#741 Bolusing in Bucharest

August 23, 2022Scott Benner

Sergiu is the father of a young type 1.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 741 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Sergio was on the show today he is the father of a young child living with type one diabetes. And he's here to share his story with us. 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. Let me take this opportunity to ask you to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box and fill out the survey. Every completed survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box benefits people living with type one diabetes. It also helps the podcast the T one D exchange is looking for surveys from US residents who have type one diabetes, or who are the caregiver of someone with type one. This is completely HIPAA compliant. Absolutely anonymous will take fewer than 10 minutes and helps everybody including you t one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. It's a great way to be involved in type one research right from your sofa.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Ian pen from Medtronic diabetes, please go to in pen today.com. To learn more and get started today with Ian pen. The podcast is also sponsored by touched by type one go to touched by type one.org. To learn more about my favorite diabetes charity. The podcast is also sponsored by us med. US med is the place where we get Ardens diabetes supplies, and you could to go to us med.com forward slash juice box or call 888-721-1514 To get your free benefits check from us med

Sergui 2:16
I in surgery. I am a 33 years old and I am the father of Stefan, who is almost four years old. And he's been he's been a diabetic since the age of two years old.

Scott Benner 2:32
Since he's almost How old is that? fine now?

Sergui 2:36
His birthday is on the second of March. And he was diagnosed in 2018. In November, just a few months before his birthday.

Scott Benner 2:48
So he's coming up on four years with diabetes.

Sergui 2:51
Yes. to two years, two years with diabetes

Scott Benner 2:55
two years. And how old is he?

Sergui 2:58
He's almost four years old. In one month, he will be 404 years old. Gotcha.

Scott Benner 3:04
Wow. Well, that's pretty young to be diagnosed. That's for sure. Yes, you know, I just reached out to a person today to try to get someone on the show whose five month old has diabetes. And that seemed crazy to me. So hopefully she'll be able to come on and talk about it. But where do you live?

Sergui 3:27
We are living in Bucharest, Romania, in Eastern Europe.

Scott Benner 3:32
Is that where you're from originally? Yes.

Sergui 3:35
My parents are from Bucharest and like, I'm also living here.

Scott Benner 3:40
Is there any history of autoimmune in your family?

Sergui 3:46
After Stefan was diagnosed, I research this because also the doctors at the hospital were were asking this if anybody in the family has diabetes, and nobody has diabetes type one but my mother she's she has Hashimotos she has an autoimmune disease with her thyroid

Scott Benner 4:10
associated, your mom has Hashimotos Your son has type one you couldn't find anything else like celiac or

Sergui 4:17
not, that I know of. And I don't think anyone has anything else because they they all lived long lives and

Scott Benner 4:30
it's a must have been a shock. That's for sure. Yes, yeah. So how did you figure out that Stefan had diabetes?

Sergui 4:41
I knew the symptoms of diabetes, but I didn't know what diabetes means. I didn't know that it was such a horrible disease and that you must take care of it your whole life. I knew that if somebody has to go to the bathroom a lot and they're thirsty most of the time they even I must have diabetes. And I went to his doctor and I requested some kind of analysis that could indicate to us if he has diabetes.

Scott Benner 5:15
Do you know what they did to check?

Sergui 5:17
More we made them they they were they weren't so concerned about this and they said we should go to a laboratory and they will take some blood. And we did this and we went home. They went to sleep my my wife and Stefan. And during that night, they they started calling from the blood laboratory, because they found out the result and it was around 600 milligram milligrams per deciliter.

Scott Benner 5:50
They they have you come right to a hospital.

Sergui 5:53
We they told us to call an ambulance and the ambulance picked my son up and they went to the hospital that is specialized, specialized in diabetes. And he was put on IV immediately with glucose and insulin, and he was stabilized in the next few days.

Scott Benner 6:17
Okay. Do you have any other children? No, no. How old? Are you?

Sergui 6:24
33 years old. 33.

Scott Benner 6:25
So you were just in your early? You were just 3031 when he was diagnosed?

Sergui 6:31
Yes, a few days after my birthday.

Scott Benner 6:37
Thank you. That's, that's insane. So how long does he stay in the hospital for?

Sergui 6:47
Usually, one has to stay around one week in order to learn the main principles of diabetes in order in order to learn how to Bolus how to take some big blood from the fingers. But they they stayed around 10 days because they wanted to learn more my wife and my son

Scott Benner 7:12
is that how does the health insurance work for you? Is that Is that something you pay for? From your own money? Do you have insurance? Does the state pay for it? How does it go?

Sergui 7:21
In Romania? Everyone who is employed has universal health health insurance. Okay. You're you pay for from your salary. The taxes are automatically collected and you are insured, I think and people who are not employed such as miners and students, they are also covered by the universal health care system. And this is a very, very good thing.

Scott Benner 7:52
Okay, good. That's wonderful. So who's not covered? people of working age who aren't employed? Where are they?

Sergui 8:00
Yes. Okay. Yes, people who are not employed, but if they pay their taxes, they can be insured. And how about the elderly? They're also insured that's based on because they have a pension and they they're automatically insured. Yes.

Scott Benner 8:17
So how does how do they set you up? For management? Are you using insulin pens, needles, they give you a pump? How do they think about it?

Sergui 8:30
They gave us a tense novel rapid tense and they put us to put us on fast acting insulin and low slow acting insulin. Let me let me run de novo rapid

Scott Benner 8:45
and just a meter to test with.

Sergui 8:47
Yes, the meter you you also use the Contour Next One meter.

Scott Benner 8:53
Wow. Wonderful. I'm glad it's getting around. So how did you find I mean, two years old, he couldn't have weighed much, right?

Sergui 9:04
Yes, I think it was around 13 or 14 kilograms.

Scott Benner 9:09
Gotcha. I'm going to do my little math here. So you come home, no real idea about this. Although they your wife and your son stayed longer to learn more. Who takes on the responsibility? Is it your wife or do you share it?

Sergui 9:35
My My wife was staying with him. At the time she was at home and she continued to stay with him and during the day she she was managing his diabetes and in the evenings and during the weekends I I took on this job.

Scott Benner 9:52
Okay to give her a break.

Sergui 9:54
Yes, yeah. And during my hospital stay, I spoke with a doctor and they told me that we could apply for a pump. After six months. This this was the this is the legal requirement after six months of diabetes, you can apply for a free pump and free sensor from the state. And the only supplier of such things is Medtronic.

Scott Benner 10:23
Right? Did you apply?

Sergui 10:27
No, because I knew that this that pump with a wire would be difficult for him since he was he was only a toddler. I joined a local Facebook group regarding diabetes, and I found out that there were other options. But these were not these were not paid by by our insurance, because they're not officially in our country.

Scott Benner 10:58
I see. So there are Dexcom and Omnipod. But yes, were you able to obtain them.

Sergui 11:06
I managed to obtain first the sensors. Because the doctor told us that we would first buy Medtronic sensors and afterwards they will be paid by the state. But they were very expensive and that the Tronic transmitters were very expensive. And also the sensors and I I also found out that they were not so not so reliable as Dexcom once, so I decided to buy Dexcom G SIX sensors.

Scott Benner 11:38
So are you I mean, how are you on E

Sergui 11:41
we used the blood glucose meter for only two months. And afterwards we we move to switch to the we moved on to the glucose sensors.

Scott Benner 11:53
Is that a burden for you financially?

Sergui 11:59
It is because I know I could I can obtain the Medtronic sensors and but they're not they're not so not so reliable. And I can I can look within and that's another reason i i cannot use them.

Scott Benner 12:19
Okay. Well, I mean, that's fascinating that you were able to find them. Do you mean? Do you get them through the internet? You have to travel to get them? How do you obtain them? I mean, you don't have to be super specific, but I'm just interested in how you're able to do that.

Sergui 12:33
We get them from another country. There are also some local suppliers, but they are more expensive. So it's cheaper to get them from abroad. And even even if we have to pay shipping, it's it's cheaper than buying them in Romania. I understand.

Scott Benner 12:50
Wow. That's something how is how's your son doing?

Sergui 12:57
He's doing fine. Yes, we were looking with Omnipod and Dexcom. And he has a GMI. I don't know what GMI stands for. But that approximation of in the clarity that

Scott Benner 13:20
we have a calling glucose management indicator.

Sergui 13:23
Yeah, he has GMI of 6.2 for the last 90 days. The standard deviation is about 50 milligrams per deciliter. Yeah. He has no eating restrictions.

Scott Benner 13:38
doing terrific. That's really wonderful.

Sergui 13:41
We have spikes because we never know how much he's going to eat. And one day he will eat a lot of one thing and the next day will he'll eat less. So I always Pre-Bolus. But I sometimes get it wrong.

Scott Benner 13:58
Yeah, me too. I sometimes get it wrong, too. I think everyone sometimes gets it wrong. How do you find yourself talking to me?

Sergui 14:11
I found your podcast in 2020. During the COVID pandemic, I started listening to it. But somehow I didn't think it was right for me because your podcast is in general, American oriented. And I couldn't get all of the inside jokes all of the manner of speaking

Scott Benner 14:42
Yeah, my stupidity doesn't translate well. No.

Sergui 14:46
No, but but I didn't have all the tools and all of the knowledge and it I was still in my infancy regarding diabetes and I left it and then a more unsurpassed. And I understood some things by myself and I really approached your podcast and I understood that what you're doing is universally Correct. Regarding

Scott Benner 15:16
diabetes in apply if you're using insulin.

Sergui 15:19
Yeah, it applies to everyone in the world. Wow, that's

Scott Benner 15:23
so I'm, I'm really grateful. How did you But initially, how do you find it? Are you searching on the internet or somebody tells you about it? Yeah,

Sergui 15:30
I was searching on the internet. Things about diabetes tools, I joined the main groups CGM in the cloud looped. I started reading about loop I had, I acquired the pumps in the first trimester of 2020. But we didn't use the pumps because we had to go to a hospital. And it was very difficult during that time, and we said we should wait more in order to see what's happening, because most of the hospitals were, were busy with school with them. We couldn't find the right time to go there.

Scott Benner 16:15
It's hard to want to go to a hospital during during COVID If you don't have COVID. I think that's a that's universal as well, we're actually seeing in America now that people were putting off other health issues. And so a lot of the a lot of the traffic that we're seeing at hospitals right now is for things that people were just waiting on, because they didn't want to go in right away. So I think that's a fairly common decision. How long has your How long is your son been wearing a pump at this point?

Sergui 16:47
I think it's almost one year in 2021. In January, we went to this doctor and they helped us put the few the the first pumps. And afterwards we, we were doing insulin therapy with a pump. And when I was growing impatient because I didn't like to wake up during the night and go to the Biddy and Beau's or stop the basals. So one day I took his phone I installed looked and I told my wife that from now on, we will be using this software, this algorithm,

Scott Benner 17:34
did you have the technical know how was it not much trouble for you to make the loop app and and put it on your phone?

Sergui 17:41
It wasn't that difficult because the documentation is really well well written. And I was able to follow the steps. And I read about the problem that might arise on the group. So it wasn't that difficult. It was difficult. It was difficult to to persuade my wife that this is the right way to go.

Scott Benner 18:03
Because it's something you got off the internet or because or because your three year old a cell phone

Sergui 18:12
he was already using the iPhone because we don't have a CGM receiver, we were using the iPhone as a as a receiver for the Dexcom. But she she she was not very happy because she didn't. She didn't read the documentation she hadn't time hadn't had the time to prepare to, to see what what what loop is and how, how one is supposed to use it. Yeah,

Scott Benner 18:41
it's a leap to do when you first find it, it's a leap for sure to trust something that you're just, I mean, I feel like I always have to put in the episodes in case people don't understand that loop is a do it yourself. algorithm. And it's just it exists online, you can just download it and use it it was written by people who have diabetes or love somebody who has diabetes, it's not it's not produced by a company. And it hasn't been any through at through any testing with the FDA here in America or any other body, you know, around the world. So you're, you're jumping in on faith, but it does work really well. And if you could figure out how to how to create that app and get it on your phone. You know, it's really just, there's nothing like it so far that I've seen I have a lot of hope from the pod five. We just just they just discussed it on the show four days ago as it was cleared by the FDA. But in a loop so loops are a lifesaver for sure. I'm fascinated that all of that stuff makes it to Europe because it's not sold there or is it sold some places but not in Romania. So um the politics is some places in your part of the world.

Sergui 19:54
Yes. Omnipod is present in all of the Western European countries, the developed countries Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Nordic countries in the UK, but not in, but not in all of Eastern Europe. Okay, that also applies to Dexcom. In the meantime, since I've written the email to you, I've seen that Dexcom has launched a new service in Eastern Europe called Dexcom, Dexcom. One, and they sell Dexcom G SIX sensors at a cheaper price the app is not so it doesn't have all of the options as the main as the normal Dexcom G six app, you don't have followers. But you can look with the sensors, and they have the same precision. So that's all all you need. Would

Scott Benner 20:51
you if you will, but you would like that other functionality. I imagine the followers and no, not

Sergui 20:56
really, I wouldn't be very happy if they all they also launched the service in Romania. Okay. Oh, neighbors in the south, Bulgaria, they, they got this new service, and they are officially supported by Dexcom. They could they can go to the app store and download the Dexcom G six app, or the Dexcom. One app, and they can buy locally, the sensors. This is great.

Scott Benner 21:23
Yeah. I mean, perhaps it's, I've never spoken to them about it. But maybe it's spreading, maybe they're finding a way to move it around the world, which is incredibly needed. You know, just

Sergui 21:34
people because people are already buying in Romania, Dexcom sensors. And if Dexcom were to come, they could also participate in the state public tenders, they could sell to the state sensors, because the state of the we have a National diabetes Program. And the only supplier we have is Medtronic.

Scott Benner 21:57
Yeah, well, Medtronic is a it's a huge company. So they I think I mean, if I'm guessing they can absorb the cost easier of spreading the product out, whereas smaller companies might have a little bit of trouble with that overhead. As you're expanding. I mean, I'm guessing I don't really know. Maybe I'll ask them some time to really talk about the process and, and how they get into new areas. It's a it's really funny, because you really are being in Romania, you're sort of just right in the middle of Eastern Europe, right. You're or you're not landless. But

Sergui 22:32
you're No, no, no, we're we are not landlocked, we have access to the Black Sea. And we are surrounded by countries that seem to have one of these two suppliers, either Dexcom or Omnipod. And I don't understand why they're not coming here, because there is a huge demand for their products. Okay. I'll tell you what I like to use them.

Scott Benner 22:53
The next time I speak to somebody, I'll bring it up, and, and see if I can, I mean, I'm not saying I'm talking right to the top, but I'll put it in somebody's head that they're missing. They're missing a country in the middle of a place where they they're pretty much covered otherwise. So I mean, there's got to be some, you have to imagine if they're everywhere else around you, there's got to be something that's holding them back that is out of their control, you wouldn't imagine that they would just skip one country in the area, you know, after find out so we can figure out this. It's interesting.

Sergui 23:25
I mean, the products are being sold here by third party suppliers by the Dexcom and Omnipod. They are not officially present here. I cannot go to the Romanian app store and download the app, I have to register on a different country in order to download the app. I mean, the products are here, but they're not officially here. And that's the problem.

Scott Benner 23:45
Yeah, no, I understand. Well, you mentioned in your, in your note to me that you have a fair amount of guilt about your son's diagnosis. And I was wondering when you began to notice it and how it's impacted you and if you've had any luck working through it. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by in pen from Medtronic diabetes in pen is an insulin pen that offers some of the functionality that you've come to expect from an insulin pump. I know you're thinking, Oh, Scott, please tell me more. Well, I will. Yes, the ink pen is a pen. But it also has an application that lives on your smart device. This app shows you your current glucose levels, meal history, dose history and activity log glucose history, active insulin remaining a dosing calculator and reports that you and your physician can use while you're trying to decide what your next step is. Well, well well. It's not just an insulin pen. Now is in pen today. dot com. That's where you're going to find out more information and get started. If you're ready to try the M pen, just fill out the form at M pen today.com or do some more reading. There's actually some videos you could check out too about the dosing calculator, the dose reminders, card counting support, and the digital logbook. So if you want to lighten your diabetes management load, but you're not ready for an insulin pump in Penn is probably right for you. In Penn today.com in Penn also offers 24 hour Technical Support hands on product training, and online educational resources. And here's something else that you'll find it in Penn today.com. That is actually very exciting. Now this offer is for people with commercial insurance in terms and conditions do apply, but you may pay as little as $35 for the in pen. And that's because Medtronic diabetes does not want cost to be a roadblock to you getting the therapy you need within pen $35 How crazy is that? In pen today.com in pen requires a prescription and settings from your healthcare provider. You must use proper settings and follow the instructions as directed, where you can experience high or low glucose levels. For more safety information where to get started today, you can go to in Penn today.com Have you found that getting your diabetes supplies can be a pain in the butt. I have to but not any longer because now we're getting Ardens diabetes supplies from us med to get a free benefits check, just call 888-721-1514 or go to us med.com forward slash juicebox. US med has served over 1 million diabetes customers since 1996. And they want you to know that they're offering you better service and better care than you're getting now. US med always provides 90 days worth of supplies, and fast and free shipping. They carry everything from insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM like the FreeStyle Libre two and the Dexcom G six. Arden gets her Dex comps and her on the pods from us med. US med accepts Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers. US med is the number one distributor for FreeStyle Libre systems. The number one specialty distributor for Omni pod dash, number one fastest growing tandem distributor, the number one rated distributor in Dexcom, customer service satisfaction surveys. And they are proud of the white glove treatment that they offer their customers, US med.com forward slash juice box or call 888-721-1514. And that 888 Number is special just for Juicebox Podcast listeners. Now if you decide to go to the website, it's super simple. Here's what it tells you when you get there. Getting started is easy. from the comfort of your own home or office, you can now join over 1 million satisfied customers who rely on our staff of courteous knowledgeable and trained us med customer care representatives to keep you up to date with your medical and diabetic supplies delivered right to your door. Super simple benefits check name, phone number, email, zip code, and then just hit the button that says Request a free benefits check. It's that easy. Let us med take care of your supplies. So you don't have to worry.

Sergui 28:40
I have no no I haven't thought about that in a long while but my wife she she blames herself. And also she blames me because she thinks that we could have done something some things differently in order for this not to happen.

Scott Benner 29:04
What do you mean? Like not take the baby somewhere or? I don't know what like what do you think could have? I mean, what does she think could have been done? Or has she not shared it with you?

Sergui 29:18
The first two years of parenthood were were were a difficult time for us because we're young parents and we feel that we could have done some things different we could have been there more for him. We could have gone in more vacations or want to know this

Scott Benner 29:50
is this is it kind of is it sort of just this nebulous feeling that there was something you could have done, but you'd Don't really know what it is. And you just feel badly for not knowing what that thing is.

Sergui 30:06
I don't think it's that nebulous, because we also had some discussions in the house some fights, and there was maybe some lack of emotional support on my side for her during her. Her motherhood and she feels that this might have had an impact on his health and might have maintained mom,

Scott Benner 30:33
like, stressful. Yes, festival, you okay, well, listen, you're a boy, you're only as good at this as you can be. It takes a while, it takes a while for you to figure out how to be a father much, much longer than it does. For most people to figure out how to be a mother. It's, it's it's much more instantaneous. A lot of times for women, that it is for men, and you you almost have to see, it must have to see things happen, then that require your emotions that maybe you weren't used to giving in the past. I mean, listen, if if you want my opinion, there's nothing either of you did that? Cause that? I mean, you have somebody in your family line who has an autoimmune disease. And that just makes it more likely, I will assume your your son had antibodies. And he probably they probably got triggered somehow a virus or, you know, some sort of an illness? I mean, I imagine I can't imagine that there was enough stress for a two year old in your household to notice it. But I do understand the feeling that you wish you would have done something.

Sergui 31:46
Yes. Also, people around us they blame. They never say but in a way they they hold us responsible for this, because they can't imagine how two years old boy can get such a terrible disease.

Scott Benner 32:05
So it feels so people from the outside who don't understand how diabetes works. Just assume that you must have done something wrong. There's just that assumption. Yeah, I think that happens pretty universally, honestly. People who don't understand diabetes, just I mean, in their minds, it's an old person's problem. And then when a child, it happens to a child, they just figure you fed them wrong. Or, you know, who knows, took them on a ski trip to Chernobyl. I don't know, you know, I don't know what I don't know. I don't know what they imagined. But it's just not the case. You know, I mean, I was I was a stay at home dad to Arden, I was with her every day. She did not have a particularly stressful life. And I was very careful with what I fed her and where I took her. And, you know, she was still diagnosed when she was too as well. I think it was just going to happen. You know,

Sergui 33:04
I understand. Yeah.

Scott Benner 33:07
Well, I hope that you guys can get past that. And and let it go. Because, I mean, it's not valuable, and you're certainly not going to figure it out. Yeah. And so you guys still split care now your wife during the week, you know, in the evenings in the weekends, still going like that? Yeah.

Sergui 33:26
Yeah. And I am I am the one who is bold with insulin. And she's, she's less bold with insulin. And we was sometimes we peacefully fight about this.

Scott Benner 33:39
Well, I we did that in my house last night. So don't I, I was upstairs working. And the girls were downstairs. My, my daughter is finishing up applying to colleges. This is her very last college to apply to she applied to like 10 of them. She wants to go to fashion school. And she applied to the top 10 fashion schools in the US. And she has already been accepted to most of them. But she still wants to make this this final application. And they're downstairs working working. And I think they left one room and went into another and somehow I don't know what happened. She got away from her phone and lost the signal for CGM, which, you know, with loop, you know, then her blood sugar started to go up. And then she got reconnected. And I noticed and you know, later in the evening, I said to my wife, I was like, how could you guys like, be together for two hours and no one thought about her blood sugar. And my wife's like, well, I thought you were looking at I said, Well, you know, you were with her. I just I assumed you are and we went back and forth a little bit about it. It's I don't think it's very uncommon to have those conversations when your kid has type one. Yes, yeah. Not it's not great. When does the or has he already begun school to stuff on go to school or will he start

Sergui 35:00
He is currently going to kindergarten. But since this is his first year, his most of the times he's sick. He gets the cold or the flu and his most of the time at home. And the kindergarten is close to home. My my wife leaves him there and she goes at lunch to Bolus for the food he's eating. We were thinking, to, to switching to Android APS since we could the remote Bolus for his fields. But it was difficult to she had to learn a new program. So we we decided to go on with loop. No one is going fine. Yeah, it's going fine at this moment.

Scott Benner 35:51
I imagine you is there any way we can't

Sergui 35:54
wait? Sorry. We can also use the remote overwrites in case he needs more insulin. It's okay. Ish. At the moment.

Scott Benner 36:02
Yeah, you is that through Nightscout? Yeah, yeah, I do that too. So I did it last night? You know, it's not, it's not a perfect answer. But you can get by with it. You know, there, there are definitely times I've seen art and be stressed out at school or something. And I can't reach her. And I'll like push her basil up temporarily. And it does, it does help. But what I was gonna say, is there no one at the school who's willing to be involved? Or is that just not how this works?

Sergui 36:36
I don't think they're ready at this point to take this task on because they're still there. They're still learning about the app, and what they might Bolus him at? Some point in time.

Scott Benner 36:51
Yeah, maybe you'll find some people there would save her the trip. It's not far though. You're saying for

Sergui 36:58
her? It's not far. It's so five minute walk?

Scott Benner 37:01
And do you work? Do you work from home? Or do you do you go to a place of business?

Sergui 37:07
No, we used to work from home in, in the first part of 2020. And afterwards, they decided to, to remove this option. So why I have to go to work. Every day,

Scott Benner 37:22
I see. My wife's getting ready to go back to the office. And if I can be honest with you, I'm a little excited. I want everything to go back a little bit more like the way it was she has been working from home, it feels like for two years now. Actually, actually might be coming up on two years. And it can be stressful. I think people just need to get out and move around a little bit. You know, it's, it's not, it's not great to be able to get up in the morning and walk 20 feet to the place where you're going to sit back down again. And you know, it often keeps people working for too long. And it's good to miss people a little, you know what I mean? Yes, we've run out of things to say to each other in the middle of the day. So hopefully, that'll all work out. I think they're starting back like two days a week. And then they're going to try to move it forward from there. So having said that, they've been saying that for the last seven months, and it keeps getting pushed off. But she's supposed to go back a week from yesterday. So I'm, I think she's excited to I'm making it sound like I'm the only one this excited, but I think she she'd like to go back to work as well.

Sergui 38:36
They're, they're putting this off because the number of cases is still big is

Scott Benner 38:42
Yeah. Every time they plan for something happens and and then there's something with the building and something was services and then it was Omicron. And you know, it just kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed. And she said to me the other day, I'm gonna go back on Monday. And I laughed, I was like, No, you're not, you know, there's no way that's actually going to happen. But but hopefully we'll we'll see now Arden uses our, our second car to go to school with so we're, I think I'm gonna be the one left without a car. I think I think my wife is going to drive to work. And Arden is going to drive to school and I'm going to be stuck in the house by myself. So we'll see what happens. Yeah, but Arden is off to school, you know, in the fall, and she won't be taking a car with her. So I think we'll be okay. What is the what's the what's the diet like where you are, you know, is like What are common meals that you have?

Sergui 39:44
I think we have a meat based diet in Romania, but one can also eat vegetarian, Mediterranean or vegetarian. I don't think the diet is very different from To the American one. I mean in this in the cities in the cities because we have McDonald's and KFC. And also people can eat fries with a steak at lunch.

Scott Benner 40:12
Or there are many processed foods, things that come in boxes and bags.

Sergui 40:17
We have those we have, we have a lot of processed food, but one can also eat from the green grocers and can go to the farmers market and get some fresh product. There are a lot of options. Okay, we we mainly cook in our home, but we also buy from restaurants or fast food sometimes because I don't want to restrict him.

Scott Benner 40:47
Is it? Do you find it easier to to Bolus from things you make at home?

Sergui 40:54
Generally, yes, because we use recipes that have been tested, and we know how his blood sugar will react to those ingredients.

Scott Benner 41:08
Are you um, wow, what do I want to ask you here? So do you know how to manage diabetes without the loop? Like, like, what would happen if it just like disappeared? Would you be okay? Or do you think there'd be a learning process again?

Sergui 41:29
He was on pence for one year, so I could manage him with pens. Although I never got to understand how the longest acting insulin works. I never got that. I knew how to Bolus I understood the bonuses. But I always felt that there was something not quite right with his long acting insulin and that thing? I don't know.

Scott Benner 41:57
Yeah, I don't think the lever me are really lasts for 24 hours. So you're probably

Sergui 42:02
yeah, I've listened to your episodes in which you said it's good. It's a good idea to split those doses. But I never got to do that.

Scott Benner 42:10
So okay, you got away from it before that before you try it? Yes, man, it's probably smart. Do you get out of loop often do you ever open the loop and make a manage on your own?

Sergui 42:24
Not really, only if we have problems with the site, or if he sometimes when we put the pump on his belly, he strips it and during sleep and the heme, and the program thinks he knows the pump is on his skin, and we get a lot of insulin on board. And afterwards, I have to open the loop in order to correct his blood sugar right? Or there. But I should do that more often. I should test his basil, but I never I never get to do that. Because at night, if he is stabilized after his evening meal, I am relieved and I'm happy and I can go to sleep. So I Yeah,

Scott Benner 43:09
it's it's hard to want to beta test overnight when you can get a good night's sleep for sure. Do you have people in your extended family who understand this? I mean, can you can you can you and your wife go to dinner by yourself or something like that? Or? Or do you not have anybody to help?

Sergui 43:25
Yes, my mother, she she knows how to interact with the application with a loop. And sometimes the protocol is that she has to call us and tell us what he is eating. And afterwards we can make a guesstimate of his carbs. But in the the last time she she decided to use it on her own. She introduced the carbs she thought were necessary and she took control of the app.

Scott Benner 43:59
Wow. Well, that's great. I mean, it's just nice to have a break. Are your parents or your both your parents together and living?

Sergui 44:07
Yes, yes. They're living in the same city. Does your father having to go first?

Scott Benner 44:13
Does your father have any understanding of it at all?

Sergui 44:17
I think he saw that my mother can use the app and he's happy with this situation.

Scott Benner 44:25
I bet I would be I'd say I'd be thrilled if somebody would figure it out and take it over. Give it give me a bit of a break. Are you planning on having any more children?

Sergui 44:38
I wish we had a brother or sister another sibling but it's difficult.

Scott Benner 44:45
Is it difficult? We

Sergui 44:47
cannot it's difficult to take to make this decision because we don't know if the next child will will have an auto immune disease or will have diabetes

Scott Benner 45:00
It doesn't feel it's a risk, right? It feels like it's

Sergui 45:03
a risk. And and also, because of the costs we are currently having with these supplies. If the supplies were provided by the state, maybe the decision would would not be that difficult to have another child

Scott Benner 45:17
understand. Yeah. You know, it's it's not something you think about often, but that I mean, you just said that it made a lot of sense to me, you're, you're putting out money that would go towards feeding another person or clothing them or sending them to school one day, and instead, you're paying for these supplies. And yeah, it's it would be a leap to make, do you think you're more worried about the money or the prospect of another child having an autoimmune issue?

Sergui 45:51
I think both of those things worry me. Because let's say he or next child can also have another another cannot have diabetes. And that would mean, that wouldn't be so difficult, because we know how to manage it. But it would be it would be difficult, money wise, because we couldn't afford to buy supplies for two children and have a normal life and have vacations and all of the other things, people with, with children that don't have diabetes, buy or enjoy.

Scott Benner 46:32
Where do you go on vacation when you when you leave?

Sergui 46:38
We go in the mountains because we have mountains here in Romania, we can also go to the seaside Black Sea, or we can go to in Greece, in Bulgaria.

Scott Benner 46:49
That sounds nice. My children bother me to go to Greece constantly. That's the place that everyone wants to go. Then there. They keep reminding us that they're graduating. My daughter's graduating from high school, my son's graduating from college. We want to celebrate we want to go to and then they both say grease all the time. Do you think that's probably

Sergui 47:09
it's probably a lot cheaper for us because we can go by car. It's we can drive 10 hours. And we are we can go there. Enjoy a nice.

Scott Benner 47:20
Well, hey, Lily, let me ask you a question. You had to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to go to Greece. Would you do it? Absolutely not. You told me, you told me to find a place in Ohio. Go for a little ride. How to Be wise? Well, I'm the one who's always like, I think that sounds like it's expensive. We're gonna spend that much money. You know, I don't know. Like, I don't know. That's just what they talk about all the time. So we'll see what happens. There's some sometimes Arden says France. And sometimes she says Greece and I don't know if we'll ever do it or not. But it was good to hear from from somebody who can drive to it that may be blind to it wouldn't be worthwhile. I forget what I was gonna say I had a thought in my head about that. Have you ever been to America was my question?

Sergui 48:13
No, unfortunately, I haven't been to America. I wish I could go there's some time in my life.

Scott Benner 48:20
Yeah, it would really be interesting to you to do. Yes. What's your under

Sergui 48:27
specialist? Since I've seen a lot of American movies and American shows and I've read the manga books, it would be interesting to to see the real thing there.

Scott Benner 48:38
Do you think you would do you think it would be disappointing if you got here and you realize that was a lot like Romania, but with newer buildings.

Sergui 48:46
I don't think I would be disappointed because I am conscious that America is a lot of things. And there are a lot of different people in different geographical areas. And

Scott Benner 48:58
I would like to see more. It's not

Sergui 49:00
the same. It's not the same in all the American states.

Scott Benner 49:03
It really is. It's very different. I mean, it's I mean, Romania is probably Gosh, not even the size of one of our I don't know like medium size states I would want I would imagine Yeah, that's it's really something How about anybody in your family has your mother your father, your brothers and sisters, anything like that anybody have been here?

Sergui 49:27
Actually, my my wife, she has been to the US during her student life. She she took on this work and travel option and she, she she worked there during her summertime. And she also got to visit some of the some of the states in the US.

Scott Benner 49:50
Wow, that's how long ago was that?

Sergui 49:55
Maybe 10 or 11 years ago,

Scott Benner 49:58
okay. I'm seeing I looked it up, it looks like Romania is about 70% larger than Florida, just by square kilometers. But it's interesting. I might not be interesting to you. It's interesting to me, I feel like, you know, Arden, for example, is looking at a school in Georgia. And in a couple of weeks, we're going to go visit that school so that she can get a good look at it. And we're talking about driving, and it's going to be like a 1213 hour drive for us. Just to get from New Jersey to Georgia. And I see Yeah, it's, it's, it's quite a, you know, it's, it's, it's hard to even consider, we're thinking maybe we should fly and, but we wanted to drive and kind of turn it into a little trip. So we're trying to figure out what to do. But I don't know, it seems exciting to me to be able to drive from one side of Romania to the other in a couple of hours, that that seems better. I wish I I wish I had that kind of proximity to the things that were, were important to me and around me. What? I was gonna ask a different question. Is there anything that I'm not asking you that you wished we were talking about?

Sergui 51:18
Not really, I had some notes for the show. But then I decided to talk freely with you. I, you invited me on the show. And I wanted to offer this view for somebody from this part of the world because there are not so many episodes with people outside of the US. So no, I think I am gonna go on Sorry, I was I think I am using the same things people on these international groups are using and my only desire is to have these options officially here in Romania. Yeah. I enjoy your show a lot. Because it's not only for the things I learned from it, but also for the therapeutic side of it.

Scott Benner 52:14
How so what about it is therapeutic for you

Sergui 52:20
that there are other people that are confronted with this. And it's nice to listen to their worries and desires and the solutions they find to the different problems in their life? Because it's difficult to discuss diabetes with people that don't have it or don't manage it for other people that have it cannot understand

Scott Benner 52:45
it. Does your wife listen to this at all? Or is it mainly you know,

Sergui 52:49
no, she doesn't listen, because she doesn't have the time.

Scott Benner 52:53
Now, it's just interesting, because mostly when it's one or the other, it's it's it's frequently it's the, the the wife over the husband, but I didn't think she did. I was just wondering, and you and you like that, that interaction between just, you know, a faceless voice out in the world that has pretty much every one of your problems. And every one of your challenges and issues these other people have as well, you can't meet those people anywhere else. And when you go to

Sergui 53:22
school, it's comforting to comforting to listen to people when I do the dishes at night, to listen to people that had the same problem. But as I did during the day, and after a botched Bolus when I'm sad and worried. It helps me to listen to the podcast.

Scott Benner 53:46
When that happens, describe the sadness for me. Is it concern for your son? Or do you feel like you failed? Where does that hit you?

Sergui 53:59
Oh, I I know that he will not be in any kind of danger in the short time. But I'm always I'm always thinking about the long game about the longer term consequences of this disease. And I don't know what will happen because I want to have stability in the blood sugar levels. And sometimes I feel out of control and I don't know what will happen in the future how I will be able to to pass on this knowledge to him at some point.

Scott Benner 54:39
Would you be willing to tell me how this process over the last few years has changed you because I if I'm listening and paying attention, you were maybe more classically a guy when maybe before you had kids, and now you're a person describing doing the dishes and worrying about the Future of Health. So has there been a big shift in who you are over the last couple of years?

Sergui 55:07
I don't think there has been a big shift, I might became even more worried. But fundamentally, I am the same person that is that likes control and that likes to have a grip on things.

Scott Benner 55:22
So you,

Sergui 55:26
but I was indeed more relaxed in the past. Less. So now,

Scott Benner 55:32
for me to was definitely, I was definitely more relaxed before diabetes as well. I said to my wife last night, I was she's like, What are you doing? We're laying in bed. And I was like, I'm rubbing my back. And she said, why? I said, Well, it's been hurting for 15 years. Trying to try to get ahead of it here. Which I'm sure some days is stress, actually. But okay, so it's so for you, it's, it's the feeling of being out of control is not comfortable for you. And the feeling of the unknown, for your son's health is not comfortable for you. And these were not things that you were feeling prior to diabetes.

Sergui 56:16
No. Okay.

Scott Benner 56:18
Do you see that as a liveable way to be or is it something you think about trying to work past

Sergui 56:29
I have come to accept some of the things I'm not so worried now when I see. A high blood sugar, something over 180 I try to those more insulin and take care of it. And I'm not so worried but my, I think about the moments who will be in school and or when he will be a teenager and my wife, my wife, she she thinks this is a very important aspect of his emotional well being and the way he will be able to accept this disease, because it's not enough if we take care of his diabetes now, but we also have to make him think in the right way about diabetes in order for him to take care of this disease when he will be on on his own.

Scott Benner 57:31
Well, I can tell you, there's some things you can't get prepared for. Yesterday, I watched Arden messaging with a girl who they both might end up at the same college and they start talking about rooming together. And I asked Arden afterwards, I said, Did you tell her you have type one? And she said, Yeah, I don't want it to be a surprise to people. And I had to say to her, I was like, you know, some people may be scared of that. And she's like, I know, I just you know, I don't want it to be. I don't want it to get dropped on them at the last second. So I'm telling people what I'm having these conversations and I wasn't sad about it. Like she she handled it really well. It would have been nice if that wasn't a reality for her. But at the same time, you know, she she assessed the situation. And then she did what she thought she was, you know, she shocked me, excuse me what she thought she should do. But later in the evening, after we went to bed, her blood sugar started to get a little low, and I had to help her. And I when I got back in bed, my wife's like, why are we letting her go to college? Like, how's this going to work when she's, you know, not here? And I have to admit, I still one of the things I'm working out. Um, I'm not sure either, you know, but all I know, is that hundreds of 1000s of other people with type one diabetes, go away to college, and, you know, far and wide there. Okay. So there must be an answer that that says, People figure things out, you know, you get what you get, and then you find a way to live with it. For the most part, you know, that does work out for people. So I just kind of keep the faith that answers will show themselves as time passes. I see Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully your son will will have that same experience. You know, yes. It's terrible to worry about things that may never happen and and that even if they do happen, you might not have much sway over to begin with. But I know how you feel. And I don't you know, I don't I don't say you shouldn't feel that way. Wow. Cool. How are we doing by the way? Is this going well for you? Are you enjoying this or are you like, Oh, this guy's boring in person?

Sergui 59:56
No, no, it's going great. Yeah.

Scott Benner 59:58
Oh, good. I'm glad because you Have you ever Are you nervous?

Sergui 1:00:04
Yes, I'm a little bit nervous. But I'm also have I'm calling this cold or flu. I'm having an it's difficult to. Oh, I did. Yeah, it's okay. I'm sorry. We know. Oh, well, it's not that bad. And I didn't want to reschedule the

Scott Benner 1:00:25
as my scheduling terrible and whatever. If you would have rescheduled, your son would have been in second grade by the time we spoke.

Sergui 1:00:33
I don't know what this would have meant. I didn't check the the next available. Slot.

Scott Benner 1:00:40
It's September, I think. Okay.

Sergui 1:00:43
So it's probably the best decision. A good decision. We scheduled

Scott Benner 1:00:49
Yeah, since it's what it is today. April Fool's. No. What was I gonna say? groundhog? What was I thinking? February 1. I think it's Groundhog Day, isn't it? That might I don't know. We don't we don't have that. Yeah, I'm, I'm wrong about that. Groundhog Day is tomorrow. Not that that matters to you. But yeah. Wow. It's February 1. And yeah, you couldn't have gotten back on the schedule until September? Yeah. So for people listening, rescheduling? Don't do it. Don't do it. Unless you've got time, I have had interviews with people that take place 18 months after they reached out eventually, because they'll have to reschedule a couple of times, which is fine. Like I don't mind just slides forward in the schedule. But I have put episodes up with people who I've spoken to, you know, over a year prior and sometimes longer.

Sergui 1:01:40
It's a good loyal to the show,

Scott Benner 1:01:43
I always think that, oh, I always think like Wow, you really like I mean, if you made me plan something next Wednesday, I'd be like, Oh, I don't know if I can do that or not. That seems so far from now. But yet people do it. And I don't bug them. And they're always here, I turn this thing on almost every day, and there's someone on the other end, I'm very grateful for that, actually, the loyalty. And then the concern to want to build on top of the show, which I think is really what you're doing, you're trying to you're just trying to put a building block for somebody else to hear some

Sergui 1:02:16
very Yes. And also the podcast empowered me to such help some other people that were using Omnipod and Dexcom. And sometimes we on this local group we have here, somebody needs Dexcom sensor, and we can somebody else offers to sell one. And I got to sell a few centers because they were having some problems with their shipping. And we discussed about the management style and about the supplies we use. And I found out they were using Omnipod and Dexcom. And I told them about loop. The first time I sent them the documentation. And I told them once more the next time we got to sell them some sensors. And because they were they were afraid to try it I offered to help them with look, although I know this is the contrary to the to the spirit of loop and to the because one has to do with only one one own in order to get it right. But I help them and they they are managing. Okay. Right now with loop.

Scott Benner 1:03:31
That's very kind of you I and I understand the idea that people should figure it out on their own. But I have to be honest with you, if I had to figure it out on my own. Arden wouldn't have it. I don't I know. I mean, what you said earlier about how clear and well written the documentation is you're 1,000,000%. Right. But my brain doesn't work that way. Like I just I don't know how to tell you if I look at instructions. I don't even read them in order. I just my eyes dart around for pertinent information. And I just I don't know, there's something wrong with me. But I don't think I mean, maybe I could force myself to do it. But it would not be easy. And by the way,

Sergui 1:04:11
is it? Is it anxiety or you?

Scott Benner 1:04:15
I don't know what it is. I don't even if I look at a recipe, I just look at the ingredients. And I know there's like there's, you know, like do this first do this second, I have a hard time even looking at that. I just like to dive into things. I open up a box. I don't care about the instructions. It's a It's not. I'm not impatient. And it's not laziness. I just I don't know another way to say it other than my brain just doesn't work that way. I think that's why I think that's why I'm I'm good at talking about diabetes because it's not if it was segmented or bulleted, you know, I wouldn't be the worst person to sit down and read through it. You know, a list of 10 steps you were supposed to take? I can't. I can't do that. You know, while you were talking earlier, it made me think and I looked them in the in the pretty recent history. I have 5000 downloads in Romania. I'm huge in Romania. This is very,

Sergui 1:05:19
I don't there is very little or a lot. I don't

Scott Benner 1:05:26
Well, I mean, for, you know, listen for in the Eastern European country where, you know, I would think it would be pretty unheard of for you even to figure out that I exist. That's a that's a fair amount. It really is. It pretty, pretty comparable to Saudi. I'm looking around here, Russia, India, the shows really picking up in India over the last year. I'm noticing more and more listeners in the Facebook group who are from India. But yeah, I mean, you know, once you get into Germany, France, the numbers jumped up significantly. United Kingdom, it's actually pretty huge. In the United Kingdom, there's hundreds of 1000s of downloads in the United Kingdom.

Sergui 1:06:16
Because they're also they're already English speaking. Yes.

Scott Benner 1:06:19
Yeah. They can probably make a little more I probably don't do I sound? Do I speak quickly for you?

Sergui 1:06:26
I know you speak very fine, I can understand you because but I don't have the practice of speaking English. And that's why my, my English is not that good. But I do. We consume a lot of things issue speaking products here in Romania.

Scott Benner 1:06:41
Well, what I have to say, I don't agree, I think your English is great. Like I've heard you, like, slow down to find a word. But now that I understand you're sick to I don't even know if that's what you're doing. So no, I have no trouble understanding you. Or we're keeping the conversation going whatsoever. Yeah, I just never would have imagined you may be my my emissary in Romania. I appreciate this. Do you tell people about the podcast?

Sergui 1:07:09
No, not really, because I don't know. I never got to tell anyone about the podcast. Because I don't think people hear our podcast listeners in generals. And I feel like this podcast is a niche thing. And I don't know if they could listen to it. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:07:33
I mean, listen, I'm not gonna lie to you that, you know,

Sergui 1:07:35
it has a very American vibe to it. And I think people have to be accustomed with American culture in order to start listening to it.

Scott Benner 1:07:46
Well, just to say that in that part of the world, I did not expect to have many downloads. And to be perfectly honest, I don't accept in Romania. That's insane. I just I've never really looked at it before. And now I'm looking oh,

Sergui 1:08:00
maybe, maybe. Those are my downloads.

Scott Benner 1:08:04
I don't know you. I don't think you can listen to that. You didn't listen to the show. 70 times over. Did you like the whole thing?

Sergui 1:08:10
Oh, no, no, no. Oh, well, I've listened to most most of it. I have the up to date with the episodes. I think I have 10 or less than 10 episodes I have to listen to oh, that's because you put you put out a lot of episodes every week.

Scott Benner 1:08:24
I'm prolific. Yes,

Sergui 1:08:26
you are very pointed.

Scott Benner 1:08:28
Listen, I got that. Understand what I'm saying I need a place to put

Sergui 1:08:31
them. That's a very good thing. Yeah, it really is.

Scott Benner 1:08:35
It's unexpected, I guess is the best, best word for me to use. I didn't think you know, I asked on the pod. My gosh, you know, eight years ago, almost. I was like, I need you to buy an ad on this podcast. So I can tell my wife, it makes money so I can do it. And you know, they gave me a very little bit of money and bought an ad and it was incredibly helpful. So I, you know, that's what got me started. I never imagined it would be so popular that it would that it would do this actually last night as the as the month ended. I looked at some numbers. I'll share them with you. I have no one else to tell about this. I just keep it for my own edification. But the month of January 2021. had more downloads by 100,000 than the year 2018. I see which is which is insane. And the last three months had more downloads than 2019. So

Sergui 1:09:43
and the majority of these downloads come from the US or they come from

Scott Benner 1:09:48
all around the world. Yeah, overwhelmingly they're from the US but then places like Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, those My next strongest downloads. And it's picking up in other places picking up in Japan, like I said, India, South Africa. It's fascinating where, where people find it. You know, I just I just interviewed a boy, like a 17 year old kid from Ecuador recently. And he listens. So it's getting there. Hopefully one day people will talk more freely about it. But I still think the problem is sort of what you brought up earlier is you don't know what anybody really who has diabetes that you could speak to about it. It makes it that much more difficult to share, because you don't meet people who who would be interested, you know,

Sergui 1:10:42
I mean, I know that the people in the local diabetes group, but I do it would be difficult to recommend the podcast because this seems like a personal very personal recommendation to make. Certainly. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:11:00
Plus, they probably hate me. And then that, then they they're looking at you and wondering why you like you're listening to this, yeah, then they start judging you, I understand what's going on. Don't worry. You don't want to you don't want to be embarrassed by me. I hear it. I feel like we're dating.

Sergui 1:11:17
I don't think that it's that but the most of the time, they are looking for some fast device or some website, they can read some information. In the podcast, the broadcast takes a lot of time in order to, to understand it and to, to make the most of it.

Scott Benner 1:11:36
It's I agree, it's a it's a commitment, but I think it pays you back from that commitment to in a way that just reading an article or hearing a little bit of information, maybe can't enrich you as much. So I listened. I'm thrilled that you reached out. And I'm so glad you found the podcast has been incredibly enlightening for me talking to you. I want to make sure you don't have anything else you want to say before I say goodbye. But I really do appreciate you doing this.

Sergui 1:12:06
Yeah, it's been great, Scott. Well,

Scott Benner 1:12:08
I hope you I hope you feel better as well. I felt I feel badly that you're sick. No, it's

Sergui 1:12:15
going away. It's, it's fine. I just wanted to thank you for the podcast and for, for the opportunities that it gave me to help other people with loop and with managing diabetes for their children.

Scott Benner 1:12:33
It's my pleasure. I I appreciate that you listen, it's I hope you can I hope you can understand how kind of fantastic and strange it is to learn that there's somebody you know, in Romania listening to me talk about diabetes, it's it's certainly unexpected when I get these notes, so I really do appreciate you telling me or I would never have any way of knowing. Yes, thank you. Please tell your wife I said hello, even though she doesn't know me. And you know, and he did want to ask you one question. When your son's a little older, and he starts involved getting involved in sports. What would the what would be the sport of choice where you live?

Sergui 1:13:23
This poor like choice? I think, I think it would be soccer, as you call it in the US. But I'm not such a big soccer fan. So maybe he would go swimming or riding a bicycle.

Scott Benner 1:13:42
Gotcha. There's no

Sergui 1:13:45
Soccer is the national sport running.

Scott Benner 1:13:50
I have it right. It's just there's so many options here that that people choose from. And I was wondering you know, like there's is there baseball where you are?

Sergui 1:14:00
No, no, nothing. We don't have baseball in Romania or in Europe. I don't think it's that

Scott Benner 1:14:06
big. Right, cricket?

Sergui 1:14:08
No, no, that's India.

Scott Benner 1:14:10
That's just just pretty specific to India.

Sergui 1:14:15
I mean, football, from my knowledge, yes, we I don't know anybody who's playing cricket in Romania or Europe. You know, there might be clubs but but it's not a big thing. Yeah. See now that your soccer, tennis These are big things. cycling.

Scott Benner 1:14:31
Cycling. Yeah, I realize now that you're saying that that I see men playing cricket all the time. But now I realize they're all Indian. So yeah, I guess now I'm thinking about I've never seen anybody but but Indian men playing cricket around me, but I just we just have such a mix of people that you you just kind of get accustomed to it. You know, it's funny. I never considered that those guys weren't mixed very much. That's interesting. Okay, well Um, I appreciate you sharing all that with me, I really do.

Sergui 1:15:04
Sure, yeah, well wanted to tell this funny story because I helped that family with a loop. Because they were, they were already using Omnipod and Dexcom. And afterwards, I, somebody requested some help on loop, they weren't using Omnipod, they were only using Dexcom. And because I was very excited from the first time I got this very positive feeling from helping them, I decided to help this family and I, I sent them the documentation, they try to, to build the app, and they didn't manage to do it. And afterwards, I decided to go to drive to their home, two hours drive. They never used Omnipod before, and I installed the pump on on their son was a teenager, but in the same time I was I was feeling very strangely because it wasn't quite right. But there was no one else to help them. The father of this teenager was a cop, and he was looking suspiciously at suspiciously at mean, doing all those things. Now I was working on on my last laptop trying to build their Nightscout and the app, and they were looking at me in the same time, but I managed to do it finally. And they were relieved.

Scott Benner 1:16:28
Yeah, well, they were probably very grateful. And at the same time thinking Who would do such a nice thing? You know, it's, yeah, I've had that experience. By the way. I've I've there are a couple of people local to me that I've helped. And, and I have been in people's homes. And it's it's a, it is a different feeling when it's not somebody you know, at all I can, I can understand completely what you're talking about. But it's really nice, easy to do. And you got a lot out of it, too. It felt good. Yeah, it

Sergui 1:16:59
felt really good. Especially because I know it will make a difference in the long time. And the more stable blood sugars and lower blood sugars. And this could mean a lot for a child and a teenager.

Scott Benner 1:17:13
It certainly can I get to feel like that every day. But it's very exciting to hear that somebody else gets to feel that way. Because I know how I know how personally valuable it is, honestly. And then

Sergui 1:17:24
I would I would have never would have done it without listening to your podcast that would I would never have have discouraged to talk to people and to tell them that we can do this together. We can build the envelope app and yeah,

Scott Benner 1:17:41
that's that's extraordinary. I appreciate you sharing that with me very much. Thank you. Wow, now you touched me at the end there. I didn't expect that I I feel like I was in Romania helping somebody with loop. Although you were you were much better suited to do it. Because if I showed up with a laptop, I'd be like, I don't know. I gotta call a guy. Don't know how to do this. Wow, thank you so much.

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