#701 Child of the 60s

June 16, 2022Scott Benner

Monica has type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed at age three.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 701 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today we're going to talk with Monica who was diagnosed at three years old. But today, she's 61. Monica has a rich life full of interesting experiences. And she's here today to tell us about them. 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. You do not have to ask a doctor to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Join the registry and fill out the survey that you can do have your own a CT T one D exchange, Ford slash juice box when you take the survey, you're supporting people with type one diabetes, and the Juicebox Podcast. Are you looking for the diabetes Pro Tip series? It begins at episode 210. You can also find it at diabetes pro tip.com and juicebox podcast.com. Or in the private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, there's a list of the diabetes Pro Tip series, and all of the series within the podcast. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Ian pen from Medtronic diabetes in pen is an insulin pen that talks to an application on your smartphone and gives you much of the functionality that you will get from an insulin pump. In Penn today.com The podcast is also sponsored today by us med. Don't just get your diabetes supplies from anywhere. Get them from us med Call today for your free benefits check 888-721-1514 Or you could just go to us med.com forward slash juicebox. Us men always provides 90 days worth of supplies. And they give you fast and free shipping. Us med.com forward slash juicebox are you wearing a headset?

Monica 2:25
I'm wearing yes like your pod thing. earbud whatever you call it. It's working on the computer I have doesn't have like a plugin for the other kind. And I was like oh, crap. I have to this was before I have to buy some Bluetooth ones.

Scott Benner 2:44
I think you could have gotten a adapter. You were looking for an excuse to buy yourself some nice bluetooth headphones marching?

Monica 2:50
Yeah, yes. It gave me a great excuse. And I'm always looking for those.

Scott Benner 2:56
It's okay to say that to me, by the way you are being recorded. So whoever whoever you were hiding the purchase from right here this one day.

Monica 3:03
I don't really hide them.

Scott Benner 3:06
The other day my wife says to me, I bought a sofa. I like wet wipe. Hello. What's happening? So she's completely overtaken our dining room COVID You know, and I think she's learned that she likes working from home. And she thinks she's going to be doing it at least a number of days a week. Forever, probably. And she says to me, I'm I'm gonna get rid of the dining room table, take this light off the ceiling, get a desk and put a sofa in here. And she was just saying it. You know what I mean? Like, I was like, oh, yeah, whatever you want to do. And meanwhile, I was like, Where are we going to eat? But it's fine. You know, I guess we didn't really use the dining room that much anyway. And then one day, she's like, I ordered a sofa. It's pink. I've always wanted a pink sofa. I said okay. Okay, I didn't even know what to say. I just not a big deal. Well, Ben, I didn't. I didn't care. You just she just bought a sofa. Now I feel like if I would have bought a sofa it might not have gone the same way.

Monica 4:12
May have been questions.

Scott Benner 4:13
Somebody would have been like, let me see this sofa. Why do you think this is necessary? Where's it going to go? Please explain your actions. I just stood there. I was like, Okay, so anyway, Monica, you seem pretty relaxed.

Monica 4:27
So I wrote this little note down that I'm nervous. But it was funny to me because a number of years ago I had media training because I would go on TV, radio, etc. For the state Dietetic Association and I also spoke to a lot of groups, nutrition, just kind of, you know, basic things, but um, and I'd always have the little trickle of sweat down my back and then I was good. And then I thought Why am I nervous? I'm, you know, I'm talking to one individual You know, it was just a funny thought.

Scott Benner 5:02
Yeah, no one's ever gonna write. You know, the funny thing is, is that if that was local television, you were doing. Yeah, you might be talking to more people doing this than you have in the past, but it's still just you and I speaking at the moment, so it's no big deal. Yes. Yeah. Well, that's great. What

Monica 5:19
I did learn when that the radio shows that I did, often I did them around the holidays, and you know, talk about tips. And people might call in or might not, I learned that years later, they were still replaying them. And some of them went all the way across the state of Arkansas. And I was like, wow, I didn't know that. But I mean, I didn't care. It was just kind of a funny thing. When someone said, they heard me again on the radio, and I thought, that was like two years ago.

Scott Benner 5:46
So I've done the I forget what they call them, but they put me in a room. And it was you're on a set, right? And you're you're dressed nicely and miked up, and it would go back and forth. Like you'd be on like morning television. And then you'd be on morning radio, then morning, radio the morning, and it would just and I did it for like, I think four or five hours straight. And I was dizzy. By the time it was over. I did it with a I think with a nurse practitioner. I don't remember her name. And we only talked about sending your kids on sleepovers when they had diabetes. Oh, wow. It was just it was exhausting. I couldn't believe how difficult it was by the time it was over.

Monica 6:29
Yeah. Well, great that you did it. I'm sure it was appreciated by a lot of people.

Scott Benner 6:34
Oh, your eye? Let me be clear. I was paid to do it. That's okay. Okay. It's all good. It was it was interesting. I you know, it's funny, it was back around. Do you remember Lilly diabetes? Had those little Disney books? Yes, they actually stopped. I think Lilly and Disney stopped their. Their partnership recently. I don't know if they've announced it yet. But I think it's done. And, um, and it was around that first book. It was like Coco's first sleepover or something like if I'm remembering it, right. And we just like, I'll never forget getting that call. And Lily was like, Would you do this? And I guess so. So I went to New York City, I spent the night got up early in the morning, went to a studio and just talked about sleepovers for five hours. We're not going to do that. Now. Tell me. Tell me how old you are. And when you were diagnosed?

Monica 7:26
Sure, I am 61 years old. And I was diagnosed when I was three, which would be 1963 1963 61 years

Scott Benner 7:37
old. I have to admit, I thought you had diabetes for a long time. And then when you came on, your voice sounded so young that I thought maybe I read the wrong description for a person when I sat down.

Monica 7:48
So I'm so lucky that, you know, the two gene pools mom and dad, on my mom's side, there was always this youthful appearance and energy and all that and my dad's side, they just seem to look older. And my they were my parents were only nine months apart. But people used to mess with him. Like who's that young girl you married, you know, and they thought there was about a 10 year age difference. And so I'm fortunate I followed mom's side. Great as my dad was I've just for the for the other part.

Scott Benner 8:22
Yeah. You just have a great voice. And I wouldn't Oh, thank you, I would not have been able to guess your age from your voice, which is neither here nor there. But that's how it struck me when you jumped on. Okay, so you were diagnosed in the early 60s? How old? Were you again? Yes, three, three.

Monica 8:39
So I my mom kept so many things. But what she told me my mom and dad are both now deceased. My mom died a little over a year ago in 2020. And she was 90 So longevity there. But she said over the years that I started asking for sweet drinks, I don't know if that was soda or what or juice and I began wetting the bed and that that was very unusual one they didn't they didn't give us a lot of sweet drinks there might have been some fruit capital juice, orange juice, milk, you know those kinds of things water and so those were unusual and so she took me to the doctor so I never was like deathly ill. And the cute story and that I also remember like these you know you have flashes of the kids stuff. I never felt bad so she took me to my the family doctor Doctor fulsome isn't that funny? I remember his name. Um, and then I don't know what I think they did a blood test and then they sent me over at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles because we lived in Los Angeles then. And I I'm guessing that the care there was really really good but I I never felt bad. And during the hospital stay of a couple of weeks they wish they would be looking for me. Because I there was a chair by, they put me in like a crib, and there was a chair by the crib. And I figured out how to climb out and I go visit what I called the sick kids. And so my mom said, there'd be these paging overhead, you know, looking for me when they came, you know, because they'd have to go home at night to sleep. But anyway, it's just funny. Just, you know, I was never I never felt sick.

Scott Benner 10:34
You couldn't think you didn't think yourself that way. Was that even at a young age? You didn't think of yourself that way that that carry through your life? Yes,

Monica 10:43
absolutely. Um, I mean, I've never felt funny about talking about being diabetic. But I also never, that wasn't my first thought. You know, I, I was a tomboy, I was active. I going through these records that my sister in law sent when they packed up my mom and dad's house. I was in every imaginable play, tumbling. Everything from, you know, as young as you were able to my mom signed us up at the different, you know, little theaters and Parks and Rec and whatever kinds of things were available to us. Yeah.

Scott Benner 11:24
And I'm assuming that your management allows you not to really think about diabetes too much, right? Because you were probably just getting, I mean, was that even I wasn't even regular an MPH at that point, right. That was, was that beef and pork.

Monica 11:38
It was beef and pork. And I don't know which one I was on. I was on one shot a day. And it was, it was not I remember your other person you interviewed not too long ago was talking about lenti and semi linty. I was never on that. And they, they use these glass syringes that they stored in a metal pan that had a lid on it, and there was alcohol in it. And I heard another one of your interviews with somebody, somebody they boiled there's I'm sure they did that too. But between boy liens, it was in this metal pan. And that stayed in the master bathroom or the bathroom attached the master bedroom. And I also found, again, my mom, I guess semi hoarder, the dietitians notes of how to feed me, in essence, and they followed the tag total available glucose method, which accounts for the Calculate glucose effect from carbohydrate, protein and fat. And that was in 1963. Yes, and my mom had the records from 1963 in 1977, that the dietitian had given her and there was a couple of questions. My mom was a health nut. So asking about tofu at some point. Grilled liver was on my food list. Somewhere in there, I must have had that.

Scott Benner 13:05
I'm gonna say that doesn't sound good. Did your mom keep the syringes? Or the vials or anything?

Monica 13:11
I don't I don't have any of those. Because so we've, we lived in Southern California for a long time, but then there have been several moves, following that. So I think in the course of some of those moves, those things didn't follow. So and I, I don't know, I can't remember at what point I went from one shot to more, but have you know, you have these little flashes of things. So I remember we were struggling with blood sugar, I must have been preteen ish teen, and nobody could explain why. And finally, we ended up with a female physician. And she said, Well, it's probably her hormones. And you know, it's just weird how information comes in, in those old days and quotes, you know, and so I just, I just know, I was always able to be super active. I was, I did everything

Scott Benner 14:13
you have. I have a couple of questions. So first, let me say this before because it stuck in my head. Now. I don't know what episode it was. But I remember someone talking about having broken their glass syringe and that and it being a like a significant financial strain on the family. And they didn't know what to do. So they actually went to the pharmacist who gave them another and then put them on a payment plan. And then their parent had to show up at the pharmacy weekly and put a little money on it. Like it was almost like layaway that you got to take home with you. Oh my Monica, you're banging something on the desk. No, not fidgeting or touching things. Oh, I

Monica 14:53
did take one sip of a drink. Oh, no, you're allowed to. And I guess when I set it down musta come through very

Scott Benner 15:00
low. Yes, yes. That don't worry about that. So, but I'm always really interested about your remembrance of how you tracked your health back then. Were you peeing on sticks or what were you doing?

Monica 15:15
It is, I mean, you think about so the dark age thing. It's comical, but my dad had some mathematical formula and lucky for us, he got his bachelor's degree in mathematics, and he'd always been doing that or engineering type things. But he was given some formula and I just remember him taking the dipstick results. Okay, the dipstick, so you're you're either showing ketones or you're not, I mean, the dipstick. And so the urine dipstick, he plugged some number in somewhere, they came up with how many of these total available glucose glucose grams I was going to eat, and the resultant amount of insulin. And I just remember him standing in, in the bathroom, he had some little logbook notebook something there, and he would run his formula. I don't have any record of that. I just, you know, again, young kid watching your dad while you wait on your shot.

Scott Benner 16:18
Your father figured something out on his own to help you.

Monica 16:23
The I think the hospital taught them something. Okay.

Scott Benner 16:27
But it was a lot of fun.

Monica 16:30
Yes. No technology and periodic go to the family doctor and get your blood drawn. Where you don't have. Yeah,

Scott Benner 16:38
where are you getting? So there was no blood draws to track your health. Was there be were you peeing on sticks to get color? Yes. Okay. Yes. And what did they What did those colors I see I'm always amazed by this because the color would tell you you were too high or too low, but then there was no next step to take right? Correct. Yeah. That's why people's

Monica 16:59
blood draws were at the family doctor. I don't know the frequency. But I go in there and they find out my blood sugar. periodically.

Scott Benner 17:09
Yeah. And that was it. Was that an A onesie even back then? No, it wasn't no, no, no

Monica 17:15
a one sees we're not like tilba atds That's what I keep. My brother was diagnosed with type one and not teen 75 So they live dark ages for probably seven eight years. Also

Scott Benner 17:27
Wait a second. So your your brother older or younger brother.

Monica 17:31
Younger, I've got an autoimmune family. I've got psoriatic rheumatoid arthritis with my older sister and I've got type one diabetes with my brother. Younger.

Scott Benner 17:41
How bad is that arthritis.

Monica 17:44
With Tullis is in rough shape. Unfortunately, she carries some extra weight. She also has hypothyroid she has all matters of stuff and I'm not sure she's had all the right testing done. I was texting with her the other day because I was listening to your your doctor. That's the specialist in thyroids. And I figure I got to keep learning on that side to try to I didn't even realize all these other autoimmune stuff. were tied back to the T one D people. I had no idea until I started listening and seeing I guess I just lived in this pretty good world. It didn't happen to me, you know?

Scott Benner 18:24
Yeah, I'll say this that. I don't know a ton about the arthritis. But I can tell you that if her thyroid isn't well managed, then she could be having pain, joint pain, stuff like that. They might not be helping the arthritis. Yeah, you know, could be making things worse, at the very least.

Monica 18:45
Yep. I plan to kind of talk further with her. And we'll try to figure out next steps, but because I think that somewhere there's missing puzzles. She has really severe asthma. She has a number of things.

Scott Benner 18:59
Asthma, too. Hmm, Hmm. Interesting. How old is she now?

Monica 19:04
She's two years older than me. So she'd be 63. And my brother is five years younger than me.

Scott Benner 19:11
Okay. Did you and your brother have any kind of kinship around diabetes? Or were you? I mean, he would have still been in the house when he was diagnosed. Right?

Monica 19:22
So sort of, so what happened? I was 15. So I was I was talking to him last month or so. And I was just asking him questions, too, because there's stuff that I don't remember. And I said, so keep in mind when I ask you these things, one, I'll we I got moved with my dad temporarily to Virginia, not because of a separation and my parents had two jobs. But my brother was diagnosed right before that. And I'm 15 I'm a rotten teenage brat. You know, I'm a girl going through hormones. I'm in high school living my life. And so I'm not he's my little brother. You know what I mean? Not that I didn't care about him. But it's just kind of, it's just kind of how it is with siblings. And I remember they, he had a one year honeymoon period. And all the only thing that I can clearly remember that is they told my mom, just don't give him ice cream at night. And if you do give it to him during the day, so and let him play it off, run it off. And so he got to go along for a year without insulin. And somewhere in there, my family, my mom and my brother moved to join my dad and I in Virginia, and he ended up with a really good endocrinologist at Georgetown, because they were so near DC. And he's always done really, really well too.

Scott Benner 20:48
Interesting. So you guys, so your parents had some background a number of years in fact, and then they got another child diagnosed and then they got a different kind of medical backup. Did you see his care being much different than yours?

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Monica 25:14
Yes. When he went to so first of all, he was on to two types of insulin, but they were still, he said, purified pork was his initial long acting. And he, he went to this doctor at Georgetown, and the doctor told him, here's my plan. And it was kind of rigid carbohydrates distributed through meals and snacks, the rest of his food intake, because he was growing. So 11, almost at that point, is whatever you want protein or vegetables or you know, other things can fill in the gaps. But he basically told my brother and my mom, but my brother because he wanted to influence him. If you don't do what I tell you, you won't be able to be my patient anymore. And something to the effect of and I'm really good. You know, and I believe because of how well my brother did, he was probably kind of accurate in that.

Scott Benner 26:18
Okay, so he just sort of gave him the high school football coach version of like, you're gonna do it my way or you don't get you don't get to be on the team. And did he have better outcomes than you? Are we still not measuring outcomes at that point? We're not right. 75 we're not measuring

Monica 26:35
anything. I think that. I mean, he probably had some more hypoglycemia, but it's hard to know. But like me, I mean, he played sports, he played soccer that traveled up to Canada and all over he, he just did well. I was in a Girl Scout troop that backpacked all over Southern California, we would be in the mountains, the desert, the beach, you name it. We were camping out. And I did that. And, and I don't remember episodes of hypoglycemia through that. I tried to ask my sister because she was older than me. Do you remember me having any struggles like that? She's like, No. And she didn't remember what I carried to help me. She remembers my mom giving me juice, you know, here and there. But well, I only have one. I'm sorry. No,

Scott Benner 27:32
no, we're just gonna say when you're doing those one shots. If you're eating, there's probably not a ton of opportunity to be low. And you're I mean, because what do you think your agency probably was?

Monica 27:45
I don't know. Because the first one I got? Well, I don't know what it was. But I know when I wanted to get pregnant with my daughter, which was she was born in 88. I knew I had to have to under seven a onesies. And I worked out continuously and I achieved that. And I plan my pregnancy carefully. Luckily for me, things worked that way. And I was able to have her at the right time. She was only born four days early. She was seven pounds normal size, you know, all the things went right. So

Scott Benner 28:26
let me take a tiny bit of a detour here for a second. I just had you ever have those shocking moments when you realize you're older than you think you are? Yes happened to me a moment ago when you were 61 years old told me that your daughter was born the year before I graduated from high school. But in my mind, you're 61 I know this is stupid. I'm 50. And you're much older than I am. Except you're not. Like it didn't stop my heart. But it froze me for half a second. You were like she was on an ad. I was like, oh god, why am I so old?

Monica 29:02
I think about all the time because my daughter is 33 years old. And I'm like, No way How

Scott Benner 29:11
when I hear that. I'm like, Oh, she her daughter's kind of getting older. younger than me. But that really took me for a loop. So, Mike, what really stuck to me was is that you had an 81 C in the eights I'm guessing and you exercised your way into the sevens

Monica 29:30
I don't really know what it was for all I know is I I've always exercise so that makes it sound like I I overdid it. I just made sure that I didn't miss any consistency. And I I always ate pretty well. But all of us have our little things now and then. But I did. I did have a turning point with when I was a dietitian in Washington DC that made me really focus on my eating. But I'll tell you that in a second. And so I just made sure that I wasn't over seven by being a little extra careful. And then the next time I have record of an A one see is when I went on my first pump in 1992. And it was my baseline before the pump was 7.8. So not terrible.

Scott Benner 30:18
Yeah, it's really interesting. Any of your How many children do you have in total?

Monica 30:23
I just have her because in spite of the fact I did maintain really good blood sugar's and agencies and all those Now granted, because we don't know what things like timing range where then I was pretty clear of any problems, side effects anything. And then I was in my somewhere in my pregnancy with her and I was working at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. And I needed I went to see the eye center there, which is world renowned. And they decided I needed a little lasering to to keep my eyes good. There was some beginnings of retinopathy. So I did that. I had her. I start jogging to get back, you know, the pregnancy weight off. And I had a little little retinal bleed. And I went in and I'm like, What the Hey, and I said, I thought I was so good. And they just said that. The way my little capillaries grew Rama, I it made them more fragile to the jarring movement. I don't know. But I was jogging. And so they they treated me again. And then I was stable. Pretty much forever retinopathy has been my only side effect. But I have full sight. I just, you know, have had to keep on it and keep treating it.

Scott Benner 31:47
It's interesting to listen to somebody talk about that many years ago, because, you know, when you're you're saying, but you know, I got it to the sevens. It was good. You know, that whole thing? I think now pregnancy, they want you in the loaf, like in the fives, or to be pregnant.

Monica 32:02
Right? Those are those days,

Scott Benner 32:04
of course. But I'm saying I'm not judging it. I just think it's interesting to hear it. And it's it's good of you to talk about the retinopathy issue too. Because even though that was the standard, everyone, I'm guessing based on technology, this was kind of the best anybody could do. But you still ended up having an issue with it. And because there are people nowadays who hear well, like I have a seven, I'm okay. And I'm like, Well, for now, maybe, you know, like and there's all this stuff that you could be doing or ways to understand your insulin better. That could put you in a situation where maybe you're not getting your eyes lasered one day, you know now yeah, what was that experience? Like?

Monica 32:49
Um, it was, I mean, it wasn't terrible. It's just depending on how much they did at a time. I might have a nagging headache afterwards, but I normally drove myself to and from I didn't you know, it wasn't something that took away my day.

Scott Benner 33:03
And we've helped stop the progression

Monica 33:07
for the most part and then so fast forward, I'm living in where I live now in Arkansas, and I had just been to the to see the ophthalmologist, my eyes were good, my Awan see, because once I got on the pump, my onesies stayed like 5355 up to low sixes. I think I might have hit a 6768. Occasionally. This is without CGM. But so I had like a massive bleed in my left eye. And I just like the day after, I'd been to the eye doctor, and I just I got on their emergency line, like what in the world. So they, they told me you know, raise your head up, do this, do that. And all the blood cleared and ever since I think there's probably been somewhere in there that was probably a little more laser treatment is kind of hard to remember before after that. But every time I go now and only go once a year to the specialist, the retinal specialist. He's like you have a perfect macula. Everything looks so stable. They're always pretty amazed. But again, that's because I kept my control. Good.

Scott Benner 34:28
Yeah, you did get it lower too. And as the technology I mean, you did what I think is the greatest thing. You know, as the technology became available, you didn't shy away from it. And that's really important, honestly, Hey, you. What did you What did you do for a living as an adult?

Monica 34:46
So I have I graduated from the University of Connecticut with my Bachelor of Science in Clinical dietetics I became a dietitian and I did clinic work for a while. And then I ended up getting with, I always liked the idea of being with corporations because you had job advancement opportunities. So I ended up with a nursing home Corporation. And I kind of covered like a lot of the East Coast, Virginia, Maryland, DC, I went to their nursing homes and did sort of quality assurance and some charting and just made sure they were feeding people appropriately. And somewhere in there, the people that were in charge of writing the menus, and this was a large company that were like 1200 nursing homes, wanted to move the position out of a dieticians basement in Pittsburgh, into the corporate office that had opened in Arkansas. And so they start talking to me about it, because I, I've always, this is gonna sound very braggy. But I'm pretty smart, you know, I do pretty well, I can stay organized. So those things were recognized by other people. And so I applied, and they moved me into here in their headquarters, which it doesn't the company doesn't exist anymore, eventually went away, got bought and this and that. But they had me run their menu program, which I had to supervise like dieticians in certain regions to make sure the food match the food preferences of the people that live there.

Scott Benner 36:32
Monica, are you are you telling me that you followed your husband to Virginia, so he had to follow you to Arkansas?

Monica 36:39
i Okay, so I am on my third marriage, which I've been in 20 years. So I, I left a husband back in Maryland, and brought my daughter she was three and a half to Arkansas. And the job opportunity was great, because then it could, you know, help that happen. And got here and you know, because in your in your different segments, you do things with mental health, I did two bad choices. Who knows why? Because I'm assertive on the job, but apparently not so in my personal life or wasn't. And so after some therapy, I became the same person across the board, you know, assertive able to speak for myself? Well, and I always tease my current husband, you're probably Sorry, I got all that therapy.

Scott Benner 37:31
Of the three of them, you're having the least good time, just so you know.

Monica 37:37
Although he's hung with me 20 years, so it's all good.

Scott Benner 37:41
When you got married the first time.

Monica 37:43
So I was 26, I believe, and then my daughter two years later. And then she was three and a half when I decided he unfortunately had some problems and drinking and some things that just we needed to go to for the best of both of us. And yeah,

Scott Benner 38:05
talk about for a second, though, what you mean, what you meant by not being as assertive. You like just letting things happen that you knew weren't right. Or you didn't? Yes, yeah, the Speak Up that kind of stuff.

Monica 38:17
So, my, my parents, so this is what led me to this place that my parents always tried to help in the communities and things. My dad was active with fair housing, in our Southern California town, so that, you know, whatever you look like you could move into that neighborhood. And it was a super wonderful mix of ethnicities and races and things like that over time. And so, in that mindset of helping people, I think I took on the wrong belief that you could not just help them but fix them. So I apparently started to attract to myself fixers, you know, people that needed fixing Yeah, and instead of just people that could be your partner, and I had that happen twice. The first one, you know, you had somebody on the first one, because of his alcoholism ended up being somewhat abusive, more verbal than physical, but a little physical. And so when I left that situation, I didn't get help right away to get me past that. And it's easy then to fold yourself in with someone else. Not exactly the same, but just not right. And so those those things happened, but fortunate for me, my best friend is like a psychological examiner. So she's got her master's in psychology, and she was able to get me to somebody that was really competent, and very, very helpful.

Scott Benner 39:59
Thank you. Free of the idea that, that you were going to be able to help people who maybe didn't want the help, or were beyond the help, or maybe it just wasn't your job to begin with to help them.

Monica 40:11
Correct. Correct.

Scott Benner 40:13
Okay. Well, that's, that's amazing that you did that. In, you know, I see takes

Monica 40:20
work and stress and things

Scott Benner 40:22
like that. Yeah, that's really cool. And it benefited your daughter, I imagine.

Monica 40:26
Yes. Yep. And my, my husband now, he's, he's just, she's a part of the family, you know, because it's been so long when we got together his son, he has four children, but his youngest was nine. And my daughter was 13. So kind of, you know, they, they learn to go together? Let's do things. Yeah.

Scott Benner 40:49
Does your daughter have any autoimmune issues?

Monica 40:52
Not that we know of at this point. And, you know, I, I was taught that, you know, if you want to birth them, and you breastfeed them, you have the potential to protect them. That may not be true, but I breastfed her for several months, like her attached to me. And then when I went back to work, I did pumping, so I could keep her on breast milk for almost a year, just frozen, you know, we thought out and give it to her. So I always felt like that was healthy.

Scott Benner 41:25
Yeah. Did you do that? Because somebody told you to, or you just had a feeling like this could maybe help and I have diabetes. So let's give her the best chance was that the vibe

Monica 41:35
somewhere in there? I was told that I cannot remember the exact source. You know, again, things were evolving in knowledge and all that. Yeah.

Scott Benner 41:46
Can we take a detour for half a second? Please? You said your mom lived to 90. And you worked in the, in the in the system where people are, you know, helping older people live at the end of their life? Did your mom have to live in a facility ever?

Monica 42:03
Yes. Let me think about it. My dad lived to be 87. So my mom had a stroke when she was 78. And she, she was super healthy. I mean, this woman worked out did yoga did all kinds of things. But they said, Just genetically and it was blood pressure related. Probably what happened sooner she hadn't eaten the way she did and exercise and maintain being quite thin. So she has a stroke. My dad's trying to help take care of her and my, my sister because I don't they were in Northern Virginia and I'm now in Arkansas, my sister was kind of keeping an eye on what was going on in my dad's start to be a little different. So ultimately, we figured out he had Alzheimer's, and it just needed, they needed to be somewhere safe for them. So they moved him into an assisted living place, initially, and then, over time more to a memory care unit in the same facility.

Scott Benner 43:02
Talk about for a second, what people should be looking for. We're like, well, what are some red flags when you're looking at places like that?

Monica 43:11
My sister did more of the research, but we looked at the ratings that the state gives them. We looked at, you know, their staffing ratios, what kind of programs they offer, you know, that's social programs. And when they're in assisted living, they can often go on trips, you know, they carry them in a van or a bus to activities. So they did theater, they did different things. And my parents because we grew up in California, they always enjoyed wine. And so they do even like little cocktail hour at the assisted living and people had a glass of wine, you know, and some appetizers, so they did a lot of things that fit the lifestyle for them. By the way, I didn't stay with long term care. I ended up in pharmaceutical sales. So doing that, well. That's where I spent 22 years also well,

Scott Benner 44:05
I you know I just something wrong in my head a minute ago, and I kind of was googling while you were answering that question. This is interesting. Some people are starting to call Alzheimer's type three diabetes. Really? Yeah, so I'll read you something from Healthline. Some research studies have proposed that Alzheimer's disease should be also classified as the type of diabetes called type three diabetes. A term has been proposed to describe the hypothesis that Alzheimer's which is a major cause of dementia is triggered by a type of insulin resistance and insulin like growth factor dysfunction that occurs specifically in the brain. And if we if we google Alzheimer's, autoimmune new research published in the Journal of Applied laboratory medicine identified specific auto antibodies that mistakenly target the body's own tissues in the surgery Well, in the cerebral spinal fluid of Alzheimer's patients, I guess this is a doctor's name says adds to the evidence that this might be an autoimmune disorder.

Monica 45:20
super weird. What is your my brother and your mom has always been biological research. So tying back to this just quickly, he, at one of the companies he worked at, they had developed some kind of a evaluation to see if you might be at risk. There's certain things in your in your bloodstream, and he tested himself and my sister, and they didn't match up. And I was like, Oh, great. I'm the only one you haven't tested. If one out of five or something can match, I might be in that mix. So

Scott Benner 45:57
I meant I'm sorry, I started to step on you. But I'm glad you finished your thought first. But Did your mom have any autoimmune stuff?

Monica 46:04
Um, no, um, she had some asthma. And then somewhere along lines, even though she was never a smoker, she ended up with a lung cancer tumor that they luckily were able to radiate and stabilize, and it never progressed. But that was kind of that's kind of all for her.

Scott Benner 46:27
I don't think that it's categorized yet, excuse me this way. But asthma is caused by an overreaction from the immune system to certain triggers. So you might not ever have had a chance you and your you and your brother and your sister, you guys were you guys were you might have been destined for this, you know?

Monica 46:47
Yes. And you know, there's in the town that I live in, there's a an osteopathic medical school. And when they first opened up, I think it's been three years ago, now, I met the team that was going to be instructing the students there. And one of them was, or maybe more than one was an adult onset type one. And he got approval initially, to do research with the people that are adult onset type ones. And I don't know what happened, because I don't think they're still at the school. And I was super curious about that. Because I've known some people that, you know, had that. But I always thought, man, they need to just study broadly, these crazy auto immune families, you know, and fit that in the mix. today.

Scott Benner 47:39
I have talked to enough people at this point where I just think it's, I mean, it's, I don't I can't say I'm not a doctor, I haven't done a study, but it's fairly obvious, you know, that autoimmune can travel in bloodlines. And that's really something but can I ask you, overall, looking back? I mean, you had diet, you've had diabetes for the 58 years. Geez. And do you see it as a major impact on your life aside of health? Or do you not feel that way about it?

Monica 48:15
I never have. Like, I mean, I just do everything. And, you know, in the last few years, but these are the things that nobody, people make assumptions about longtime diabetics, especially those that have some science backgrounds, that we know everything we need to know. But I didn't know, all the things were at risk of like, and some of your other people have talked about this carpal tunnel, trigger finger, frozen shoulder, all those things. I didn't know there was higher risk, because I was diabetic. I just, you know, I had I've had those things that they're not still present in my life like that, you know, they've been fixed, or, you know, I do the work to help them go away. But I just I think, well, people need to know at least what to look for. And the more the reasons why to take better care of themselves. And I know you think that some of the people that were without technology always believed hyperglycemia was better than hypoglycemia. But in my family that wasn't it because we always felt like you can fix hypoglycemia, you know, you can drink some juice, you can eat something. But you can't fix that chronic needling away in your bloodstream and your nerves and your because

Scott Benner 49:39
you didn't have an insulin that you could just try to correct with. You were stuck. We know the next time to inject and that was that.

Monica 49:47
But we also I just I can't remember a time I wasn't on my bike at the playground, playing basketball or football with the boys. I just can't remember not doing that stuff. And I think it, it my my current nurse practitioner says, I think that's why you're as good as you are now.

Scott Benner 50:11
So active. Yeah. Well, I mean, you grew up in a warm place to in the 60s. Yes. So, you know, I'm assuming there was a lot of like, Bye, mom, and then you come back eight hours later, stuff like that going on, right? I mean, that's what we used to do. Just we run out the door in the morning and never come home. So absolutely, yeah. Yeah, it all makes sense. I mean, activity is incredibly important. It is. It definitely helps insulin work better, it helps you that, you know, helps your digestion and you know, digesting your food through you shortens the amount of time that it's in there impacting your blood sugar. There's all kinds of great reasons to be active for certain for everybody, not just for people with type one. Yes. Now, so you didn't really feel a big impact on your life. But I do. I do want to ask you, maybe I don't care what the answer is. I'm just interested when technology became a part of your life, and I haven't asked you like you pump or no.

Monica 51:07
Oh, yes. So um, two years ago, 2019 late, to be honest, this time I got on. So I've been doing technology, but not so much with CGM. I got on a tandem with a Dexcom G six. Love, love, love it. And before that, I've worn a pump since 1992. The model of pump I had before the tandem was one of the Medtronic models that did have a CGM associated with it. So if somebody out there gets mad for me saying this, I was on a model like a paradigm five, it's an older model. And the then, CGM I felt was terrible. So what I didn't wear it for the longest time, and then I began to wear it. You'll love that every other week. And I don't know why I picked that random thing. But I just thought at least now and then I can be checking, you know what it looks like. So I did that for a few years, or a couple years anyway, but I just, I didn't like how it had to be applied that it only lasted six days. Just things so the decks calm. And I started researching these different CGM that I also looked at before I changed to the Tannum. I did get an omni pod sent to me the little trial thing, I did several things. I think I wanted the technology of 10 I'm only had the Basal IQ at the time. And then I knew in six months, the CIQ was coming. And I wanted that, and I didn't like the Medtronic system, deciding your Basal for you and doing all those kinds of that auto mode. Okay? Even though I know you can do adjustments with that. And I, no one, no one really taught me and this so I don't mean to be blaming someone else. You're I'm responsible for me. But the Pre-Bolus ing thing was only ever brought up to me on pomp therapy once or twice, but in my sales job and some of my other things I did. I tried that. And I had so many word follow up the bottom events because of you'd be out eating food never came different things that I stopped doing that and I would just dosed when I saw the food. And so I probably had the bouncy effects, you know, you go up and then you normalize you go up, and then you normalize. So the tandem with the Dexcom has given me a lot of information. And I really, really value it. And it's the tandem community on Facebook, the private group that led me to you to your podcast.

Scott Benner 54:00
Oh, good. That's lovely. I have a question. Do you think that when you switched from your older pump, and I Oh, by the way, I think this is the part where I say I'm sorry, Medtronic, I don't control what people think about your stuff. And then we move on to where I did not know any of this about Monica, please.

Monica 54:18
I actually really respect them and their research and their it's just personal preference. I understand that's their science is good. So I don't have a judgment on that.

Scott Benner 54:28
It's just become a running joke in the podcast. That's all so I just have to keep it going. But my question is, is it possible that prior to Dex calm and control IQ, where is it possible you were running heavier basil than you should have been? Do you remember your basil going down when you got to a CGM?

Monica 54:51
Um well so because of my age in my life have changed some. The answer is actually no but um But I know like,

Scott Benner 55:03
because why asking Monique? why I'm asking is I'm picking through the idea of is it possible to before you could see your, you know, you could see your blood sugar in real time where you were maybe doing that MDI thing of like, heavier Basal, to keep your agency lower, and then kind of feeding the insulin before you got low situation and then Pre-Bolus and wouldn't have worked for you. Do you know what I'm saying? Does that make sense?

Monica 55:27
Yeah. So I think that so the old rule that the the, the people like the nurse practitioners, they would talk to me about is Oh, you don't want your Basal to be greater than 50%? I think that rule has changed a little bit. But so mine was sometimes 5557, something went in there. So you're probably right, in terms of their thinking at the time, too. But yes, and yes, yeah.

Scott Benner 55:57
Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's just being able to see your blood sugar is obviously just as such a game changer, you know, at about making decisions, and then the algorithm on top of it is probably magical to you after living with diabetes for this much time.

Monica 56:13
Yes. And my since I've been on this system, my agency has been essentially five to 5.3, so since two years ago. And so that's great. And it's consistent that way, and my time in ranges 93 to 95%. With a standard deviation, it depends, but sometimes it's 27. Think it's gone up as much as 33% 33 standard deviation, but it's really terrific. Oh, yeah, always within the acceptable range. And you know, it's interesting, my brother uses a Dexcom. But he does MDI, and we were talking about that, and they'd always just looked at is a one C, and he said, he's changed endos. And the one he has now was talking about time and range. And they ran his and his, like, either 95 or 97%. I don't know, his standard deviation, but he's, he's done really well.

Scott Benner 57:12
So that's really cool. It's amazing, actually, I mean, that you guys have been persevering like this, and doing such great jobs for yourselves. And it's even nice that you're still considering looking out for your sister. Really, really wonderful. Because people need help, you know, that you can't, you can't know everything about this stuff. You know, and you find information and, and it's, it's great to pass. I mean, you said that somebody from a tandem group told you about the podcast.

Monica 57:45
Yes. So, um, I don't know. Okay, I wasn't a Facebook person. And then when. So in, in 2020, I began my dietitians private practice, I left the pharma and I opened up my own, it's just part time but business. So I got on Facebook to do some of the intandem said something about to look at something of theirs. You should go on Facebook. I don't know as a video or a Facebook Live or something. So I thought, Okay, I'm gonna get on Facebook. And part of that was a time factor in my old job. I just had too many things to do on a computer and I didn't want one more thing. But um, so I so I got on there for dieticians, Facebook Lives, tandems Facebook Lives, and then I saw this tandem group. And in there, people will ask questions a little bit like the Facebook group for juice box. And people would offer their advice of either the sugar surfing book, and or your podcast, and they might even cite an episode. And I was like, I guess I need to go over and get on that podcast. And so I've been just picking and choosing some of the episodes initially, and then I'm ultimately I'll get through all of them, but I chose the ones that would help me best with the CIQ because I was still struggling with the Roly Poly thing. You know, I was like, come on. Yeah, you guys see me is the answer that I want. And I'm only seeing it sometimes

Scott Benner 59:22
way episodes helped you with the loop episodes about the algorithms. or

Monica 59:28
so Pre-Bolus seen the things like feed on the floor, because I would always say to my, the nurse practitioner, I see. I get up in the morning, I'm at seven, I walk around for a few minutes. I I didn't always drink water first thing in the morning, which is something I know as a dietitian anyway, but I didn't know how to do it initially. And I'm like, up to 130 What is going on, you know and so, so just things like that. And just again, though being able to see it, you know, and I also started looking at my night times, which are not bad. But I was like, Why do I have these little, these little rises and you know, peaks and valleys. They're narrow, but they're in there. So I, I adjusted my Basal, and it's pretty much straight across now. So yeah,

Scott Benner 1:00:21
that's so cool. I'm glad it was helpful I really am. If it was helpful at all, it's amazing.

Monica 1:00:25
Really, it's been really, really good. And you and Jenny are amazing in the tips and things. And so I went, I mostly referred to things that were related to me and pomp therapy. So if there was a pro tip on MDI or something, uh, bypass some of that. And, you know, certain things I go past, just because I needed specific things.

Scott Benner 1:00:51
No, I understand. I really do. I think that, um, you know, just the, the, the act of listening to the show, I think is helpful. And I would, I could, you know, I can make a reasonable argument that even if you listen to the stuff you're not interested in, that there'll be something in it that could help you, you know, meaning like MDI when you're pumping, or vice versa. But I take your point, and I mean, it's not like you have I mean, there are 500. And I don't know how many episodes, honestly, I don't know how many episodes are anymore, there's a lot of them. So you can't just listen to everything if you don't have the time. But well, I

Monica 1:01:26
just prioritize them. It's not really that I don't plan to listen to them. I sort of made it, you know, listen to the ones that were going to have more what I felt like immediate

Scott Benner 1:01:36
effect. Oh, you liked the podcast, don't you? I do. Excellent. Yes. Well, I want to come on.

Monica 1:01:44
Um, well, just thinking about, I think, and I said in the, the email that just, I feel lucky, but lucky with the fact that I also have, you know, invested in doing things for myself, just because I came into the timezone that, you know, people didn't do well, in terms of 1963, you know, and matter of fact, I went nine years to a diabetic camp for kids. And sorry, I'm adjusting my, your thing was crawling out of my ears. Could I do something? Can you hear me? Okay, good. Yes. Okay, um, where there are, there are people from that camp that I went for years with that are blind, dead, et cetera, and, you know, amputations and things like that. I have a friend in St. Louis, from there that just got out of the hospital, because she was, you know, having terrible blood sugars. And so though, the people that I was around, and, you know, we came through a good camp that was based out of Loma Linda University and taught a lot of good things, but there just weren't, there weren't the technology and things to help make that journey? Better? Like it is now?

Scott Benner 1:03:03
Yeah. Do you think candy now? Do you think that the information? I mean, there's an obvious question, but the information from back then versus now is just, it's night and day, right? It's like there's, I mean, was there anything that you were taught back then that has real value in today's world?

Monica 1:03:20
Right, well, that staying active, yes. And I probably do some of the things you guys talk about with, you know, kind of think about the too much insulin thing, but I think back to what I'm eating, and so I'm like, do I need to have that much of that food, because it's gonna lead me to take a big old giant dose of insulin, I probably do. That's, that's old world thinking. And I probably have a little bit that hangs around. But if I really want something, I'm going to try to figure out how to do this for it. And forget the amount of insulin.

Scott Benner 1:03:59
So a good balance of common sense and technology. Yeah, that's excellent. That's great. Do you have a particular eating style or not really,

Monica 1:04:08
I'm not really but what I what I've done because again, my my life is a little different. So days that I have clients in the office and I'm going to be in there and sitting for a good portion of the day. I mean, I get up and walk around the block and near my office because you know, it's a decent downtown area. I will tend to eat a low carb lunch so I go get a grilled chicken salad, something like that, where I've always been so active that for fitness reasons I ate high carb, more than 55% of my diet was carbs. Because of how much i did i i bicycle that I ran I strength train. I did all of it. So now because I'm a little little less active age, we move just a number different things. I don't have that level of, you know, I don't go on a Saturday go ride 30 miles on my bike anymore. Yeah, so that doesn't mean I don't do things I'm you know, I do things but different. So I so I can give myself the freedom to not think I need to have my glycogen all built up for that long run or ride. I'm okay to eat a low carb lunch and think different about it. But I've been playing around with some vegetarianism and like we had something last night I tortured my husband with trying my new ideas. But, you know, I don't have any style.

Scott Benner 1:05:39
I'm sure he was thrilled. I'm sure he was absolutely thrilled. Like it whenever you made did it end up being good? Or were you in the state actually

Monica 1:05:47
was good we just had it was red lentil and sweet potato soup. And so vegan, and it was spicy, but I was like, it's spicy without flavor. What's the deal here? And he's like, it just needs salt. So, you know, I've been trying to cut back on sodium for both of our good health. And so it's finally like, Okay, put some salt in it.

Scott Benner 1:06:13
And some cute dup sirloin steak. And

Monica 1:06:17
so that's the funny thing about him. So I'll think, Oh, I'm gonna make a pot of beans. And I'm thinking, you know, onion, celery, jalapeno, something. And he's like, where's the meat? And he literally said, Just get me a can have spam and I about gag when he talks about spam. But you could eat spam.

Scott Benner 1:06:36
Oh my god, I think I've had that as a child. I think we fried it. Yeah, that's what he said he did too terrible that I'm thinking back on it. That's really terrible. Oh, my gosh, Monica, is there anything that we haven't talked about that you hope to?

Monica 1:06:52
I was going to say that people on both Facebook sites yours in the the one to 10 him talk about endocrinologist. And oh, you need to get with your Endo. So even though I live in what's considered the second or third biggest city in the state? We have for more than a decade. been lucky if we have one endocrinologist? Lucky, which is the situation now. So when there were none. And I needed to find somebody. Because I was in my pharmaceutical job. I, you know, just asked a doctor to the side, it was like internal medicine, you know, would I need to find a doctor? I have type one diabetes, would you be willing to care for me? And almost universally, it was like, huh, I'd really prefer not to. And I'm saying well, do you know that I'm also a whole person, and I'm over the age of 50. And I need other care, not just the diabetes? And unstable. You know, and it was really bizarre. Yes. So finding good care is a luxury.

Scott Benner 1:08:13
It certainly is. Yeah, it certainly is. Yeah, it's not that easy. And that's why diabetes, and to be perfectly honest, most health, most health issues that run long term, you need to understand them for yourself, like you can't just go to a doctor and then shut yourself off, and then wait to go back to the doctor again. And then if you have problems, just go I mean, I did what the doctor told me. You can't you have to take real agency over yourself. And you just need to, you just need to there's no, there's no way around it, you're not going to do as well, if you wait for someone else to help you. It's it's just it's it's just, I mean, I've just seen it be true over and over again. And I don't think it has, like I said, I'm beginning to see that I don't think it has as much to do with diabetes. It's just in general how healthcare works. And not to even say that it's bad. You know, it's it's cutting edge. It's probably as good as it's ever been on the planet. But it's still people aren't with you every day. They don't have the same concern about you as as you have about yourself. And yes, and they see you as a management thing, which is reasonable. And you're you're trying to live a life. So taking good care of yourself is the best thing you can do. I think that's why the podcast does as well as it as it does. Yes, you know what I mean? And I'm happy that it was valuable for you or anybody who listens honestly.

Monica 1:09:41
And I think that that people saying oh you're in you're doing good or whatever is usually relative to their uncontrolled folks be a type one or type two. So they're and I would have this fighting with the endocrinologist when we had like four of them in town. A Um, you're saying I'm doing good, but my agency went up. And it's still inside the mid sixes. But it used to be closer to five, seven or something. And I was like, you know, we need to adjust something. Because this this level of good is not my good.

Scott Benner 1:10:20
Yeah, good is an interesting word. I've noticed when talking to people, it's always relative, it's always compared to just something that's worse. And no matter what it is, you know, like how you don't say, Oh, I'm good. You know, your leg got chopped off and an accident, but you just saw a guy who lost both of his arms strike while I'm doing better than the guy with no arms. And it just it really, it really is. It needs to be and that's why I always push people on it. When they say something like, How's you're able to say it's good? What does that mean? You know what I mean? Even like you, you know, back in the day, they told you, you're seven, you're good. And well, you know, could have been better. They didn't know it back then. And you could be in that situation, modern day where you're at a practice where everybody's got an A one, C, you're sevens, or eights, and your six nine looks genius to people. And they're like, Oh, don't do anything? No, not that I'm telling you. Your six nine is bad. It's just there's room, you know, you can you can do something about it or your variability, you know, I think is probably as important. You know, I mean, I can't make the distinction for you. But it's as important to share a once a, you know, it's, you know, you don't want your blood sugar to be bouncing around.

Monica 1:11:33
And the other thing that I believe now, so as more and more people are on the technology. So I said, I'm fortunate the nurse practitioner I see worked in the endocrinology department for years and years and years, and she's a CDE. So she's really on top of things. But I said to her, and she was training another nurse practitioner. I don't know why the postprandial glucose is at two hours. For people like me, you and I wasn't criticizing you and people like you should be asking us to be under 140. I mean, preferably lower, but I'm just saying that's a normal person's to our postprandial glucose can go up to 140. And why we're still using that 180 number as good in quotes. Doesn't make sense in a sign of kind of like a hybrid closed loop. You know, we're almost like, pancreas is over here. You know, and, and so. So I'm going to try to talk to you about being under that. 140. And actually, obviously, strive for better than that, but just as putting a lower cap

Scott Benner 1:12:44
on things. I and yeah, I think I say it here pretty often. But to me, you know, if you get the 140 after a meal, like Okay, I think of 160 as a miss and 180 as a spike. Well, yeah, like, that's how I think of it. Yeah, you know, like, I'm not saying your blood sugar is always going to be like super 83 You know, 8590 201 You know what I mean? Like, it's gonna go up, sometimes you're gonna miss on your, on your Bolus at times, or miscalculate carbs, or whatever is gonna happen. You have a site that's going bad, there's a million things that could happen. But it's about to me, it's about stopping it, and not letting it get out of hand. And then that's where you run into problems where, you know, people who are, haven't been around type one as long or haven't heard about, you know, ideas are going to start telling you well, you can't stack your insulin, you're gonna get low. And you know, I don't think you should stack insulin either. I'm not saying that. But if you Bolus for 45, carbs reach 130 and your blood sugar shooting up. And it turns out the meal was 55 carbs, well, then putting in the extra insulin is not stalking it's covering the carbs. Yeah, but it's a it's a distinction that gets lost on people sometimes. And then they watch their 140 turn into one ad, and they're one ad to turn into 250. And they're 250 turned into 300. And then they get caught in that, you know, that that like void of like, oh, well, it's going to come back down. I don't want to put in insulin and make myself low and they just start staring at the high blood sugar and waiting and waiting and waiting. And before you know it. They're They're super high. They don't have any idea how to bring it down. And eventually they are going to cause a low because it's going to take so much insulin to break it free. So yeah, I like using insulin sooner to avoid highs. I also like it because it it often means you're using less insulin, which should result in fewer lows later.

Monica 1:14:43
Precisely. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:14:44
That's just how I think about

Monica 1:14:45
it. Yeah, so I have two meals that I haven't figured out and it's I like cottage cheese and a lot of people don't and up in the morning sometimes I'll have some cottage cheese on the side of a piece of toast and I'm like, I don't care what I do. At this point, I haven't figured that one out, it's going to shoot up to 180. And I'm like, I keep bringing that Pre-Bolus earlier. And oatmeal. Oatmeal is like the greatest food but I have not gotten that one quite worked out, right. So I'm like, we're gonna keep playing. I'm not gonna let it win.

Scott Benner 1:15:19
Keep keep fighting and trying one day, you'll find it to one day, you'll find the measure and mix of, you know, Pre-Bolus and amount and you'll just be like, Oh my God, it worked. And that's it, then you know, you'll be like, sick. It'll be sick of oatmeal because you tried it so many times.

Monica 1:15:35
Exactly. Anyway, but those like, I've figured out most of the foods, but those two are still a little uphill climb, but I'll figure it out. Good

Scott Benner 1:15:43
for you. Well, Monica, this has been terrific. I really appreciate you coming on the show and talking to me like this. I had a really good time. And you have a lot of wealth of knowledge and, and perspective, and I appreciate you sharing it with everybody.

Monica 1:15:56
Well, thank you for letting me it's been really enjoyable. And I enjoy listening to all of your interviews.

Scott Benner 1:16:02
Thank you. Well, I think people will enjoy this one as well. Thank you so much to Ian pen from Medtronic diabetes, for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast, please remember to head over to in Penn today.com. If you'd like to learn more about that insulin pan that talks to that app through Bluetooth. I also want to thank you s Med and remind you that you can get a free benefits check right now at us med.com forward slash juice box or by dialing 888-721-1514. I'd also like to thank Monica for coming on the show and sharing her story. And thanks to you as well for listening, downloading, subscribing, and sharing the Juicebox Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.