposed to give myself insulin, I talked to the doctor and I was like, I hate shots. I can't do needles, like I don't know if I'll be able to give myself shots. And she just looked at me and she's like, well, you're going to have to I was like, Cool. I guess this is my life now. But while in my heart, I was in the hospital for two days. I never pricked my own finger. And I only ever gave myself two shots. The whole time like the nurses did it for me. They were too busy to hold my hand and walk me through it. And then I think when they told me that they were sending me home, that's when i That was the first time I cried because she just looked at Amazon. Can you just want me to go to CVS and pick up this stuff and go forth and be diabetic? And please don't die. Like

Scott Benner 27:18
are you trying to name the episode go forth and be diabetic? You just did because I only had cat nap up until now because of the kitten. And that you took a nap after you left the urgent care. Which is better? Oh my god. Well, that's not can I get I Hold on, let me just stumble over seven words. Sorry, I wanted so badly when the doctor like when you realize you had to take the shots for you to say Do you see that? I'm four feet 10 inches tall. Do you know why that is? Because I didn't want to take growth. I see my brain would work backwards. I would have been like dammit, I should have taken the growth stuff. Because I have to do the shots anyway. I wouldn't be like I messed up. Are you short in stature?

Leigh Anne 28:04
I'm not I'm pretty average five, six. So I don't. Honestly, I don't even know what happened with that. I think they made a mistake. And I didn't need to take those shots after all, because it's a miracle. I'm as tall as I am.

Scott Benner 28:17
Wow. So there was a time in your life where people were like you have to give her this drug. So she's close to a normal size. And now you're five, six. Yeah. Huh? How that would have been like 30 years ago. How long ago?

Leigh Anne 28:33
Yeah, I think I was like eight or nine like I was old enough that my parents thought I was capable of taking shots on my own and didn't pay attention to it, but not old enough to actually be responsible enough to do it.

Scott Benner 28:49
I'm just fascinated that a doctor said you had to do something and then it didn't happen to be net or do you think you'd be like 12 feet tall now if you did that are your family tall?

Leigh Anne 29:04
Yeah, we're all about the average height of like me and my brother the same height.

Scott Benner 29:09
That's not advertised for a guy though. Five, six.

Leigh Anne 29:12
You might be taller than me. I

Scott Benner 29:13
don't know. You don't know. I'm just, I'm just fascinated that like, at some point in your life, someone said like, we're going to pump this kid for this, whatever this is, and then they were like, Nah, and they're like, alright, don't worry about like, I don't I don't know, like that. None of that makes sense to me. It'd be like if someone said to you, hey, you need insulin, or you're gonna die. And you went, I'm not doing they went, okay. Just like I don't get the like how easy they gave up part for some reason?

Leigh Anne 29:37
Well, it was more of like my mom. So around that time my mom was in nursing school and my dad was in the military. So it was probably more something along the lines of did you take your shot today? And I'd be like, Yeah, I did it and they'd be like, okay, cool. And then we moved on

Scott Benner 29:52
with your little liar. When you're a kid. You're just just lying to them. What were you doing with the injections afterwards? Not taking them

Leigh Anne 30:01
just well, they were it was, it was kind of like insulin where you had to pull it up in a syringe. So they wouldn't, huh. All right. I don't know. You just didn't know.

Scott Benner 30:11
I think your mom could have tried harder. Don't let her Don't let her listen to this. Meanwhile, doesn't seem like it was necessary. I know, I'm past all that. We're in the hospital. Do you think how much of the haphazard way that this happened do you think was COVID? I? There's no way for you to know.

Leigh Anne 30:33
Yeah, I mean, I kind of I kind of suspect if it was related, it would be like I had it. asymptomatically

Scott Benner 30:42
I'm sorry. You misunderstood me. I know. I meant like COVID, meaning the hospital was like crazy. And you weren't me? Oh, getting like, clear direction. I'm sorry.

Leigh Anne 30:52
All of it. Oh, we did. They did send a diabetic educator to come talk to me while I was in the hospital, and I was in the hallway. And it was it's kind of adorable how confused she was, I must have been her first patient to that she had to talk to because like, she'll come she came and she sat a chair next to my bed. And she showed me like the different types like the vibe, she went through, like the blood meters and the vials and the pins and how they worked. But at first she was like really fumbling. She's like, usually there's a bedside table for me to put these things on. And I was like, I don't know what to tell you. And

Scott Benner 31:32
adjust, which

Leigh Anne 31:36
she was very nice. She went through all the things. And then while she was talking me, they brought my they brought my lunch by, and they kind of put it on the nurse's station. And so when she was getting ready to leave, she's like, Okay, well, I'll let you you know, go and eat your lunch. I'm gonna come back and talk to you. Again, tomorrow. You seem very confused, overwhelmed. I was like, I am very overwhelmed. I might not have paid it. Like

Scott Benner 32:00
I would have been looking around, listen to your cast aspersions. You couldn't explain a blood glucose meter to me without a table. Those two things have nothing to do with each other. So

Leigh Anne 32:09
she's, she's looking around and like, again, I don't have this table. So she just kind of looks up at the nurses. She's like, are the patient she's just supposed to, like eat on her bed and the nurse looked up at her. She says, yeah, like, and I feel bad because at this point, the only thing that I feel wrong is like I have a headache. And I'm just sitting here in a hospital bed, like watching everyone, like, run around. I'm like, I'm fine. I'm like the problem was low key patient, just like it's fine. I'm here to get what am I?

Scott Benner 32:40
Did you get insulin for that meal?

Leigh Anne 32:43
Ah, um, I think so.

Scott Benner 32:47
Okay, so the inference was, look, there's no table here. There's nothing I can do about it. Cuz it's COVID time and I don't know what the whole tables are. And I'm busy and leave me alone and eat your food. Yeah, yeah.

Leigh Anne 32:59
I mean, I didn't ask I was fine. I was like, I sit on my couch and eat without a table. I feel like a table is not a requirement for eating. But hey, you're

Scott Benner 33:07
a low expectation haven't girl. I mean, you just balanced your trade on your knees and ate in the hospital. But

Leigh Anne 33:18
um, I sat crisscross applesauce with the tray sitting in front of me. It was

Scott Benner 33:23
like anyone's ever said those words on this podcast. Well, there you go. You are you aren't your I guess you don't you don't have a lot of needs. How long have you in the hospital for?

Leigh Anne 33:37
Um, I'm about 36 hours. I left Wednesday at noon ish.

Scott Benner 33:44
And then you went Fourth? Fourth, how did that go? Like, did you literally go to a pharmacy and buy gear and

Leigh Anne 33:53
go? Yeah, they the doctor sent a prescription to the pharmacy. And I went and picked it up. And that was she did a great job. She did get me in with an endocrinologist. Like, like, the next week. So she she because like they didn't. I didn't understand what was going on. But she said they had a hard time getting endocrinologist to come to this particular hospital. So I didn't talk to him and know while I was in the hospital,

Scott Benner 34:27
just nurses I did and diabetes educators.

Leigh Anne 34:31
I talked to a diabetes educator. And she did come back and talk to me the next day before I left which was really nice.

Scott Benner 34:37
Was it helpful? Nice.

Leigh Anne 34:39
It was it was helpful. Like they were very like, honestly, it was the best worst experience like every every nurse I encountered and every professional I encountered in the hospital was very nice like they would have had every right to be rude and angry in

Scott Benner 35:00
But why wait, hold on a second. So you just said something that a lot of people say that I have to be honest flummoxed is me every time. They were very nice, or I love my Endo. Like there's people all the time with like, at once he's like, Listen, don't get me wrong. I love my end. Don't I'm like what your endo is supposed to be helping with your diabetes your agency's needs. Why do you love your Endo? It would be like if I took my car to get repaired, and it came back without wheels on it. But the guy told a great story. While I was there, I was like, I love my mechanic like, why do we like I don't? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, why does that I, it's, I want people to be kind. And a bedside manner is important. But why do we so easily write off people with poor information or poor communication skills? Because they're nice otherwise? Am I being crotchety? I get

Leigh Anne 35:47
what you're, I get what you're saying. Um, everyone at the hospital did a great job of communicating with me. Like, I think the nurses did a great job. I think the diabetes educator did like,

Scott Benner 35:59
but you didn't know what was happening though.

Leigh Anne 36:03
I just, I think I on a logical level, I understood what was happening. I didn't comprehend what it would mean for my life yet.

Scott Benner 36:14
Okay. But could you take care of yourself when you got home? Could you give yourself insulin for me, I'll test your blood sugar, just know what you're supposed to be doing. And what

Leigh Anne 36:21
I did know that like, they did walk me through that. And I, I mastered insulin shots. That was the one of the two shots I gave myself, when I was at the hospital was with one of the evening nurses like the overnight nurses. And she used to work on a pediatric floor. So she's like, I'm gonna have you give yourself your insulin. And she handed me the syringe and I got very nervous and anxious about it. So I was like, You know what, I can't do it. I went to give it back to her. And she just put her hand on mine. And made me do it. Which was, like, everything I needed, because I realized, oh, it it does not hurt like this. This little tiny needle does not hurt. I can do this. Everything is

Scott Benner 37:10
someone to be parental with you for a minute and and guide you Yeah, right.

Leigh Anne 37:15
But I was like, I'm listening to your stories. And just like the amount of time people have spent in the hospital and, like, a lot more hand holding that has happened, I think I would have gotten that if I actually was not in the emergency room. And I was actually like, up on a floor. Or, you know, with nurses who that was there. Like, that's what they were used to were all of the nurses I was dealing with, were used to putting out fires and like literally preventing people from dying. And well, they were preventing me from dying too. But

Scott Benner 37:48
people were retired, doing jobs that you think they didn't normally do.

Leigh Anne 37:53
Yeah. And they were great. It was just more of like, um, the issue I had when I got home was the finger prick. And with the, I have an anxiety about like, pushing a button that I know is gonna launch a needle into my skin. I can't do it. Like I there was like, one of the times I actually had to I ruined I was so mad because I it took me so long to prick my finger that my glucose meter turned off. And I didn't realize it did that. So I had put the blood on the test strip, and then it didn't work. And I was like, Oh man, I have to get I have to do this all over again.

Scott Benner 38:37
You know, that happens a lot to people. It times out and you're like, then now you're balancing the blood on your finger and trying to pull the strip out and let it restart and push it back in again. But I'm saying I hear what you're saying. You went to the blood when it wasn't reading it. It's horrible. Look at your life is terrible. We get all these problems. Just awful. Well, things are better now. Right? Yeah,

Leigh Anne 39:02
no, I um everything's good. Now. I think I have a pretty decent control. I'm already on. I was blessed that I'm like on the Tesla of insurance plans. You don't take insurance pays for everything. So like my insurance has this program. Like if I participate in like coaching, what's the three requirements if I do like the quarterly coaching, I take my medicine as prescribed. And I get my agency tested once a year. They cover all of my they cover all of my diabetes supplies before I hit my deductible. Well, that's cool. So and then this this recent year Dexcom switched to pharmacy so that counts as a Diabetic Supply, which now makes a lot of money yeah free for So like, basically insolence, so that's great. I did have like, the endo that they set up the appointment with that I got to like, which I learned is amazing that I got in with an endocrinologist, like a week after diagnosis. But I did not like her. And

Scott Benner 40:20
please tell me, I get

Leigh Anne 40:23
well, I went in. And again, I had to go alone because you couldn't take people in. Um, she like, the first thing she does is the the sugar is poison lecture of, as Mike told me all of the terrible things that could possibly happen to me now that I'm diabetic, which granted, I feel that I need to know, but I don't think that should be the like, opening act of the play of like, oh, you can go blind, you can lose your feet, you can have your higher risk for stroke and heart attack, like oh, great, thanks.

Scott Benner 40:59
They should sing the song first. Not not not go right into mama fell down the well. I hear you.

Leigh Anne 41:07
And then, um, so then she goes, you know, so we were talking. Um, I asked her cuz she she was a big proponent of the low carb diet. And I was like, Okay, well, I'm a runner. I eat a lot of carbs. Like, how, like, I train for marathons, like, how is that gonna marry what she's like, well, when you when are you running a marathon is like, Well, I think I have one plan for the end of May. She's like, Oh, that's too soon, you're not going to be able to run that. I was like, Oh, okay. And then she wanted to put me on a pump. She's like a pumps for you. I'm going to send in someone to talk to you about it. And then that she immediately sends, like, this is the first day all this information and she's like, I'm gonna put you on a pump. And I'm going to talk about your, your favorite company. So she sends in the Medtronic rep to talk to me about like, their system. And like, went back when I was on Reddit and doing my research, the number one thing that people said is like, get a Dexcom or a CGM. So that's what I cared about. I at this point, had managed doing shots just fine. I felt like I could continue to do that. But the thing that I really wanted to get rid of was pricking my fingers. So I was like, I want to CGM. So I'm talking to this guy. And I was like, Okay, well, I want the Dexcom CGM. And he's like, Oh, well, we, our system is super great. Because it's like an all in one system. And

Scott Benner 42:47
I don't really wrap in. Yes, that's like a sales guy in a closet. She opened up and went out or something like that.

Leigh Anne 42:55
Yeah, apparently, like, like he uses her office as his office. Like, like, that was like one of the selling points is like you have people here to help you on site. We're here every week. You know, I'm here every Tuesday to like, oh, it's like everything you need. And like they did the diabetes education for her and all this stuff. So like, he assures me that there are three choices for pop like, well, actually, he didn't even tell me that I only knew I knew that from listening to your podcast, because like, he sold it as everything is created equal, like, you know, yeah, you have choices. But in the grand scheme of things, everything's about the same. And so I because I'm thinking like, well, I want the CGM. I want to get back to running because I didn't feel safe running without being able to check my blood sugars constantly. Because I'm so new to insulin. And I was, you know, I don't want to go low when I'm out running, especially since I run like, four to five miles, at minimum at a time. So I get pretty far from my house. Yeah.

Scott Benner 44:09
Just very slowly get far from your house. Did you feel like you got pushed into it? Um, we're not I don't want to say

Leigh Anne 44:21
Not at the moment. It was afterwards that I looked back on and I was like, you know, that was kind of like, an aggressive sales tactic. Not even that there's like, so I agreed to it, because it's like, well, this is my chance. You know, if, if this is as good as everything else, why not? You know, I know that some people wait three to six to a year to get on pumps. I'm getting it a week after diagnosis. Why won't why not jump on this?

Scott Benner 44:52
I see. I see you were just sort of your online where people were saying I'd get a Dexcom a five issue and then somebody saying well, here's an Other CGM is just as good. And it comes with a pump. It's a whole system. I'm here to support it and you're like, alright, well, it's happening quickly. I hear other people saying six months a year. bird in the hand and you're like, I'll take it.

Leigh Anne 45:12
Right. Okay. And and the guy, he was super nice. He was he was type one. He'd been type one his whole life. He was just showing it to me. And at this point, I had no idea what TCM look T slim look like, I had no idea what Omnipod look like, I just saw this. And I was like, Oh, this is the technology. Let's go. And so they like overnighted it to me, I got it. They got me into pump training. Like I was like, two days later. And they were gonna put me on the pump first. And I was like, I care more about the CGM, can I? Because they break it up. They're like it's too much to learn in one session. So they only teach you one at a time. So I was like, Can I get put on the CGM first? And they're like, yeah, yeah, let's do that. And they were fine with that. They put me on the CGM. And it was. It was terrible. Like it was not like the only thing that I liked. Better on that was like it had a reusable inserter. But like, you had to calibrate it twice a day, 12 hours apart. So but they also tell you to calibrate it when your blood sugar's are steady. And I'm like, Well, if so if I calibrated at 6am When I first wake up, then I have to calibrate again at 6pm. But I usually eat dinner at five. So my blood sugar's aren't going to be steady. And if it gets wonky, it'll like wake up in the middle of the night and be like, You need to calibrate me. And if you don't calibrate it, it doesn't do readings, and it wouldn't

Scott Benner 46:48
play the part where I go, Hey, Medtronic, sorry, I don't ask people what pumps they use before they come on the podcast and I don't control what they say about your stuff. Is that about the point where I say this? I think it is. Okay. So I do you still have it now?

Leigh Anne 47:03
No, I don't that. I mean, it's

Scott Benner 47:07
only been like eight months. Since you got it. You don't have it anymore.

Leigh Anne 47:11
So I I'm freaking out about this. Because I go online. I'm doing research. I'm stressed because I'm like, this is this is terrible. Like I can't like this is supposed to produce this. And I made a post on your Facebook page. And people came out of the woodwork to be super supportive. And they're like, you have 30 days. Yes, they sent it to you. Yes, you've tried it on, but you have 30 days to say you don't want it anymore. And I was like,

Scott Benner 47:39
Oh, you returned it like a sweater.

Leigh Anne 47:40
I returned it. And the return process was atrocious. But like, I took my next appointment, I took my mom with me. I had I had found a different endo just like because like, even if this I didn't like the lady I didn't like the the coop the the group, the way she she ran things and I just knew it wasn't gonna be a good fit. So I had already set up an appointment with a new Endo, but she couldn't see me for another month. So when I went to my follow up appointment, I, you know, met with the physician's assistant. And I told her I was like, Look, I don't want this system. I don't think it's going to work for me. I want to get the Dexcom and then I want to like research my options between the tandem and the Omni pod because at this point I had finally found some other runners in the area who were type one diabetic I met other people I've just been having conversations about you know what life was like and I I already called my insurance they said we don't have a particular pump that we cover. Like if you want the teeth you want tandem will cover it you want Omnipod will cover it like it is your choice. So it's like, well, if I'm not being forced into this, I don't want this. So I went and I told her and then she kind of looked at me and she's like, Oh well, Dr. So and so only works exclusively works with Medtronic. Then there was just like this really awkward pause in silence between us and I was like, Well, I full disclosure, I have an appointment with another Endo. She's like, Okay, well, I can't tell you what to do. You know, it's your it's your care. So like without so many words that I was basically told, like if you see this doctor, you have to use the Medtronic pump. And I was like, I'm not doing that.

Scott Benner 49:44
I wonder how much setting aside Medtronic for a second I wonder how much that happens. Like I mean, it felt like a little like mob thing right? Like hey, you come here with dinner. You pay for this. You do that? Do what I tell you like that kind of thing. Like don't say Anything use the pump Shut up or you leave? Yeah. Oh, that's unpleasant.

Leigh Anne 50:06
Oh, yeah. And then like, they were super helpful for getting me off, like on the pump. But the second I was like, I don't want this they the med like it

Scott Benner 50:17
was just are you not at this talk anymore?

Leigh Anne 50:21
No, I am at a completely different practice and my new endo is, is, oh, she's great. But she she listens to me and she, I kind of go in and she's like, Oh, your numbers are amazing. Like, do you even she's like, Do you need anything from me? And I was like, I don't know, I I'm kind of just so she'll just thing so she encouraged us. She says I can run G she supports me and what? And you know, wanting to keep tighter ranges. So you have the gear you want. Now what prompted you and I have the gear I want? Yeah. What do you end up with? But I have, um, tandem I have the T slim with a Dex calm

Scott Benner 51:04
or using the control IQ?

Leigh Anne 51:06
I am How do you like that? I I like it. Okay, um, I kind of just default to it right now. Because I'm still trying to like, get a hold of like carb ratios and all of that. I really wish that they would let me set my target lower. Because it right now it just, it defaults at like the target of 110. I was like, Can I have my target at 100? So like to kind of get around it for now. Right? It is the 10 and call me and they did a survey once and one of the guys he was asking the question. I told him that and he's like, we hear that a lot in that. He's like there's works behind the scenes. Like he, he made it sound like tandem is aware. They're hoping that that's something a possibility in the future. Okay, so I'm

Scott Benner 52:06
sorry, you're about to forget I caught you off.

Leigh Anne 52:10
Oh, the returning of the Medtronic.

Unknown Speaker 52:14
Yeah, I had heard that go.

Leigh Anne 52:17
So I had to cancel my second training appointment, pump, pump appointment, and I am very confrontation averse. Like it gives me a lot of anxiety. So I did not want to call this lady and tell her that I had to cancel. So I called her and she didn't answer. I left her a message. I was like, I have to cancel the appointment. And she calls me back and she's like, Oh, I'm so sorry. She's like, when can we reschedule? And I was like, well, actually, I'm I'm gonna

Scott Benner 52:53
What am I? Your pump sounds like it's gonna sell off the shop.

Leigh Anne 53:01
Oh, what's wrong? My insulin stopped. It stopped. I started. Yeah. That's weird.

Scott Benner 53:09
I don't know about that. Because I don't have no money sometimes.

Leigh Anne 53:11
Um, I think it sometimes it detects occlusions that aren't occlusions. So Oh, no, stop the insulin. I just yells at you. And then I check it and everything's, I make sure there's no kinks in my tubes and started yeah, there's

Scott Benner 53:29
because of no to be on on the pod. Like, I'm not familiar with those kinds of like pump issues, but it's okay. So you're okay.

Leigh Anne 53:38
Yeah, it's good. I'm good. So this lady, I tell her I'm like I'm switching from Medtronic. I'm going to I would like something different. And she's like, Well, can you tell me? Can you tell me why you're switching? And I was like, Well, I don't, I don't like all the calibrations. A lot of people had told you couldn't like link it up to sugar mate or anything like that the data was very locked down. So you can only view it on their reports, right? You could only view on a computer, which I did not have a personal computer at that point. Because it's like, I have my phone and I have my work computer like you don't. Yeah, and I was like, it's the data is locked down. It's just it's not going to work for me. And then she kind of I guess she had access to my crap. So she pulled up she's like, Oh, I see that you're not calibrating at the most ideal times. You really need to calibrate when you're when your sugars are level and I'm like I've been diabetic for two weeks. My sugars are not going to be level. Give me Give me a chance. And was she

Scott Benner 54:55
was she selling to you at that point? Do you think she was trying to talk you out of it?

Leigh Anne 55:00
Yeah, I do. Because like, she's like, Oh, well, you know, our, our, our apps aren't as an aesthetic, like, she thought it was talking about the aesthetics of the app, that they've more focused on their algorithm. And that's what they had to sell was their algorithm was the best algorithm and all of this, and I was like, it's, it's not about that. And I was like, you know, it's like you've been in she was when she was setting me up. I was like, you've been super helpful. It's not personal. I, this just isn't the pump for me. And if she goes, Well, you know, I do I do take it a little bit. Personally, at that point, I

Scott Benner 55:42
would have been like, lady, listen, let me be this, I would have been like, like yourself, alright, because I'm setting the ship back to you. Right. Now. Let's stop talking. I don't know what you think you're doing, oh, I would have been like, out of my mind, I love I would have had a great time.

Leigh Anne 55:56
And then she's like, well, there's a process, you're probably gonna have to talk to the, you know, the rep that he's gonna touch base, and you're gonna, he'll probably want to know why you're sending it back. And like, 20 to tell another person. So

Scott Benner 56:10
I would have been like, I'm gonna leave it on the front step on my house, you should come get it. Goodbye.

Leigh Anne 56:14
Right. So then I, so I call Medtronic to initiate the return process, because I have to call the one 800 Number, do that. And I go through the whole thing, I have to explain to this person why I don't want it and they go, okay. They put me on hold. And they're like, Okay, I've put in the request for return. Someone will get back to you in 10 to 14 business days. Okay. And I was like, Okay, I'm sitting there. I'm like, That person was going to tell me what the next steps were. And

Scott Benner 56:50
this Hi, I gotta be honest, I feel badly saying this. But that seems like they slow walk it so that hopefully you'll give up and just, it gets better.

Leigh Anne 57:01
I'm pretty sure that's exactly what they do. Because like I A week later, I called a check in and I was like, what, what's the next step in i because I'm back to fingerprints at this point until, because my insurance won't cover Dexcom until I start the system drops off my insurance, because they've in their mind, they've already covered one, right. And so the guy is looking at it. And he's like, I just need a shipping label. Like said, Give me a shipping label. So I can ship this back to you. And he puts me on hold the key for anyone in the future. The key words are Is there any way we can expedite this? Because that's what I had to say every step of the way. So he's, he could talk he's like, Okay, I put in a request to expedite this. Someone will call you back in 24 to 48 hours. Okay, just want a shipping label. Like I'll pay for it myself at this point. Like, just so someone told me about it. She asked me she's like, Oh, I have a shipping label. Do you want us to mail it to you? Or do you want to emails?

Scott Benner 58:15
No. staple it to a telephone pole. And I'll come find it. Like, give me the damn thing right now. What are we doing? Oh, well, you stuck to it. And you said you don't like confrontation. But you found your you found your nerve. Right. And you took care of it?

Leigh Anne 58:29
Yeah, yeah, these I, I have a desk job. I work for the government, I have a lot of time on my hands to sit on hold while I'm working. So I it took eight weeks, from the time that I requested to return the pump, to get it back to them, for them to acknowledge that they received it. And for them to tell my insurance, that they no longer had a claim. And actually, what ended up happening is I called my insurance. And they were like, they were phenomenal. They did a conference call to call Medtronic. An event. Eventually the lady was just like, I don't understand how this process works. Because she's like, it's just a request. It's an email. It's not like you can you have to mail things anymore. Yeah. And so when they put us on hold, she told me she's like I heard them say that they have received the pump back and that they're what they are processing the cheque to return the money to us. She's like, you don't have to wait for this. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna reverse the claims on our end. So she reversed out the claims, so they were no longer on my insurance. So I then could proceed to get the dekstop the Dexcom in the tandem and start going and start with that which so I was I had that like March,

Scott Benner 1:00:02
I want to tell you something. So I joke a lot about like, like I'm talking to Medtronic. Like I always just assume somebody from Medtronic is listening. And that might sound pompous to some of you. But you know, podcasts pretty big. A lot of people listen to it. fair assumption. I recently became aware that they do listen to the podcast. So I hope that I really hope they heard what you said just now. Like, I mean, you told the story? Well, it's arduous. Nobody should have to deal with that. If, you know, if, if they don't like your product, then fair enough. Like what do you why is this how they have to get out of it? And not for nothing? But I mean, if I'm given advice, you know, make a better one, which I think they're on their way to trying to do, honestly. So you know, do something. When people get it, they want to keep it seems,

Leigh Anne 1:00:49
honestly, it wasn't. If I if my choice was MDI, and finger sticks, and Medtronic, I would, I would 100% Pick that Medtronic pump. Like, it wasn't. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. But for me personally, having the options like I was I was bitter because I was never presented the options before I made the choice. Yeah, I don't want to

Scott Benner 1:01:19
started either. Like it's and I don't know, listen, I don't want to put that on Medtronic. The No, no, no, that was Yeah. It could have been the doctor's office like honestly. Yeah, yeah. The way that

Leigh Anne 1:01:33
when my new endo referred me to the the tan on the tandem rapid she was talking to me, she were going back and forth. She was giving me information. And she was like, oh, was your previous endo so and so? And I was like, yeah, like I thought she had like a chart or something. And she's like, Yeah, she's, she's the only endo in the in the in the region that won't even take an appointment with me. Oh, okay. So this Endo, I think she knows Medtronic. And that's what she likes in that I. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:02:08
I mean, if I was my child, I wouldn't want to be hooked to a lady who's, you know, getting you on day one and being like, I mean, first of all, the sugar is poison thing. To look at Sugar is not good for you. I'm not making that argument. But it's a weird place to start, like you said in the conversation like with try to scare tactics. And then to say, look, this is the pump that I use here. So much so that watch this next to my broom in this closet. Here's Jim, Jim's gonna tell you about Medtronic pumps, not like wow, that's freaking weird. That seems like a 60s horror movie to me. You don't I mean, like you walk in the door, and you turn there suddenly somebody standing there. The whole thing just seems ill conceived. And you know what I mean? Like, if you want to, if you want people to use your product, make a product they want to use and and not for nothing. I understand they made this thing and now they have to support it, right? Like it exists. Now. They can't just pretend it doesn't need to be calibrated at an optimum time. Like the lady said, she can't just not say that. But in the meantime, it's weird when it turns into a business thing like, well, we don't want to lose the user. Because maybe, I don't know, maybe six months from now they're going to come out with a, you know, another set, like, what is it? 670 G now? Like, maybe there's a 770 G? I don't know, I really should pay more attention to things. But maybe there's something like that coming out. And they could say to you, look, I know this isn't optimal. But at this point, we're going to have upgrades and we can I don't know what they could do. But this doesn't seem like a great idea. The way this went for you. Is she

Leigh Anne 1:03:39
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was very hard. And it was like it was just like and that's about when I emailed you when I was in the middle of returning this pump. And that's why I felt so passionate about it because up until up until this point, I was a very healthy person like i i did not comprehend like what a chronic illness was. I never like I hardly ever missed work like the only times I when I was bartending and stuff. I never called out sick the entire like for like a decade because I just Yeah, I was a healthy person. So to do to be on this one ad of like, in the weird thing is I still oh, here's the train.

Scott Benner 1:04:24
Train. You promised me a train an hour ago, we finally got one

Leigh Anne 1:04:32
it's gonna get louder before it gets quieter. I was impressed. So it's a quick one. He's gone. Okay. Um, he, like I still felt healthy going up until my diagnosis, like up until the day before, because fun fact all of the symptoms of like the warning signs of diabetes can be confused with Oh, well that's just to an unfortunate side effect of trying to training from for a marathon like I lost weight. Oh, I'm training for a marathon. I'm thirsty all the time. Oh, I'm running a lot. I'm hungry all the time. I'm running a lot. I'm exhausted all the time. I'm running a lot. So like, it never fazed me. And I do think that like, as the amount that I was running, like, extended how long it took me to get diagnosed, I would imagine Yeah. Because when I think back, like June of 2020, my my, my doctor noticed I had lost 15 pounds. She's like, did you change your diet? And I was like, No, I crushed a pint of ice cream last week, like in one city. She's like, Oh, well, it has anything else changed. I was like I trained for and ran a marathon. I'm getting ready to run another one. She's like, make sense. And we moved on. Um, and then like I was, you know, but January of 2020 was like, the first time I was aware of being thirsty. Like, before that I was very much like one of those people. I never carried a water bottle with me. But starting in January, I was like, I'm carrying a water bottle now because I just get thirsty now. So

Scott Benner 1:06:16
it fresh back and see it coming.

Leigh Anne 1:06:20
Oh, yeah. And it's crazy. Because it's like, I in so I also didn't didn't realize how exhausted I was all the time. Because like, it was such a slow onset for me. That like until I started taking insulin and getting my blood sugar under control. It's like, oh, wait, this is what it feels like to have energy again. Right? So um, and it was it was a very hard transition for me once I realized what it meant long term because I was under the assumption of like, okay, I'm gonna listen to this podcast, and I'm gonna do a lot of research. And I'm gonna have this under control right away, and I'm gonna go right back to my normal life. And now that I now that I know what's going on, and now that I have insulin, everything's gonna be fine. But there's still the random bounce of like exhaustion. And there's still like, just times where I can't focus at work. And the threshold for where that starts is a lot lower. No, because I'm no longer used to running super high on

Scott Benner 1:07:33
what blood sugar blood sugar do you get out when all that starts happening?

Leigh Anne 1:07:37
I'm, like, 180.

Scott Benner 1:07:41
Yeah, that's where I would guess. Yeah, I think you just, I mean, having watched my own blood sugar, when, when I were a CGM. Last time, I would say that I could eat my way to 160 if I tried really hard, so and then that's when you start getting that like, feeling that I think people who don't have diabetes associate with like, oh, I ate too much, or, you know, like, had too many carbs like that kind of weird, but it really is, it's like a slowing of fogging. Like that kind of thing. And when it happens to you once in a great while, you can write it off, but if if your blood sugar is bouncing around, and that feeling is coming constantly, I would imagine it's just an unrelenting like water torture right? Just a drip drip drip where you need to get away from it. So how do you what have you been doing to try to avoid it?

Leigh Anne 1:08:34
Um, well I would love to say I've been trying to be better about my diet, but before diabetes my my go to dinner was pasta. My cats are named total Leni and macaroni. And my friends have nicknamed my house the castle of carbs. So like all of that is extra ironic now. But um, yeah, I have my I have my Dexcom alarm set at 130 and I don't let it I don't let it go high. I am probably a little over aggressive on correcting. But I'm not I'm more scared of I'm not scared of the highs but I like what you say with the long term facts and I love your sandblasting analogies like I I don't want to deal with that. I just the lows don't scare me. They probably should but I've also not had very many terrible lows. So I just I I think it's still 150 I'm correcting it. And because I just I can't stand that feeling of the exhaustion and it's really hard for me because my work is super understanding And I'll just, you know, I'll talk to my supervisor and be like, Look, I'm not feeling great today. Yeah, I'm gonna take a couple hours off. I'll make up the time later this evening. And they're understanding about that, but it gives me anxiety because being completely honest and transparent six months before my diagnosis, if someone said I can't do something right now, I'm exhausted. My blood sugar's have been crazy. All day. I would, I would be like, okay, and I would feel sympathetic, but I would also have that thought in the back of my head of like,

Scott Benner 1:10:35
one of my hires, okay, up until, yeah,

Leigh Anne 1:10:39
like, like it? I would, I would feel upset because they were like, are they using their diabetes as an excuse to not do something because I, until it happened to me, I had no comprehension of how much I understand. Yeah, like, like sugar can affect things.

Scott Benner 1:10:56
Listen, I do think it's important right to realize, like, I know that you deserve I'm not saying any of this, right. Like I know that you deserve. You know, you're covered by the ADEA. You know, it's a disability, like all that stuff. But I hear your greater point. Like, that's not how you want to be thought of in the workplace, and probably not how you want to feel personally and physically. So is the real. I mean, are we really saying you either need to get better at bolusing or change your diet?

Leigh Anne 1:11:26
Yeah, I'm, I need to get better at Pre-Bolus ing. I even before diabetes, a poor habit that I've picked up from my bartending days was waiting until it was like I'm super hungry to go eat. It's I don't plan to eat. It's just like, Oh, crap. It's two o'clock and I haven't eaten lunch and my stomach growling I need to go eat right now. But that doesn't work with diabetes. Like, I need to have some sort of thought and I'm not like I'll Bolus and then I'll be like, alright, and it's been it's definitely been enough time. I'm gonna go eat now. And it's only been five minutes. Like, that's not enough time. So

Scott Benner 1:12:05
yeah, I just the other night, Arden said that she thought Oreos would help her study at 11 o'clock. And I said, that's fine. Just Pre-Bolus and then like, half an hour later, her blood sugar is going up. And I went and I was like, what happened? She goes, I Pre-Bolus like how long? I said, because I'm thinking 20 minutes for an Oreo. And she goes, Oh, it wasn't that long. I said, well, then you didn't really Pre-Bolus And she's like, okay, so I mean, it really is a likely I joked about it earlier, but like you gotta like, it's time to like, be an adult, you know what I mean? Like, do stuff you don't want to do. Like all I had to be honest with you. If you had a baby, right now, next year, that was yours, you would understand better what I was saying. Like that idea of like, you have to just, it's, um, I really don't like it when like, like married people say like, Oh, you'll understand when you're married, or parents, like you don't know till you have a baby. But there are some things you won't know until you have a baby, you know, like, and the idea of just like, this isn't what I want to do, but this is what I'm doing. And I better do it and be happy about it, or I'm gonna ruin somebody's life is it's a strong, strong pole. And you're in that situation, like you're going to, you're going to be ruining your life, like you can feel it your is how you've described it, like, you know, you're not feeling well, you're worried about your job, etc, etc. And the the answer to well, what can you do about that was a good Pre-Bolus better, so Pre-Bolus better,

Leigh Anne 1:13:34
you know, and that's another strong motivator for me up until like, maybe a year ago, I was very much a fencer of like, whether I'd ever have kids. And then now that's definitely a possibility in my future, and I look at like, the numbers that you need to have.

Scott Benner 1:13:52
Yeah, you're gonna need to Pre-Bolus Yeah,

Leigh Anne 1:13:55
it's just like, oh, man, this is a lot. It's super hard. And I do try. And then it's, for me, it's a lot of struggle between anxiety and motivation. And just it's a lot of work that I was not prepared for. And yeah, but now that you will streamline things.

Scott Benner 1:14:17
Well, now that you're aware of it, though. I mean, what's the plan? Like do you have? Have you thought through what you need to do to make a change? I guess.

Leigh Anne 1:14:29
I have an eye. It's one of those situations where I know exactly what I need to do. I just need to do it. So like right now I'm at Pre-Bolus in about 50% of the time. And when I was doing MDI, and before I got CGM, I was being very good about my diet. But now that I have the pump, and the Dexcom I'm a little bit lazier about it because it's like, oh, well Oh, it doesn't matter that it's 60 carbs, I can just Bolus for it. Yeah. And, and figure it out later. And pasta is just so easy to cook and you don't have to worry about keeping things fresh. So I like got lazy. But um, my boyfriend's really sweet. He he was like, really, really early on into stating he wanted to learn more about diabetes. And it's funny because I, I went on a couple of days with him like four years ago before any of this. And then when we met up again, we went and I pulled on it, and I was like, Oh, fun fact, I'm diabetic. Now. That's the thing. He was like, what? And I was like, yeah, it just happened. And but he he's been really supportive. He tries really hard to like when he cooks to be considerate of like, how many carbs are in it? Good. But he also has a terrible sweet tooth. So he'll just, he'll have candy or sodas all the time. And I'll be like, hey, maybe maybe you shouldn't drink that much. He's like, No, it's fine. He's like, I'll just finish whatever you can't have. So we'll split desserts, and I'll have two bites, and he'll eat the rest of it. Just, I guess, sweet. I don't know.

Scott Benner 1:16:23
I mean, it sounds opportunistic. But I hear what you're saying. But

Leigh Anne 1:16:27
it works out. But he. So we're getting back into, like, I'm starting to get back into a habit of eating better. And yeah, because I don't want to overwhelm myself. Like I have benchmark goals of like, alright, well, this month, I'm going to try to make you know, 50% of my meals, lower carb meals, and I'm gonna, you know, try to Pre-Bolus So I like I loosened up my ranges on my Dexcom, clarity and on the T slim just to try to like don't know, incentivize me to do better with time and range. And then over the next six months, I plan to kind of like, crank it down slowly. So it's not like, I'm gonna stay between, you know, 70 and 120. Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna good plan, bring that down.

Scott Benner 1:17:27
That's a good point. That's a good plan. i It really is, like, shoot for a goal. Once you find yourself in that goal, tighten the range, keep shooting. And before you know it, you should be in a place where you're not getting those spikes that are making you feel terrible. And you're gonna get there through Pre-Bolus thing and actively watching your blood sugar after your Bolus for a meal and not letting it get out of hand. And you know, it'll become commonplace for you if you want it to be if you want it to become commonplace. And you take those steps. I think it will be. Yeah, yeah. Good for you.

Leigh Anne 1:17:59
I'm excited about it.

Scott Benner 1:18:01
I'm happy to hear better. Yeah, no, I mean, you're doing listen. Let's try to keep in mind. It's November. You've had diabetes for like, 10 months. Yeah, you're doing really well. You know that right? You do?

Leigh Anne 1:18:14
I do. I know.

Scott Benner 1:18:17
But they don't help that.

Leigh Anne 1:18:20
Yeah. So one, one thing I just want to because I know it's gonna drive you, you're gonna think I'm crazy. But for so diabetes Awareness Month, I've decided that because I've gotten lazy I'm running to cause my marathon got canceled. I'm running at least a mile every day this month.

Scott Benner 1:18:39
In celebration of the Awareness Month. Yeah.

Leigh Anne 1:18:42
So I also created a tic tock, which is really dumb, because I don't understand tic tock but I was like, this seems like a place that I can flood with videos of me running that no one will care about. Um, so I'm

Scott Benner 1:18:57
currently using Tiktok incorrectly. But I have content coming for it. But at the moment, I'm not using it correctly.

Leigh Anne 1:19:07
I'm pretty sure I'm using it incorrectly too. But you know,

Scott Benner 1:19:10
well, listen. To use it correctly means setting your camera up and dancing in front of it, which I will not be doing. I'm gonna I think I have some content that will work well on and I'll be giving it a try. But listen, I think first of all, I want to thank you for coming on you were really terrific. I appreciate you telling that story. I do think whether we're talking about Medtronic or anything honestly like anything to do with your health. I appreciate that you tried something didn't work for you. You stuck to your guns got it swapped out. There's a lot of accomplishment in there really. And just in general, like getting through being diagnosed with enduring COVID and the kind of like haphazard way that things began. I really appreciate you sharing this whole story with me today. Thank you very much.

Leigh Anne 1:20:05
Yeah, I loved it. I was. I've been looking forward to this for months.

Scott Benner 1:20:09
Oh, I'm glad that's so nice to hear. And you were good. You weren't nervous or not too bad.

Leigh Anne 1:20:14
I didn't get nervous until like, 1059. And then I was like,

Scott Benner 1:20:19
oh my god, like right before it was gonna start. Oh, yeah, like, like, this will be fine. Wait, maybe what if it isn't? You start freaking out. And then you got on it. My audio wasn't set up. Right. I thought that was my fault. But now we're good. Probably got the cat out. Yeah, let that cat that box that you stuck it in? Or whatever you put. I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong to it. Right.

Leigh Anne 1:20:40
Now. He's just in my bedroom. Right? That seems legal, totally destroying something.

Scott Benner 1:20:44
That's your problem. I gotta go. Well, yeah, I have to, I'm going to get my eyebrows. I'm going to get my eyebrows threaded.

Leigh Anne 1:20:56
That is a delight. That fact brings me a lot of joy.

Scott Benner 1:21:00
It all started because Arden gets her eyebrows threaded. And I'm like her ride. And then my family makes fun of me because they say my eyebrows look sad because they crawl around my eyes too much. And so I'm there one day, and we just aren't I just messed around. I'm like, I'm gonna I'll do it too. Like, I'm just trying to be a good, bad, you know what I mean? And so she's like, you're really going to try this. And I was like, I'll try it. And I did. And it hurt really bad. And she got the one I done. I had a conscious thought I was like, maybe I'll just do the one I was really hurt. But then I went back with Arden. I don't know, some weeks later. And the woman's like, again, and I went, yeah, alright, so I did it again, hurt just as bad. But I have to admit, I looked in a mirror last night. I can't believe I'm saying this. And I thought I have to get my eyebrows threaded. And then I got home and art and goes Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? And I was like, What do you mean? She goes like after you're done with the podcast? What are you doing? I said, you know, I'm gonna edit some more podcasts because I gotta get my eyebrows threaded, you want to go? And I went, Oh my God. Yeah, I just realized I need to do that. And it was an embarrassing moment for both of us. I think that's what I'm doing now. Like, I'm gonna get my eyebrows threaded. And by the way, people should know, way cheaper than waxing. I really know I've never had my eyebrows waxed. But I am a person who was paid for it for other people. And that's expensive. The threadings like five bucks.

Leigh Anne 1:22:32
Maybe I'll have to try that.

Scott Benner 1:22:33
But it's, it's, there's this great Indian salon near us. And we go in there and they just like, it's amazing. Like, I do think that we're maybe the only Caucasian people that go there. Because when we call ahead for an appointment, I'm like, Hello. I'd like to make an appointment for she goes Arden and I'm like, am I the only white guy that calls this? I must be I'm like yes Arden house 330. So, anyway, threading, that's my that's my tip to all of you.

Leigh Anne 1:23:04
Alright, have fun. Um, thanks for having me on. Afternoon YouTube

Scott Benner 1:23:18
a huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, G voc glucagon. Find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. you spell that GVOKEGLUC AG o n.com. Forward slash juice box. I'd also like to thank us med for sponsoring this episode and remind you to go to us med.com forward slash juice box or call 888-721-1514.

If you're enjoying the show, please tell someone else about it. And if you'd like to get even more support in the form of a really amazing Facebook community. Look for Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. It's a private group with over 25,000 people in it just like you. There's also a public page. It's called Juicebox Podcast public page. If you just want to follow the podcast on Facebook. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.