#961 Omnipod 5 Trial Experience

July 25, 2023Scott Benner

Lauren's daughter has type 1 diabetes and participated in the Omnipod 5 trial.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, welcome to episode 961 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today I'll be speaking with Lauren, her sister, brother, and now daughter have type one diabetes. Lauren's daughter did the Omni pod five trial. And she's here to talk all about that and much more. While you're listening today, please, 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. Were becoming bold with insulin. Get five free travel packs and a year's supply of vitamin D when you start using ag one with my link, drink ag one.com forward slash juicebox save 40% off your entire purchase of cozy Earth products at cozy earth.com. I'm talking about bedding, towels and clothes all 40% off with the offer code juice box at checkout. Save 10% off of your first month of therapy at BetterHelp. And all you have to do to get that is sign up through my link better help.com forward slash juice box

this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter, you can find the next gen at all the contour meters at contour next.com forward slash juicebox. Your test strips may cost less on that website than you're paying right now through your insurance. Can you imagine that? Go check it out contour next.com forward slash juicebox. today's podcast is also sponsored by touched by type one touched by type one.org. That's where you want to go to learn all about this great organization. Their goal is to elevate awareness for type one diabetes, raise funds to find a cure and inspire those with diabetes to thrive. They have a an event coming up. I'm sorry, I'm talking and clicking at the same time they have their big event coming up the annual conferences on the 16th of September. In the Rosen Shingle Creek conference center in Orlando, Florida. Go to touched by type one.org. To learn more. I will be speaking at that event. I hope to see you there. If you're enjoying the show, please share it with someone else you think might also enjoy the Juicebox Podcast. And if you're listening online, consider finding a podcast app. They're free and a terrific way to listen. Apple podcast, Spotify, Amazon music and more. Subscribe and follow today.

Lauren 2:57
Hi, my name is Lauren. And I have a wonderful husband Jason and I have two children. So Vivian is my oldest. She is 14 years old and is a type one. She was diagnosed when she was 10 years old. And I have a younger son who is 11 years old.

Scott Benner 3:20
So Vivian's the type one. Yep. Does the younger son have any autoimmune stuff? No, he

Lauren 3:26
just has like, a little bit of skin issues. But that's it. And I did get the trial net for him, which was one of the scariest things ever. And he does not currently have the antibody

Scott Benner 3:39
he has like eczema or something like that. Yeah, he

Lauren 3:43
has. What's it called? starts with an S. My brain is in a fog. Don't worry, we'll figure that part of that. I'll think of it like halfway through.

Scott Benner 3:52
Does he have seasonal allergies bad?

Lauren 3:54
No, they're not

Scott Benner 3:56
good for him. I hope he's okay. Yeah, I

Lauren 3:58
know. Right.

Scott Benner 3:59
But did the diagnosed four years ago? Yeah, this came out of the blue for you or do you have other people in your extended family of type one?

Lauren 4:07
Okay, well, good thing that we have a long time to chat. So my brother and sister both have type one. I do not. So my sister is the oldest and she was diagnosed when she was eight years old. And I am admitting that she is 51 now, and my brother is the middle child and he was diagnosed when he was 11. So it's so funny because when they were younger, of course it was called juvenile diabetes. And so I always was waiting till my 18th birthday because I was like, I'm you know, once I turn 18 I'm not gonna get diabetes, but you know, now I know that that's

Scott Benner 4:46
that's you thinking that like, I just have to make it a thing. Oh my

Lauren 4:50
god. Absolutely. 100% So I grew up with a brother and sister and it was it's so interesting because the way A that we control diabetes now is so extremely different than it was controlled. Then, when I was younger we had no sugar in my house. Nothing. We didn't have any candy. No Halloween candy. It was a no fun house. So my mom used to take she used to buy Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios. And when she would come home, she would mix them right away because it was too much sugar in the honey nut cheerios. And I would say, you know, because I was the youngest. Well, can I have the honey nut cheerios? You say, Nope, no one can have the honey nut cheerios.

Scott Benner 5:42
Got a big metal bowl out and dumped a box of Cheerios and a box of honey nut cheerios, then mixed it up with their hands and put it back in the boxes. Wow.

Lauren 5:50
Yep, that was my childhood, we had nothing, there was a box of cookies that were stashed at the very, very top of one cabinet that I soon figured out that she hid for herself. And I used to go and steal a cookie every once in a while because it wasn't allowed. And the thing that's so interesting, and you know, I talked to my sister for this, of course, because we have a really great relationship. She used to talk about how she was always allowed to eat a ton of fruit, but no artificial sugar. And we used to always start our meals off with some sort of fruit, we would start off with like a grape fruit, or honey do, or cantaloupe. And that's how we would start our dinner. So even though it was a no sugar house, it was still a very healthy house, which actually has helped me in my adulthood. And, you know, when I had to leave the house, you know, for college, so I learned how to be a healthy person, but it was extremely restrictive.

Scott Benner 6:52
Okay. It's interesting. Do you have any idea? Why was she projecting health by starting a meal with fruit? Or was it something about the diabetes that she thought she was doing? Do you know,

Lauren 7:03
I'm sure she was just projecting health because I think I have a feeling that when she grew up, they always started off with like a grapefruit or something, you know, we had those special little spoons that would cut the grapefruit up into the little slices. So I think that was something that she did when she was younger, and that she just continued on. I imagine

Scott Benner 7:24
your mom for some reason in the backyard behind the shed where you keep the mower with a cigarette and that box of cookies. Just like no cigarettes. Just like I love cookies, these three kids got diabetes.

Lauren 7:42
It was the Milanos two was the Milanos. And I remember just like savoring my one cookie, and hoping nobody would see me eating it.

Scott Benner 7:50
Have you ever asked her if she knew you were taking them?

Lauren 7:53
No, I never did. So my mom's actually not alive anymore. And that's also one thing that I think diabetes was also very hard to manage, because she actually had breast cancer throughout my childhood. And so she got it when I was six. So think about having to juggle having breast cancer and having two kids with type one all at the same time. So I think in many ways, type one became a backburner. And because she had to, you know, really focus on staying alive. So well. So my sister is, you know, just extremely mature, super smart. And I think she was just like, Julie, you can handle this. And, you know, I'm gonna worry about me. And of course, like, she was an amazing, wonderful person. But my sister had to take on a lot. You know, it was it was a lot as a child and her what she started with as a young child, she really didn't see any differences in like using technology until she herself was like, I need to change because this isn't good for my body. So it was it was a lot.

Scott Benner 9:12
When you said your mom passed, was that a long time ago or did she? So the breast cancer and

Lauren 9:18
so she got breast cancer when I was six years old, and then it came back twice. It had metastasized to her liver, so she ended up dying when I was 17. Wow. So yeah, that's a long time ago that

Scott Benner 9:31
um, so it

Lauren 9:32
was a long time ago. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot to deal with with two kids with type one and then having, you know, a struggle. That was really difficult for herself.

Scott Benner 9:44
So were your parents married? Yeah, yeah. So okay, so Geez. All right. I'm sorry.

Lauren 9:55
My brain sorry, told me I'm supposed to make this fun and funny. So Uh,

Scott Benner 10:01
yeah, we'll start hard with breast cancer and then we'll just, we'll go into the fun stuff after that. Well, so your brother and sister have type one. But does that mean when you had kids? Did you think, Oh, my kids might have type one or Jude never think of it that way?

Lauren 10:16
No, I never thought of it that way. And so when Vivian was diagnosed, I was so surprised we were skiing up in New Hampshire, and that she had to go to the bathroom. And I was like, alright, well just click out of our boots, because we were at the base, and she couldn't hold it in. And she was in the fourth grade. And I was like, That's so weird. Like, that's just not normal. And the drive down to Massachusetts, where we live outside of Boston, it's only two hours and 15 minutes. And so she had to stop three times. So I called my sister the next day. And I was like, This is so weird. And she's like, I know. And I was like, maybe it's just, you know, yeast infection or something like that. And we went to the doctor's the next day, and I was just shocked. But I have to say, like, seeing my brother and sister grow up with type one, I was like, you know, what, they have lived healthy lives. They both have children, you know, my sister was able to have children. And they both went to top universities. So and are extremely successful people. My sister as a PhD, my brother is, you know, very successful in his field. So

Scott Benner 11:24
Mister has a PhD, my brother is not having.

Lauren 11:29
But there, and the thing that my sister says is like, she was probably high for her entire childhood, through high school, and she still was able to be a successful person. And that's what I think is so important to think about. We have this amazing technology that makes our lives so much easier. And so I think about, of course, I can handle this and, you know, because look at what they had to go through. And we didn't have any of that back then. No CGM. I mean, I can't even imagine what their levels were on a daily basis. And they're, you know, they're doing great.

Scott Benner 12:08
Well, I just just now while you were talking, Arden is the college and Fridays her sleeping day. So they she doesn't have classes on Friday. And I I'm assuming she's still sleeping because she was up late last night working on homework and everything. And her Dexcom numbers just disappeared. So I'm pretty sure that her CGM has lapsed, right like it. She needs a new one. And I texted her, I was like, Hey, is your Dexcom done? And she didn't answer me at all. She's still asleep. So I just texted my wife. And I was like, Hey, you got to reach out and try to find out what's going on because I think her CGM shot. But anyway, it is interesting, because up until then, you know, I don't think I've looked at Arden's blood sugar, maybe twice today. But when I looked at it, I looked at it, I watched them. I'm seeing the algorithm working, keeping your blood sugar stable, and all this stuff. And I'm like, Oh, that's great. Everything's good. She's sleeping in. And this is wonderful. And now I'm, I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna wake her up and tell her to swap that CGM. Anyway, well, that's what I appreciate you telling me about the background, that's truly something actually, your sister doesn't have any complications. She

Lauren 13:19
was one of the first people to start a pump, which she was very lucky with. And so the problem now that she's having is, she has a lot of spots that she can't use. And so when she started on the pump, they're like, you can only put it in your stomach. And so she has a lot of problems absorbing insulin. So she's currently taking a pump break. And I told her that, you know, she should try to get the Omnipod five, but her insurance is not covering it. But that's the problem is the Dexcom slips off, and she was on the T slim, and it's just not connecting properly. So she has to, she's just gonna go through this right now and see how it goes. And maybe she could get onto the Omnipod. Five and find some new spots to use. But that's, that's the problem that she's having right now. And so it's, it's hard. It's really hard.

Scott Benner 14:14
Well, she said diabetes for? I mean, how long? 40 years? Maybe? Yeah, yeah. so and so. Do you think she was using the same sites over and over again? Or has she just exhausted all four possibilities?

Lauren 14:27
She's definitely used her stomach a ton, and she has spots that are hard. She even tries to use her arm and she's got very muscular legs. And so it's very hard to use those as well. Yeah,

Scott Benner 14:41
yeah. stuff. You don't think about that? For sure. Okay. So Vivian. Boom, has diabetes. Four years ago. You start with what technology four years ago?

Lauren 14:53
Well, so we are so lucky that we are part of the Joplin and Boston and they are just there. So amazing. She was diagnosed in December and we were lucky enough, they said to find it within one month, pretty much. And I can literally pinpoint the weekend when she said, I just, I just don't feel right. One month later, we were at Children's in Boston. And then right after that, we switched to the Joplin because we knew we wanted to be there. And our first first appointment A week later, they're like, do you want to Dexcom? We're like, sure. Well, let's go on a desk calm. And then three months later, we started on the pod. And we have been on it ever since? Yeah, it's been great. And then we were asked by our amazing nurse if we wanted to be in the trial. So it was started off as the horizon. And we did that for if I think January, I know the beginning of 2020 was when we started it. So she will literally be on Omnipod. Five for three years now. Wow.

Scott Benner 15:59
Okay. And that's obviously why you're here today. Yes. So let's talk about that. Don't forget to head to touched by type one.org To learn about the organization, and get signed up for the big event on September 16. Now, let's thank contour for making fantastic meters and tell you a little bit about them. Contour next.com, forward slash juicebox. I'm on the website right now. That's how fast it loads. It's lightning fast. Click the internet, just like that. I'm sorry. Can we start over contour next.com forward slash juicebox. Check out the contour next blood glucose meter, and all the great meters that carry the contour name. It's a proud family. And they all boast Second Chance test strips. Now, why do I care about that. So you get a little drop of blood on your finger and you come in there, you start to touch the blood with a test strip. But then I don't know. You get distracted, you pull it away, you drop the meter on the bed. I don't know what happens to you. But you don't have enough yet. You're not done, you're going back. Usually with your meter, you're gonna throw away that test strip, but not with contour meters. That's why we love these Second Chance test strips. Contour next.com forward slash juicebox incredibly accurate meters that are easy to hold, easy to use, easy to understand that if you want will pair with an app on your phone to help you keep track of your data. But if you don't want to use the app, you don't have to the light is bright at night. It is a perfect meter. It's my opinion. We've only been using it for you know, like four years. So why Listen to me. Oh my god, there's a bug on my wall. I'll be right back. Okay, I've dealt with the bug and I'm back. Don't worry, I didn't hurt it. I released it into the wild contour next one.com forward slash juicebox you need you want and you deserve an accurate blood glucose meter. That is easy to use. I know CGM 's are amazing, but you still need a meter. And it should be accurate. contoured x.com forward slash juicebox links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now. And links at juicebox podcast.com. To contour to touched by type one and all the sponsors. When you click on my links, you're supporting the show when you share the show with someone else. You're supporting the show. That's it. Don't get back to Lauren. Alright, let's do it. Bye bye, buggy. I'd like to understand what the trial was like. But moreover, I want to talk about using it every day for so long. So how long did the trial last?

Lauren 18:49
Almost two years because there were some glitches in the beginning. So we had to go off it I think for like a month or two months. I can't remember exactly. And it was very, very difficult to go back off and go back on the dash because we were sleeping through the night. I mean, it was really amazing. You know, we didn't have to do a lot of correcting, because the Omnipod would just do it for us. So yeah, but she was on it for that long. And insolate was pretty awesome about giving us all the supplies that we needed. So it was it was fantastic. And we we did different things like we did a diet challenge. We did an exercise challenge. And we had tons of phone conversations where they would just look at her information, all her graphing and say all right, well, I think we need to tweak this and we need to tweak this and see how this goes. So it was it was a wonderful experience. Wonderful

Scott Benner 19:49
is the system as it is now retail the same as it was during the trial.

Lauren 19:53
So when they had the glitch, I think that it was just producing too much insulin they did not gave me a ton of details. And that's why they had to fix it. And COVID had just really started. So we couldn't come into the office for the diet challenge and the exercise challenge. So we had to do everything in our house and just give them all that information.

Scott Benner 20:19
But yeah, okay, so you think the algorithm got off it felt to you like the algorithm got a fine tuning in the beginning?

Lauren 20:25
Definitely, it definitely did. And so

Scott Benner 20:27
basically, being on the on the trial just means what reporting back data telling them what she ate, what time she ate it showing them graph stuff like that. Was that was that it? Or was there more to it?

Lauren 20:39
No, I didn't even have to do that. I just had to, she just had to be on the specific pods. And we would have a phone conversation monthly. Or I would come into the office, but because of COVID. It was mostly just phone, and they would look at her numbers, and they would do any type of tweaks and go from there

Scott Benner 21:02
when they were tweaking. Were you aware of what they were doing? Or do you not even know what they did?

Lauren 21:07
Yes, because I had to change it in the PDM. Okay,

Scott Benner 21:11
so they were making settings changes, even though you were an auto Yes. And that made a difference. But now you're a longtime user, this changing settings impact auto?

Lauren 21:21
No, because they would no, no, they would maybe change like the carb ratio, or something like that. So I would just have to change something in it. Or they would say, you know, make sure that you're, you know, giving this much time before you eat and we Viviane went to sleepaway camp in between, so we had to change the settings because of that.

Scott Benner 21:44
Okay, so there's just very small tweaks to like day to day to day life. They're collecting did they have access to our CGM data? Anything like that? Yeah, yeah. Okay. So they clarity. Yeah. So they're seeing all that they get enough data to submit to the FDA, I guess. And then do you isn't there a moment where the study is over and you don't get it anymore?

Lauren 22:05
They were so amazing. So they, they kept saying it's gonna be FDA approved, it's going to be FDA approved, and it took so long. So they just continued to let us use it. And then, when they knew that they were going to stop the trial, they made sure that I had all of the updated the PDM that I had all of the updated pods so that I never had to transition back to the dash, that I had everything in place for her. It was fantastic. It was amazing. And they kept saying to me every time, we just want to thank you so much for doing this trial. And I said, No, no, thank you.

Scott Benner 22:52
I'm sleeping. Yeah.

Lauren 22:55
It was amazing. It was fantastic.

Scott Benner 22:57
So how would you describe Vivian's outcomes prior to Omni pod five? Like, where was everyone see, what did her variability look like those things?

Lauren 23:06
So she was probably at like a 7.0 or 6.8. And so now it is, it's she's at like a 6.3. Now, you Yeah, I'm very happy with that, you know, she's 14. And she hates to give herself insulin within the allotted time. So we really need to prep her about that. But she doesn't like take out her PDM at school. She doesn't like to prepare as much as maybe I would like her to so and Hannah, her nurse says, you know, Vivian, your everything is so beautiful in our settings. Like you just have to give yourself time before you eat. And that's the tricky part. Yeah.

Scott Benner 23:49
She does she do you think she forgets? Or do you think it's willful? Or like,

Lauren 23:54
how do you look like she just forgets? Yeah. Yeah,

Scott Benner 23:57
I think I think that's what happened. Yeah.

Lauren 24:00
Focusing can be a little tricky. So yeah,

Scott Benner 24:03
I don't think anyone thinks I should. Pre-Bolus right now, but I'll do it later. Especially like, it's funny. You keep saying PDM? Because you've used you've used I know, I know, I know. I'm not changing very much want you to call it a controller. But I I know, I know.

Lauren 24:19
I know. That's a big deal.

Scott Benner 24:22
But not the point. The point is that, I mean, I don't imagine your daughter's holding the controller and thinking I should be Pre-Bolus thing now, but I'm just not going to it just doesn't occur to her like she's busy and they get lost in what they're doing. I think that happens to everybody, not just kids. But

Lauren 24:36
yes. And also when we were in the trial, the Dexcom. The controller needed to be near her because the Dexcom was also connected in there. Okay, but now she has the phone that's connected with the ducks calm, so she would have to have to have her phone near her, not necessarily the controller.

Scott Benner 24:56
I listen, I sent on a text last night that said are you and affects this blood sugar. And that's just like what I'm doing. I'm doing my homework is was our first response and I went, That's fine Bolus and continue to do your homework. And she's like, okay, and it felt like I just snapped her out of what she was concentrating on. Yeah. You know, because the things beeping in her ear to she's not not, you know,

Lauren 25:21
well, one a tip that one of I think it was just a nutritionist at the Joslin told us to use an emoji, so that you don't have to say, you need insulin, you need insulin, because it's not a badger. So we just use a unicorn, as we always think of like unicorn diabetes. So I sent her three unicorns, and that's a reminder to take insulin. And I just if they say it's like a little less pushy. They see the unicorn. Oh, wait, I have to check my number. And then Vivian takes insulin.

Scott Benner 25:58
Yeah, I sometimes I don't always remember to bring it up. But you can look at your texts and read them a completely different way. Like you might just mean like, Hey, your blood sugar is high, do something about it. And it could get read on the other end, like, Hey, your blood sugar is high. Why are you doing something about it? Like that kind of thing? So and you're trying to live your life and just quickly dash off a text message to somebody? Yeah, that's a great idea. I like the unicorn idea. That's excellent. So

Lauren 26:26
good. And she said, she said, you know, you decide what emoji you want to use together. And so we looked at that. And we said, this one looks great. And so we know that that's, that's our code.

Scott Benner 26:37
Nice. It's excellent. Yeah. Very cool. So she's coming. You think she's, I mean, I have to tell you, somebody who just sent a kid off to college, it's a weird proposition. Like they leave and you're just like, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what they know. I can't see what they're eating. You know, like, it took us a couple of weeks to figure out how just terrible the food in the cafeteria must have been. Because she suddenly needed more insulin for meals were like, what's happening here? And then she finally told me one day, she's like that. I don't think any of this food is good. I was like, okay, she's like, she's like, it all looks great. And there's plenty of variety and everything. But she's like, I just, I'm basically just in a bad restaurant right now. And I'm like, okay, so she actually, we had to send her insulin. I sent her to school, with more than enough insulin to get her through the first 10 week period, she's in quarters. And she sent me a text like three weeks ago, and she's like, I'm gonna run out of insulin before I come home. So I was like, okay, so I contacted the doctor and had the doctor sent her a script and all this stuff. But it's, it's solely because of the foods that she has access to.

Lauren 27:48
Yeah, and that's the thing, actually. So Vivian has celiac as well. So she was diagnosed with that a year after, which was super surprising, because she didn't have as far as we saw, she didn't have any stomach problems, anything like that. But what I've noticed is that everyone that seems to get celiac with type one is asymptomatic. So you don't actually know that you have celiac unless you have a blood test. That what happened with that? Yeah, yeah. So So Vivian has to eat gluten free, and we've changed our kitchen. So that's also a concern when she goes off to college and a couple of years. Yeah. And that, of course, is totally different. Yeah, it's totally different with carbs and, you know, the type of flowers and starches that you use, because they're just a lot heavier.

Scott Benner 28:41
Yeah. And do you find that celiac friendly foods are often more carb heavy? Dairy? Yes. Definitely a bit about how they make them. Look, not to scare you. But Arden's not like, you know, some backroom college you don't I mean, like, she's, she's in a nice place. And I remember walking through there on the tour thinking, Oh, god, look how nice this restaurant is that they have set up for the freshmen, especially because my son went to a very old school. So, you know, a small, like, school has been around for hundreds of years kind of thing. And as soon as he got there, he's like, hey, the food here is terrible. Like really, like really bad. And I was like, Oh, come on, like, You must be kidding. And then they started sending us pictures of chicken that was pink and stuff. And he's like, how am I supposed to eat this? So he ended up supplementing his food all over the place, which was terrible, because you're paying, like, I don't want to shock people. But when you send your kids to college, the food and like dorm cost is usually around $14,000 a year, and no and you're like, and now he's like, I need money for food. I can't eat this food. Oh, and he didn't. You know, so you're like, okay, whatever. I mean, I guess this is what it is. And but then, you know, when we got to her school, and it was so nice and all the food looks so great. It was exciting. Eating. And then I, you know, in the end, it's just you're basically just at a restaurant. That's really what it is. And I don't know if they sprinkle like sugar, right on the food, you know, or what they're doing. But everything hits are harder. So I yeah, I'd be interested in know how somebody handles a gluten free diet to college would be interesting to hear about actually. So, anyway,

Lauren 30:21
yeah, I don't know. You're gonna find

Scott Benner 30:23
out. Okay, so on the pod five day to day for you. How do you just like if I, if I was just a friend, and we sat down for coffee, and I said, like, tell me why I want this. What would you what would be the first thing that popped in your head? Well,

Lauren 30:39
it's, you know, I have, Vivian hasn't been on the dash and so long, so you forget how difficult it was to be on there. So I can look at her number, and she will just progressively come back to her 110. So it's just it's so amazing. And sometimes I do need to give it a little kick in the butt at night. If she let's say we don't dose enough for dinner. But it always goes back to that one number. And she just started swim team. Okay, so and the activity mode is just, it is so amazing. So swimming is just it's tough. Tough work. Yeah. So we actually set it on the activity mode two hours before she starts swimming. And it can usually keep her above 70 For the one hour that she swims. Wow. Yeah. So and then oh, sorry, go on.

Scott Benner 31:38
No, just you, you said something earlier, I don't want people to get confused. But when you said like, we were using dash and it was so much harder. It just it's more intensive. Like it's like, it's like anything else. There's nothing automated, your your Basal runs constantly, like you have to make more adjustments. You're more involved. Is that? Yeah, that's what you mean. Right? Okay.

Lauren 31:57
So involved. Yeah, right. And, you know, I try my parenting style is we try and be relaxed, parents not too relaxed, you know, but to the point that we're not rigid, we're not on her case, if she is high, we we look at it, we decide what we want to do, if it's best to take action, and give a little bump of insulin or let it drop on its own. So we, you know, we want to be relaxed if we can. So it doesn't, it doesn't usually for us. So we don't have to, you know, push it. And sometimes we do push it too much. And then she goes low. And we learned from that. But I have to say after listening, I don't remember which one which podcast, it was from you that talked about not being scared to be low. Because my husband, he's so involved as well. But he would always get very, very worried about loads very, very worried, like, take a tab, take two tabs, you know, and then she would shoot up. And I said, I'm like, you just you have to take it easy, you have to watch it because it cuts the insulin off, you have to remember, if it's at 69, it's going to cut it off. And then you're going to give her a tab and she's going to shoot way up. So he's finally realizing it's okay, it'd be a little low. And let's go, we're gonna take a breath, and see where it goes from that. And that's again, one of the great things about the device is that it looks at the number and decide what to do.

Scott Benner 33:34
It's been really interesting for me to watch you all online learn about algorithms together. And, and I keep hearing people say over and over again, I've noticed that I don't need as many carbs to treat a low on on the pod five as I did previously with the way I was doing it. And it's it's interesting that that's the way people think about it, I guess that that's why they would think about it that way. But the truth is, is that, you know, if you're in a regular pump, you're getting your Basal every hour, just it's happening constantly. And if you end up low at three o'clock in the afternoon, on a you know, a pump that's not automated, and you or you end up low at three o'clock in the afternoon on an automated pump, how you got to that low are two completely different things. So when you're on an automated pump, that thing is seeing the low coming in the future. And it's just taking away insulin, like taking it away. So for an hour, an hour and a half prior, you might have no Basal going or something like that. And then a tiny bit of sugar, just boom, shoot you right up again. Whereas on a regular pump, even, you know you end up at that low but for the two hours prior to that you'd still whatever your Basal rate is every hour you were would be getting it unless you manually stepped in and took it away yourself, which is, you know, what I was doing before Arden was you know, using an algorithm and it's very intensive because when you watch the algorithm work you can see how frequently is making decisions is that God? Was I doing stuff that often before? You know? Like, it's crazy to think about? I hope everybody who can afford it finds it like algorithm farming in general. It's a really big Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.

Lauren 35:14
Yeah. It's, it's amazing that I mean, I just I feel so lucky to be, you know, on the to have the van on the five. And for sure. It, it's just it's, it makes her life a little more normal. Right. It's great.

Scott Benner 35:29
It's interesting that you're like, you're the more in the low situation. You're the ones like just wait, and your husband was the one that like, usually it's flip flopped.

Lauren 35:38
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But that'll happen at night. And she'll be at like, 69. And I'm, and I just say to him that it's around, like, like nine o'clock at night. And I'm like, Just wait, just wait, let's, let's see where it goes. And it'll go to like, 67. And I'm like, Just wait again, just read it again. So, and then it usually goes up. And then and then we're set for the night. We don't have to wake her up. And it's really fantastic.

Scott Benner 36:02
See, you'll hear me talk in other situations where I'm like, you know, the way you treat a low blood sugar has a lot to do with what kind of low it is. Is it like a drifting low? Is it like just sitting low? Or is it falling fast, you know, with a bunch of insulin behind it. And it's it's so if you if she was falling fast, you would do something at 69

Lauren 36:21
ABS? Yeah, if she was falling fast. And the other thing that is we use sugar meat. And so I actually set it up in my room as a nightlight. And so I turn my turn my phone sideways, and I set it up so that I can see her number. And the other night, she dropped 20 points. And we looked at that, and we said 20 points, because it'll actually say the number and it'll say minus 20, or what the drop is or what the how much is going up. And my husband was the one that said, I don't think that she would have dropped that much in so quickly. And so I just pushed her over. And it was just a compression low. And I didn't do anything. We waited till you know that we saw the next number and realized that it was and so if we had treated it, she probably would have shot up like crazy. But we just, you know, it's all about the process. Right? You have to just be able to stop and think and not pounce.

Scott Benner 37:22
Yes, no. I mean, the first time you see a compression low on a CGM, it scared the hell out of you, that's for sure. But after you've seen it a couple of times I call it that feeling from your husband. I completely understand like the you start going over in your head, like there's no act of insulin right now, like doesn't make sense that she would drop that fast, like from this, like, maybe she's just laying on the center. And by the way, maybe when the g7 comes out, maybe compression lows won't be as frequent for people so so Yes, that'd be exciting. Well, that's

Lauren 37:49
very exciting. We're definitely what we weren't allowed in that study at the Joslin, we did it in a week, you weren't allowed. No, I wasn't asked to be in that one. So

Scott Benner 37:59
if you just show up on the other one, that would have been great.

Lauren 38:03
But I also have to say they're also doing another study right now. It's called Die buddies. And it's so exciting because it's just you can choose a peer or someone that else has died, that someone else that has diabetes, and you just create, it becomes a friendship or mentoring situations. So we're doing Matt now with a VN. So we're just trying to make her a healthy, healthy person physically and mentally. And I just hope that other people are doing this as well just to create a community and I know that you're creating a community. And so it's nice. It's really, it's so important to think about their health, physically. And also mentally, you're actually

Scott Benner 38:41
doing a study where they partner you up with another type one to see if it benefits your health. Yeah, that's really cool. That's a great, yeah, I'm actually I've done that study already, right here. It's called this podcast, but I give you the data. When people talk to each other, it goes way better. There's a whole I was gonna say underground, but that makes it sound seemingly, but that I didn't, I didn't realize at first that people were meeting each other in the Facebook group, and then creating their own relationships that I don't see in the Facebook group. But that apparently happens frequently. So I think great. Yeah, it's a similar idea. But that's a really great thing that they're doing that as a study. I can't Yeah, I'd be interested to hear what what comes of that. How long did they do that for?

Lauren 39:24
Well, we were just interviewed this past week. So we're waiting for our match, but it's going to be a six month study, six month

Scott Benner 39:30
study. Okay? They're setting it up like a dating app. They want to make sure you're gonna get along. Yeah,

Lauren 39:35
that's really cool. Yep. So she wants to meet someone that is her age. She, you know, she could have chosen someone younger, to be a mentor, and they wouldn't have had anyone older than I think like 17 with her, but she wants to be with someone that's 14 or 13.

Scott Benner 39:53
So she's 14 Does she I hate to say I'm so sorry to ask you, but she gets her period.

Lauren 39:57
Yeah. Oh, and that's the other thing. So I remember so she was on. She was in the trial when she got her period. And I remember emailing the nurse, because my sister had said, once Vivian gets her period, you know, you're gonna have to have a whole different setting set up in the controller. And I emailed the nurse, and I was like, Vivian just got her period, we need to talk because we have to change all of her settings for it. And she's like, Nope, no, you don't, you're not touching it, because it will do it for you.

Scott Benner 40:27
And that's your binding. It's working. Yeah,

Lauren 40:30
we don't change anything.

Scott Benner 40:32
That's really terrific, really is. Yeah.

Lauren 40:35
Well, and even when she's sick, too, to I mean, we just add in a little extra insulin if needed. And, you know, we just follow protocol.

Scott Benner 40:45
Just let me slip this in right here learn Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. If you're interested in learning more about the Omni pod. I need the clicks. Yeah, I got it. Alert. It's a it's a real thing. The you might not realize it. But if you don't have advertising, you can't keep a podcast going. So you guys are like, Oh, I'm gonna definitely get that just get it with my link, please. Doesn't make me rich or anything like that. It just keeps them buying ads. You know what I mean? Like, I don't get paid every time one of you buys an omni VOD. But it definitely makes it easier. Forget Omnipod any of the advertisers This is, by the way, it's this time of year for me. So it's so at the top of my head right now, this is the time of year where you go back to your advertisers and say, Hi, here's what we did this year together. You know, here's how the podcast has grown. Are you interested in doing this some more? Because it's such a scary thing? Because if they go, no, no, we're done. Thank you, then you don't get the podcast anymore. And I by the way, I have to go get a job. And so which I don't know what I'm qualified to do anymore. And I don't think I've looked on LinkedIn and podcaster doesn't pop up very frequently. So but but it's a it's a very weird, like anybody who has their own business? Or does I mean, this is basically sales in a weird way or does sales for themselves? You know, that feeling of like, what happens when they say no, you know, like, what happens when they're done. And I think if I'm not mistaken, everybody's back in for 2023, which is completely to do with the fact that you guys listening, use the links, either to look at the stuff or to look at it and buy it. And it's what keeps the podcast coming. So I appreciate it.

Lauren 42:26
That's great. I want to look into that G vo hypo pen,

Scott Benner 42:29
G voc hypo dope. Thank you. You're welcome. That there, I would definitely get yelled at. So, you know, we just did a whole episode about that. It's not out yet. Jenny and I did it together in conjunction with the VOC actually, because I said to them, I just don't think people know how to use their, their glucagon. I don't think they know, I oftentimes I don't think they know why it's important. Oftentimes, I don't think they carry it with them. You know, or they think they know and then you know, the hits the fan. And it turns out, nobody was paying attention, like that kind of stuff. So we did this did this episode together to really like walk through what the pen is how it's built, how you use it, you know, and I'm, I'm proud of it. I can't wait for it to come out because I interviewed a woman recently who needed a rescue device. And her husband was not all that helpful when she needed him to be like he got through it. But he it was became clear afterwards that he he kind of didn't understand the bigger picture. So anyway, I love very scary. Yeah, no, it's terrible. I genuinely, I mean, I went after G voc for ads when it came out because I saw the form factor. And I thought, oh, I can actually send this with Arden. Like she'll carry this. This will really be helpful, like her friends could handle this. That's how it made me feel. So

Lauren 43:53
that's great. Yeah, we practice on the expired ones. The lily hit the red box. Yeah, we practice on the expired. We use the expired ones,

Scott Benner 44:02
they are gonna stop masking. They're gonna stop making them in a month. Really? Yeah, there's a date in December 2022. I think that's the date. And that's it. They're not making them anymore. Wow. So pick a new glucagon. Yeah, okay. And that, I mean, that makes sense to me. When you look at how that works, you know, you pull out that set big syringe, and then that's the liquids in the thing. And you have to think Don't you have to twist it on and then you have to put the liquid into the powder. And then you have to mix it up and you have to draw the liquid back out. Then you've got to like jam it like the muscle and your button. It's like a lot, you know, and now I actually have a trainer pen in front of me from G voc and he just you like it's a red cap. You pull it off, you go to the skin where you're supposed to do it, you press the yellow thing, do your thing. And that's it. It's over. You know, like, that's amazing. Yeah, that's a long way from mixing liquids. I mean, can you imagine if you and your if your daughter was out with her friends, there's a bunch of four 18 year old girls. I mean, what are they gonna do? You? Don't I mean, 14 year old boys 1414 year old kids like, I don't know, I didn't know what's the first time Arden needed it. So I don't know what kids are gonna do. But anyway, it's

Lauren 45:12
very scary. Very scary.

Scott Benner 45:14
Okay, so tell me why you wanted to come on? Like, am I covering it? Or have I not gotten?

Lauren 45:20
No, I just think that I just wanted to talk about my experience. And I just want people to realize how lucky we are to have the technology and the resources that we do now. And the communities that we have, because it wasn't like this, when I was growing up, you know, they, they didn't have the resources, they didn't have the technology. And my brother and sister are doing great. I mean, there's they, from what they had from my sister going on one shot a day, you know, using cows, pigs insulin at that time. She's doing really wonderful. So I think we just have to thank our lucky stars for what we have now. And realize that it can, it can be okay

Scott Benner 46:08
to build on it too. Right? Like, because I mean, as well as your brother and sister are doing, they must wonder, like, what if I was diagnosed now with algorithms and, you know, they mean, like, you're never going to know, but your daughter's going to know me it's going to be, it's going to be 40 years from now, one day. And, you know, your daughter is going to be sitting around telling stories about you. And, you know, her diabetes, and hopefully her kids won't have it, but they might write like, you know, who knows what they'll, what they'll manage with at that point?

Lauren 46:43
I know. Yeah. So. And we just, you know, the thing that I also have realized is, when Vivian was diagnosed, that it's always it's always okay to be upset, and you know, to have a little cry, but I feel like, everybody's got something. And that's what I think everybody needs to realize. And even though you might not physically see things that people have, they may have things happening emotionally and mentally, and everybody's got something and so you can feel sorry for yourself, but you just have to push through and know that everybody at some point is going to go through something, and we just have to be appreciative of the things that we have. And you know, just try and be our best selves.

Scott Benner 47:31
Do you think you learned that from your mom, from her situation?

Lauren 47:35
I do, because she was always an extremely positive person. And I mean, she was going through cancer treatments and still working every day, as you know, an elementary school teacher because she, she wanted to be with the kids and she didn't want to be sitting at home. So I saw how she pushed through and never ever got upset. She just always had a plan. She always had goals. And so I just think it's important to never sulk. It's okay. I mean, it's always okay to like have a little cry. But even leaving, you know, children's, after Vivian was diagnosed with diabetes, and then celiac, you look around and you say, You know what, we can handle this, like, we can do this as a team together and look at all the positive things that we have in our life, and we're gonna push forward. So I just always try and think about the positives. And, you know, try and not be that Negative Nelly, because it's not, it doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help anyone to be a negative person. Just try and push forward. Think about the positives and lean on people. Yeah,

Scott Benner 48:43
I have so many people on that have problems well beyond diabetes, and to hear their attitude. I'm always like, Wow, that's amazing. You know, I there's an episode that will be up probably before this comes out. But I don't know, with a with a woman who's a quadriplegic as much as as a younger woman, and it's from a medical mistake on top of all that, and then she gets type one, like a year or so. I mean, crazy. Good. You know, when

Lauren 49:13
I saw her, I saw her on the web on Yeah, yeah. Well, we

Scott Benner 49:17
were we've recorded together. And I mean, when when you talk to a person who is a clod who is still out, like, on like, rides, like out riding bicycles, and you know that they're obviously modified for her, but then she tells you that she has to, you know, herself, manually put something in her. So she can defecate, like, you know, like, you're like, wow, what am I arguing about? Like, what is it I'm complaining about today? Exactly. And she's not complaining. You don't I mean, like, she's not telling the story. Like hear you want to hear something terrible. And I'm busy, like, you know, I'm like, I got COVID I'm coughing a lot. Pitching every day about it. Like I I went into a, my wife who was sicker than I am was like, I don't care Shut up. But I'm like, why do people even need to be sick? And she's like, What are you talking about? She's like, if you want to philosophize about this, go on your freakin podcast and talk to people about it. She's like, Stop telling me that I'm like, like, why do we even get sick? Like, why does that happen? And she goes, Well, Scott, you know why? And I'm like, I know. But like, like, big picture, like, this is an argument against the Creator, by the way. So like, like, Why do I like why does your mom get breast cancer? Why does you know, why does your daughter get type one and celiac? Like, why does my daughter have type one and have trouble digesting food and have to take a thing to help her like, like, all that stuff is just, it's horrible. I don't know right up until you hear a girl tell you about her suppository, and then you go, Alright, I guess I maybe I should shut my mouth. You know what I mean. And I used to have that feeling. You brought up the Children's Hospital. When Arden was first diagnosed, there were no satellite offices for her children's hospital, there are now in gratefully we don't need to go all the way into the city anymore. I'd walk in there. And I was in charge of all that, like, I would take art and offer appointments. And sometimes I would tell my wife and like, that place is so freakin depressing. You know, there are so many sick kids in there. And it's not just diabetes, it's like so many other things, and so many other floors. And then I just I learned not to think of it that way anymore. Like, I stopped thinking of it as like, Oh, God, they're sick people here and I started thinking about it more like, these people are still all living their lives, you know, and they're doing things right. You know, I see it that way now. And

Lauren 51:32
these amazing hospitals are there to help them get well, as well as they can. And that's, that's what I think we have to think about, like how we can push above and, and make ourselves better. And that's, that's what I'm trying to do for Vivian. And I'm trying to make her a strong person who advocates for herself. And you know, and I said to her, I said, you know, childhood can be tough, but this is going to make you a stronger person, it's going to make you a stronger adults. And that's what we have to think about how can I advocate for myself? How can I be better? And and that can be tough. But we have to use the tools that we have to to do that.

Scott Benner 52:10
No, it's a great message. I really I appreciate you coming on and sharing it with me. Am I missing anything else? I want to make sure we're not. I'm not missing anything for you. I know. We

Lauren 52:19
know. I mean, I wasn't as funny as I was told to be. Well, not funny at all. But my friend Sarah was just too so excited. She wanted to be the person that was chosen.

Scott Benner 52:30
Wow, did I I did set up a number of different on the pod five conversations. So I've been recording them over the last couple of weeks. And now I'm going to try to like put a gap in between but I mean, you are just a slam dunk because Vivian has been using it for so long already. Like if there was it mean, the fact that you are not in any way tied to Omni pod. And and she has been using it for three years. And I tried 1000 different ways to ask you questions it could have led you to say like, I hate that thing. Right? Does this wrong? Yeah. You feel anything? Yeah. No, it's amazing.

Lauren 53:05
And I see that some people put online, they're like, I hate the five. And I'm just like, I love the five like it is amazing. It is. I can't say any anything more positive about it. I just I love it so much. I mean, I will hope you know, hopefully there will be something better and you know, a couple of years. But this is this is so fantastic for us. And it's our normal it's, it's great.

Scott Benner 53:32
Aside from Omnipod five, just technology in general or even using insulin there. I mean, I just answered a, I just answered a post online. And the it's a 24 hour graph that just goes from like, it goes from like 50 to 400 over and over again. And the person is just like I said, I give up. And I look and I think yeah, your settings are wrong. You're not posting right from meals, I couldn't count. I don't know anything about you. And I can see that much here. But they don't like that's not how it hits you when it goes wrong. Like when you can't get your CGM to connect or when you like have a problem with technology or whatever you don't think like I'm probably not doing this right. Or maybe there's a variable at play that I'm not aware of. Or maybe I'm not hydrated, and that's why my CGM doesn't work. Nobody thinks that they just look at the thing and they go this thing sucks, doesn't work. And it's just, you know, like, I'm not saying that there aren't some people who have those problems that might, you know, legitimately have that outcome. But for the grand, you know, for most people, I hate to say this, he you just you're doing something wrong. You know, and you got to figure out what that thing is. And I know that's easier said than done. But that's I think is the truth.

Lauren 54:41
Well, and when we first started in the trial, they're like, just let it work. You're not going to touch anything. We couldn't make any adjustments. We could not give any extra insulin they're like you have to let it learn your body. How so that

Scott Benner 54:55
that time was for Vivian the learning

Lauren 54:58
at least a month I think I mean, it was so long it was so long ago, during the whole trial, they said you cannot touch it. Unless I remember in the very beginning, we were sitting in a car ride, and she was just going so high. And so I called the doctor and I said, I don't know what to do, because you told me that I couldn't touch it. And she's like, okay, you know, we're just gonna give it a little bump, a little wake up call. And so sometimes we were able to do that, we would just kind of give like a little bit of insulin like a unit, just to be like, Hello, are you here? And and it would work?

Scott Benner 55:31
Yeah, we'll see you were in the trial. So you had different like marching orders, but the people who use it now when they're training it, the commonplace, right? If your blood sugar goes up, you give more insulin, so that the algorithm learns like, wow, I need my total daily insulin is more than what I expect here. Right, which is, that whole algorithm is based off of total daily insulin. Like that, right? That's kind of the measurement it, it's thinking about when it's making decisions. So that's amazing. Do you think if I asked Vivian about it, she'd say anything? Where do you think she just be like, it's fine?

Lauren 56:06
I think I think she really, she realizes how great it is also on the fact that like, at one point, she didn't want to do the diet trial. She didn't want to do or, you know, though, there were some sessions that we had to do with exercise. And they said, Oh, that's fine. You know, we don't have to do this. Let's just go back to the dash. And she's like, Oh, okay. Well,

Scott Benner 56:28
well, then in that case, so she knows. Yeah, I've, there's always little moments with Arden where you'll you know, more recently, I saw it with this. She's taking a digestive enzyme when she's eating, which is really helping her. It was, I don't know, a few weeks into me being like, you have to take this everyday. Just do it. Because we're seeing how it works, you know, and then one day, I think I've said this already, but Kelly and her were going out to they were gonna go shopping and look for stuff for college. And they were gonna get lunch, and they left the house. And then like, two minutes later, Arden came running back and she was like, I forgot the enzyme. And nobody reminder about it. She was she she knew this is important. And I'm seeing I'm seeing the benefit from it. That's when you can tell they know. Yeah, kids are just like, you know, they're blase. Like you're all excited about it. She's probably like, I was sleeping fine. No matter what. That lady and her husband were up all the time.

Lauren 57:23
Yeah. But now that she's 14, we talked about how she's really has to start being more accountable for herself.

Scott Benner 57:30
Yeah, no Arden's taking care of herself at school, overnight and everything. And it was interesting. Like, as she lived here, before college, she'd be like, I don't hear it. Like that kind of thing. Like, I don't know, you have to help me. And then the minute she got there, she's like, I heard it. You know, like it, there's still some nights she gets. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, like I pay attention to it for you know, I texted her last night. I said, I woke her up and I was like, You're high. You need insulin. I've, you know, I've texted her and said, Hey, I think you're gonna get low and she doesn't answer my call, and I wake her up. But it's only happened a handful of times. And there have been times that she's woken me up and said, Hey, I just drank a juice. I wanted you to know I'm okay. So I'm like, Oh, that's great. That's really cool. So,

Lauren 58:14
yeah. And when Vivian was is at sleepaway camp, she has to really take care of herself with the help of the counselors, but she can hear those alarms. I can hear them when she's in her bedroom upstairs. Is

Scott Benner 58:27
that a diabetes camp or just a regular camp? Just a regular camp?

Lauren 58:31
So she tried to diabetes camp, but it just wasn't for her.

Scott Benner 58:35
How long should I wait camp when she goes?

Lauren 58:39
Four weeks? Nice. Yeah. And my sister went to diabetes camp. You know, 1000 years ago in New Jersey, she went into Jetta. So she still talks about how that was a wonderful experience for her.

Scott Benner 58:50
Yeah, every every person who's 3040 50 years old, who has had diabetes for a long time, who comes on and talks about camp, they're like, they still know people from there. And it was their that was their whole diabetes circle. At that point. People you met for weeks at a camp and said it's a great idea. I mean, it very similarly is the is the the trial that Vivian's in right now, where you get a buddy, you know, so it's same. Right?

Lauren 59:13
Right. Well, Vivian also had two other boys in her grade at school that had diabetes. And it was wonderful because she came in back from the hospital in the fourth grade, and one of her classmates is a type one. So all the kids already knew about diabetes, because the mom came in and she did a whole lesson for the kids when they were younger about him, and diabetes. And so then when she moved into the middle school, there was another boy and he had type one. So she's like, Hey, I got a crowd. I have, you know, it's three of us.

Scott Benner 59:50
We're almost up to a basketball team. They get shaky at halftime.

Lauren 59:54
I know. But both boys left they went to private school. So now she's the only one Wow,

Scott Benner 1:00:00
that sounds I'm sure she'll meet more people not that sounds like I'm like, Oh, don't worry. People get type one and your daughter will meet. Add to this crowd. Oh, that's wonderful. All right. Well, I really appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much.

Lauren 1:00:13
Thanks for having me on. I hope it was helpful. It was helpful. It really was. Did

Scott Benner 1:00:17
you? Do you? So I know you said you thought you had to be funny. And you don't think you were but yeah, I think you're funny in your regular life.

Lauren 1:00:24
I do. I do. My husband's super funny. So I think I'm a little clever. My son is super clever. And he gets it from my husband's side. But I like to be funny. I like to have fun. You want to tell? Again, it adds just, it just adds, you know, more positivity and helpfulness. Yeah, my son gave me a joke, but it wasn't funny at all. But you know, what he did is because he, he went on to my Facebook, and he would find pictures of himself and go on to my account. And he right, my favorite with a heart of his, you know, with his picture. And so I was like, oh, you know, that's funny, haha. And I would make like a comments in the bottom. And my mother in law, her friends and her sister were like, I can't believe Lauren. Like, she's so rude. Like, poor Vivian. Like, how can? How can she post all of these photos of you know, her son and how he's her favorite? And I was like, Are you serious? Do I really need to post something that says, It was him? It wasn't, you know, me. And a lot of people even some friends texted me. And they're like, I really thought that you were posting those photos, Jonathan. And saying that he was your favorite. And I'm like, really? And there was like misspellings and everything.

Scott Benner 1:01:49
You can't tell us as a child. What you think of me? Yeah,

Lauren 1:01:53
but my thoughts our family roles. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:01:56
My friend Mike, who I've talked about on the podcast number of times when we were young and growing up, he had an uncle named Frank. And Frank had a way of telling, like, big, long, bad jokes. And the jokes weren't funny. But he was incredibly funny. Like he would I could tell I'm not gonna bother you with it. But there's a joke about a three legged pig that he would tell. That is, it's not funny, but so entertaining to watch him tell it. And I remember as a kid, we would try to like retell the joke to people. Because if you could get people interested, or actually make them laugh, and they weren't laughing at you, you were doing something because the joke itself was just not good. He used to tell this. It's so dirty. I can't tell you it's about a piano player. But there's no way for me to say it here. Like it's just so full of vulgar words. But again, not a funny joke. And long and boring. And it like, it's there were times where you're like, is this gonna end? Like the joke but not him telling it him telling it you could have listened to for an hour? So anyway? Alright, well, anyway, I thought you were terrific. I don't know why anybody told you. You needed to be funny. I thought you were. I appreciate Can you hold on one second for me? Yeah.

An out of work piano player walks into a bar. Now I can't tell you that joke. I just can't, I could tell it. First of all, I wouldn't do Frank any justice. And secondly, the whole thing would just be beeps for like eight minutes, take me longer to beep it out than it would to tell it. Let's thank contour. And remind you to go to contour next.com forward slash juice box to check out all the contour meters. I want to thank touched by type one for being longtime sponsors of the Juicebox Podcast. And of course, I want to thank Lauren for coming on the show and telling us that terrific story. Thank you so much for listening. When I have more to say, I'll wait till after the music

I just wanted to tell you about the private Facebook group, which has 40,000 members in it and remind you that you need some community around your diabetes. And my Facebook group is the place Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes. Now that's the name of the private group Juicebox Podcast, it's actually a little colon then type one diabetes. Now even though the word type one diabetes in there, there's type twos there. There's lots of others, actually. ton of people kind of 5050 between caregivers and adults. Beautiful group. It really is. It's it's a great place. I hope you check that out. Then there's a page Juicebox Podcast the page is the public thing. That's something anybody can see the group you have to answer a couple of questions to become a member of so that you know we can prove that you're a real person. But follow the public page. Join the group. This is a good way to keep up with the podcast. All right, and Don't forget to subscribe and follow in an audio app, Amazon music, Apple podcasts, Spotify, stuff like that. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you're interested, I left the few minutes that Lauren and I spoke before we started recording, mainly you're gonna hear about my COVID and some stuff like that each other most of the time anyway. So both of us trying not to pass our illnesses back and forth to each other. Yeah,

Lauren 1:05:29
I heard that's, it stinks. It just actually Vivian had. We had COVID, a couple of years ago, and she actually had was in hospitalized, hospitalized six weeks after she had COVID Because she got mi FC, which is multi inflammatory, this condition. And so what it does is it affects the heart and lungs. And so we were up in New Hampshire, because my, my son is on a race team. And so we were up there and she had a fever and the doctors like just give her Tylenol, Advil, she didn't get better. And she had this horrible fever, we rushed her down to the ER. And so it affects the heart and it affects the lungs, but she's fine now because we got her there, you know, in enough time, but it was

Scott Benner 1:06:20
really, I woke up this morning, and my wife was propped up in bed. And I was like, did you sleep? And she's like, not really. And she's had it for like, like three or more weeks. Like she got it. They gave her some drug that knocked it down. And like six days into it. She's like, Oh my god, I'm better. She was testing negative. She's like, This is crazy. Yeah. And then we let her back into the house, which was our mistake. Because then like a day and a half later, she's like, I don't feel good again. And then by then my son and I were like, oh, like so then we started feeling weird, like for a week off and on, like having those moments where I'm like, am I getting sick? And then as it got no, I'm not. I'm good. And then he felt the same way. And then we both got sick on the same day, like two weeks ago tomorrow.

Lauren 1:07:06
I think sometimes those medications, they extend it because then you can get like, you know, it can come back.

Scott Benner 1:07:12
Yeah, she she she researched it more now and said I wish I wouldn't have taken that. So, right. But my son and I have gone through it. We're still like start coughing out of nowhere, your throat gets really dry for no reason for like, 10 minutes, that's gone. You're like, what, what the hell was that? You know, like that kind of stuff. I recorded an episode three days into COVID that I had to record. It was like a business thing. And I mean, I was on a call with six people. And I looked like I was kicking heroin while I was doing it. Like I was just like, like, it was like pouring, like, like sweat was just pouring off of me the entire time I did it. And other than that I was okay. Like, you know what I mean? It was just the strangest thing wasn't coughing. I wasn't sneezing. My head wasn't congested. I was just I was sweating. Like I was in an oven. And the people I know must have been looking at me like, Oh, my I tried to stay a little stressed. Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, I'm sick. And they're like, Okay, you're sure? Sure you just haven't been away from the needle too long, buddy. Because it was really something. Anyway, thank you introduce yourself anyway, you want to be known. Okay. And then we'll start talking and then it'll be over.

Lauren 1:08:20
So I don't have anything else that I need to add or talk to you about before we start.

Scott Benner 1:08:25
No, we'll find out while we're recording. So people learn it together. Okay, all right. Sounds sorry. Okay. So don't need to use your last name. Don't feel pressure about that. But just Yeah,