#971 Chutes and Ladders

August 8, 2023Scott Benner

Jared's daughter has type 1 diabetes.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 971 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's podcast I'll be speaking with Jared he is the father of a fairly newly diagnosed child with type one diabetes. And Jared and I spend our hour chit chatting away as we do. 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. We're becoming bold with insulin. And don't forget, if you have the need use the links that the show provides when you're buying on the pod Dexcom going to us med contour meters G voc hypo pen if you're going to drink a G one, if you're gonna buy sheets from cozy Earth, get better Help or visit touched by type one.org. When you click on my links, you're supporting the production of the show and keeping it plentiful and free. And for that, I want to say thank you. Those links are in the show notes of your podcast player. And they exist at juicebox podcast.com. But you'll also hear me say them during the ad so you can just type them into a browser too. There's not enough time left for me to say anything else. So I'll see you on the other side of this

this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by cozy Earth cozy earth.com That's the place you go. You get the comfortable sheets, the incredibly absorbent towels, the luxurious clothing, it's all at cozy earth.com. And don't forget to use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% off your entire purchase. today's podcast is also sponsored by ag one drink ag one.com forward slash juice box, you can start your day the same way I do with a delicious drink of ag one, take ownership of your health. Try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. Once again, my link is drink ag one.com forward slash juice box.

Jared 2:21
My name is Jared I live in northern Colorado. I am the dad and caregiver of an 11 year old diabetic. She was diagnosed a year ago yesterday. So we are right on her diversity outside of diabetes. I I have been a wedding photographer for 10 years. That is has been my main focus in the last year. So I've been working as well, with my wife, we own two businesses, we own a small law firm as well. And we're expanding that law firm. So I've stepped in to a role there as well to help on the business side of things. So that's what I do for work. For fun. I'm a you know, pretty authentic Colorado and I like to cycle and hike and mountain bike and do a lot of things outdoors. That's that's what I do for fun.

Scott Benner 3:10
I was gonna say you don't live there if you don't want to do those things. Yeah,

Jared 3:13
that's true. That's true. I'm born and raised in Florida. So I'm not native color. I didn't grow up in this area. I came to the west some cheese let's see here 2020 ish years ago, and I lived in Utah for a short period of time. And then after college, my wife and I said we wanted to stay in the mountains. But we didn't necessarily want to stay in Utah and kind of where we were we decided to go

Scott Benner 3:33
where to where did the two of you meet?

Jared 3:35
We met Believe it or not in middle school. We've been together forever. So we we met in seventh grade English class doing a Shakespeare play. And and didn't date until high school and then starting our junior in high school we dated exclusively and we've been together ever since

Scott Benner 3:57
amazing. And for people listening. You're a handsome man, this isn't like a situation where like, I hooked one early Scott and I didn't have any other options. I just had to keep going.

Jared 4:11
While when when I found that, you know, to be honest, I've only had to use my second girlfriend my entire life, which is kind of unusual to find someone that you work so well with. So early on. But I kind of have a theory here I believe that we we kind of raced each other. So we kind of you know a lot of the thoughts in the in the way that we arrive at those thoughts. We learn that together in a lot of ways. So it's a really good, good relationship.

Scott Benner 4:38
It's interesting because a therapist will tell you that it will go one of two ways. And my wife and I have had a similar situation like our lives were such disasters, when we met each other and we grew up in in households where neither of our personalities was the norm, I think is I think that's a very nice way of saying that and And so you kind of meet a person who's in your mind. Reasonable. And you know, and you get together. And then you realize all of the things that no one taught you when you were a child, and you do start to almost, I don't know, assist each other, like as you figure the things out, and then when you get older like this, I don't know, there's a comfort level, that's just like, I mean, I know when she's gonna sit before she does, you know what I mean? And, like, she knows little things about me, like, I would never figure it like, she's like, sometimes when you get irritated, you stomp your foot. And she's like, it's not like, cartoonish, like, you don't pick your knee up your face and go damn it, you know, like she has, it's just this very light, like, you pick your foot up on the election, you tap it when you're, and I was like, for years, I'm like, You're out of your mind. I don't do that. And then one day, I caught myself doing and I was like, Oh, my God. And then I started thinking about all the little things about her that I know. And I was like, Oh, God, I can't even let her out of this house. If she if she turns on me, Jared, what am I gonna do?

Jared 6:03
That sounds familiar. For sure. She has

Scott Benner 6:05
the whole playbook. Amazing and actually made me the most amazing thing is that apparently, you had a girlfriend before her? That's true. When did you? When did you start macking on the ladies when you were six?

Jared 6:16
Oh, my goodness. You probably think I'm younger than I am. To be honest. I look, I look pretty young. But um, let's see here. We did get married very young. I am about I turned 38 year pretty soon. And we started dating when we were 16 and 17.

Scott Benner 6:32
Wow, that's something years ago. Well, congratulations. How many kids? Yeah, we have two kids two. Okay. And you're one with type ones. How old? I'm sorry. She is 1111. And the reason that I leave in the story about my illness in the beginning is because we were going to we were going to record yesterday on the anniversary of her diagnosis. And then I moved it so that Arden could do something that she didn't end up doing. So now I'm recording 19 Times today to make up for that. I think I will be taking a I'll be taking a shower and a bucket between the recordings today.

Jared 7:10
How many how many interviews are you doing today? I

Scott Benner 7:12
have to do three today now because of because I was like I squished everything onto this day. Don't worry. You'll never notice if I got through the G voc thing. I'll be okay with this.

Jared 7:22
I'm guessing I'm your first year the first Yeah, yeah, I

Scott Benner 7:25
tried to sneak in some sleep. Late sleep this morning because Arden was up late with illness. And so we were up helping her anyway.

Jared 7:34
It's art an art at home for a holiday break. She in between semesters. Got some Yeah,

Scott Benner 7:38
her school does quarters instead of semesters. So one of the breaks the one at Thanksgiving, actually last two months. Nice. Yeah. So she came home right before Thanksgiving. And she won't go back until it's not quite too much. We'll go back like January 6, I think I have to drive her back.

Jared 7:56
So I think this whole two week, this whole two weeks, going back after Thanksgiving before Christmas break is pretty useless anyway, so it probably should just extend the breaks.

Scott Benner 8:05
It's the college equivalent of high school when they give you off for days and make you come back Friday. And they're like we need the day for the like, just let me figure it out better than that. Right. But okay, so was there anything about your daughter's diagnosis that was expected as are autoimmune and your family or any other type one or anything like that?

Jared 8:24
No, absolutely not. I mean, at least as far as we know, I would say since the diagnosis, you know, we've dived into the history a little bit more, and a few things have stood out on my wife's side. Her mom and one or two of her sisters have some thyroid issues. But But no, nothing that is ever severe. Nothing that was ever really discussed. It definitely took us by surprise. We We honestly thought that she was just about to enter period, her her puberty and starter period or cycle and, and she had lost a little bit of weight and was emotional. But But again, I don't think that's all that unusual for an 11 year old. And so we did not expect it at all. The first sign that stood out to us was her just falling asleep a random times during the day essentially like she was just utterly exhausted. And she was having a hard time. A hard time staying awake at school. And she had gone into the nurse's office a couple of times. And they had just let her sleep like on the on the bed. They're in the nurse's office. And then they'd call us and say hey, we we think you really need to take better care of your take care better. You're up all night what's going on type of thing. Yeah. And in the first time I didn't pick her up the second time that happened. I wouldn't picked her up and I was like, Hey, what's going on? She's like, I don't know. I'm just just completely tired. I can't keep my eyes open type of thing. And but after she took that power nap, she was fine. She was likely again and So it wasn't super clear. But then we, we were, we had picked her up earlier that day, we were doing a little bit of shopping. And we were just at a hardware store at Lowe's. And we're sitting there looking at rugs of all things. And anyways, I look back and she's like preparing herself to take a nap on the floor in the aisle at the hardware store, like she's sitting on the ground, starting to like slowly slouched down, and, and thank goodness, it wasn't just me there because I probably would just kicked her under the bed get up, you know, and we thought much of it. But my wife her, I don't know motherly instincts, or whatever you call it. She was like, something's definitely going on here. And I didn't recognize that first. And, you know, so we went back home and got the kids ready for bed. And as they were taking their baths and showers, my wife noticed that my daughter's skin looked great. Just had some Yeah, just looked off. And I think it was just from the dehydration is what I would imagine it was mostly from and we have a we have a pretty good relationship with our, with our doctor. And so we just sent him a text message saying, hey, you know what, you have any thoughts about this? And he was immediately concerned and said, Yeah, I'd recommend taking her into er and have that look at that's, that's something's going on. Something's off. And, and so we took her into the ER, I stayed home with our son, my wife took her in. And just like a lot of ers took, you know, two hours for them to be able to see her. But then as soon as they did see her they they did a they did some labs, I think they did a urine and blood test, and immediately came back. And actually when they came back with those lab results, they came back letting us know, we got a helicopter on its way we got to take her we can't we can't help her right now in our current state. So as they came back to tell us that she was not in good shape. The helicopter was on its way. My wife then called me I hopped in the car and ran to the ER and I got there right there strapping her down to a gurney to put her on her helicopter. Wow.

Scott Benner 11:54
She's and somebody tells you here's we figured out what's wrong with you. And we've called for air support. You think we're in trouble? Like that's not Yeah, that's not a that's a panic situation. For sure.

Jared 12:08
It was terrifying. And like I said if it if it wasn't for my wife, I think I would have just said hey, let's let's let her sleep through this the night and see. See how she's doing the next morning?

Scott Benner 12:21
All right, listen, I need to be honest. I've never seen a rib knit boyfriend sleep dress before. But I'm looking at one now on cozy earth.com And I have to admit if I was a lady, I think I'd be sleeping in this. It is made with viscose bamboo just like my sheets and I'm trying to imagine what would happen if I hid my sheets wrapped around me. Oh, I think it sounds wonderful. Okay, you should check it out cozy earth.com There's a ton of great women's wear at cozy Earth. There's a beautiful boardwalk breeze dress lounging T and sweat pants or shorts pajamas. And there's terrific stuff here for the men to shorts, pajamas, pullovers, and you guys know I love the joggers. I can't stress enough that you should check out the clothing. But the towels and the sheets are unmatched cozy earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% off your entire order. Cozy Earth also has socks, sleep masks, scrunchies and dryer balls, dryer balls. Nevermind, I actually use dryer balls. I don't want to make it into a joke but I use dryer balls on my dryer you could do because the earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% off your entire order. Seriously, go check it out. It's fantastically comfortable and luxurious stuff. And I think you're gonna love it. First thing this morning, I wandered downstairs, I took out my ag one cup, a cup. No, no, that's the thing. I put water in it when he wanted it. I shake it, shake it, shake it. I drink it out. Whatever you want to call that thing I grabbed that I put into nice cold water, a delicious scoop of ag one and I was on my way. At first I had to remind myself in the morning to drink at one. But after a while it just becomes a habit. That is a great part of my day. It's tasty. And it goes down really smooth. And I've told you in the past I've tried other drinks for my nutrition and my vitamins and they tasted horrible. Seriously, I've tried a number of them. They were garbage. I couldn't take them. I couldn't choke them down. Ag one. I just drink it and I'm done. It's easy drink a G one and you're done. Oh, they should have called me when they were looking for marketing. Nevermind they did drink ag one.com forward slash juice box. When you use my link, you're gonna get a free a free year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first order when you use my link drink ag one.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast There are links in the show notes of your audio player and links at juicebox podcast.com. To ag one cozy earth and all the sponsors, please, please click on my links, use the offer codes. It supports the show. All right, let's get you back to Jared. But first let me say this one more time. dryer balls

Jared 15:34
yeah, that's I'm very glad that, that we didn't do that because I don't know what would have happened to me. She may have made it she may not have you know,

Scott Benner 15:42
do you carry guilt about that? Or do you able to let go of it? Initially, I

Jared 15:45
carried a ton of guilt about it. I don't I don't know if I carry too much. Now. Maybe to some extent, but initially I was a mess. Because I kept having this. This reoccurring thought that man if I would have put her to bed, I would have come back to potentially a dead child the next morning. I went okay. And and, and I was were because both my wife and I are self employed. We don't have traditional insurance and so finances and insurance and hospitals and doctors and all that stuff. It's always just a giant pain in the ass to, to work through. And and so I'm always conscientious of that and conservative of that and trying to be like, well, let's, you know, let's let's give it a little bit of time before we before we jump into this. And again, I'm glad glad we did. And I'm glad that we had the insight to do that. That's something

Scott Benner 16:30
do you think about your other child now? Does it worry you? Or does it seem like a one off? And it's not in your head?

Jared 16:37
Yeah, no, we're definitely he's he's it's so interesting because Evelyn our daughter, the diabetic she she's never been had sweet tooth or anything like that. And but our son is always been the kid who finds a bag of candy is going to devour the whole thing in one sitting and stuff. And I know that has nothing to do with with type one, but and we actually have a family history of type two. And I always have thought about that with with Peter and with his sweet tooth, just being conscientious and careful with his health. But we've gone and had him tested and he doesn't show any of the markers. And so, you know, knock on wood, who knows what will happen with the future. But as of right now, it doesn't appear as though there's any concerns and we, the two of them are very close. And he just out of love and sympathy will have her check his blood sugar when she checks her sometimes. And like when she was first diagnosed, and she was struggling with giving herself the injections. He would do saline injections with her and stuff like that. So he's he's a good supporter.

Scott Benner 17:35
No kidding. It's interesting, because something like diabetes, it gives us one hair, it takes one or the other. Like you become more aware of your health. And I think to some degree, people can become resilient because of it. And there's a number of kinds of good things that come from it. But obviously, nothing you wouldn't trade away not to have it but the to me one of the one of the real things it takes away is that ability to live your life believing that you're going to be the 95 year old guy on the news smoking cigarettes for your birthday, like you know, Jared slid the 95 and I don't know if you know this, but he still gets high every day and blah blah blah and like they can they put them on the news. They're eating cake with a fork and

Jared 18:18
the random the random interviews with 101 year old lady Yes, chocolate cake and cigarettes is what did it for.

Scott Benner 18:24
We all think that's how we're we all think that's gonna be us when you know, in reality that ladies on the news because she's easy to find, because she's the only one. But like you have you lose that ability to just let your life unfold in front of you. And, and I am I hate I hate that. I hate that. I mean, like, don't get me wrong, like, I think I'm going to live longer. Because I pay more attention to things. I think I'm going to be healthier as I go. But there's part of me that's like, I can't believe I didn't just get to be one of those people who like, pops up in the morning that's like, going to work and everything's fine and doesn't think about stuff like this, you know,

Jared 19:03
it's definitely caused me to pause a little bit and think a bit more about mortality. There's definitely no doubt about that. I mean, being so close to, you know, to death, essentially with one of my kiddos and who literally that same day she went school and had, you know, took her nap in the nurse's office. We, you know, we obviously weren't concerned we were shopping at Lowe's just a few hours before they're taken away on a helicopter, you know? Yeah. So it definitely, definitely caused me to pause and think a little bit more about that for sure. The fact that I have family history with type two, my grandfather, my dad, and my brother who's only four years older than I am all have type two. i She's almost 10 ish years ago, made a conscientious effort to dive into understanding type two kind of as a preemptive to avoid it on my own and changed the way that I ate and changed the way that essentially I live in an effort to kind of avoid that as best as possible. And so in a in a roundabout way, our kids had been exposed to a lot of the adjustments that we chose to make with Evelyn they had already been exposed to because I had made some of those changes for myself. I tested my own blood sugars and ketones for geez, two or three years, almost daily, trying to be conscientious and aware of how certain foods affected me and things like that. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 20:20
guess when three people in your pretty immediate family start acquiring type two diabetes, you're like, oh, geez, it's gonna happen to me.

Jared 20:26
When it when it happened to my brother, and he's only a few years older than I am. Yeah, it was definitely a kind of a wake up call for me.

Scott Benner 20:32
Well, that's good. I mean, at least you were moving in that direction when this happened to Avalon? How did she handle it? So young age?

Jared 20:40
Yeah, I think kids are amazingly resilient. Like if I would have gotten this right now. I think it would destroy me a lot of ways. She has been amazingly resilient from the management of the actual blood sugar itself. She's amazing. She's truly incredible at it, she doesn't, she has the patience and understanding to do all the right things that she needs to be doing and really hurt her blood sugar's are just phenomenal. Emotionally, it's still a heavy burden and wait for her. And I think it will be forever. I don't imagine that that will ever stop. I actually this morning on our way to school, I was asked her how she was how she was feeling with that. And she was like, it's, it's good. And it just is what it is, you know, and it's, it's just shifted the way that she thinks about herself, I think, to some extent, so from an emotional standpoint, I think it's going to be a long road of recovery. From a actual management of the diabetes standpoint, I think she's well on her way, I would feel confident, taken off for a weekend and just let her be.

Scott Benner 21:45
Yeah. And there's a I mean, it's obvious, there are two important ideas there. But I take your point, it's, it's almost like, you're gonna watch like a documentary about a part of the world where they've been at war for so long, that they're walking to school. And there are people in the streets carrying rifles and rockets fly over their head. And they're just like, Oh, you mean like another one? Yeah, they're just a rocket. Whereas, you know, if you were wandering through downtown Colorado, and, you know, a Patriot missile went over your head, you'd be, you know, you'd be in the sewer hiding. And I think that about diabetes Sometimes, though, like, just because you seem calm, and you're like, oh, this thing is happening. It doesn't mean that it's not a terrible thing that's happening, it just means that you are, you are a survivor, and you are oddly adapted. Finding a way to live your life even though everything around you is kind of a disaster. You know,

Jared 22:41
I think I think the word zone is a phenomenal metaphor, because you really are on a daily basis. No 11 year old should be making decisions that could greatly affect their mortality. But a lot, you know, but she is, you know, she ignores this for a couple of days, she's going to be sick, she miss doses too much, or whatever, this is going to create some complications for her. And she's, she's very much aware of that

Scott Benner 23:02
watching with I mean, if this is the flu, which makes sense to me, if it is, you know, we're we last night like we all went to her room, and we were like, well watch TV with you are watching season two of only murders in the building something we had watched before she went away to college together, and we're like, well, we'll continue watching something together. And, you know, her blood sugar was just like, I don't know, it was just so difficult. Like over like, we I must have given her and she gave herself like, while we were sitting together. I don't know, we must have given her 15 units of insulin to try to move her blood sugar. 60 points, you know, and I was like, hey, Bolus again, she's like, okay, you can feel it. Like in the Okay, it's God, I'm sick. I can't believe I have to do this. But it never comes out. It doesn't show on her face. It's just this little pause and she just handles it. And it's something you know, I did a good job once of hiding my age. When you call close a, a hardware store. I could hear my grandmother in my head going. These stores are going to ruin this town. Because there was a hard when I when I was a kid, my grandmother went to a hardware store. It was just this little place old school. Yeah. And you call it a hardware store. And I didn't push back and I was so proud of myself.

Jared 24:20
Well, what would you call Lowe's? I think it's on the title, right? Lowe's hardware, something like that. But yeah,

Scott Benner 24:25
listen, it's a hardware store. But I am I am programmed not to give it that respect. Like seriously, like, that's the place that came and ruined the town. Like, I'll tell you that. When I was like, I don't even know 14. They were breaking ground in this town that my grandmother lived in on a 711. And she went on for 20 minutes when we drove past that how that was going to be the end of this place. And that, you know, on that land, there's a dairy farm. And I was like, I know and she's like, and you used to and I could remember like We used to as a kid, we would drive to this place is five minutes from where we lived. And a person would give you milk that I'm swear to you, they just brought out of the cow, like five seconds before they still warm milk and the cows, like enjoy it. And then they're putting the 711 there, she was just like this is it right here. This is the beginning. And I was like, Okay, so anyway, I can't think of going against my grandmother and her militants stance against I

Jared 25:31
don't think I've ever I've never lived in a small enough town that ever had that transition. Yeah, that feeling Yeah, that she

Scott Benner 25:38
lived in a place where there was a hardware store and a diner, and everybody drove a Ford car, because there was a Ford dealership on the edge of town. Like it was that simple, you know? Anyway, I don't know, that just made me think of something else that now slipped out of my head. But it'll it'll come back to me where I thought, Oh, God, I'm old. I forget exactly what it was. Anyway, so she's doing well with it. You guys. Okay, does did the under trying to understand diabetes thing? Was it a team effort between you and your wife? Or did you find it go into one person or the other.

Jared 26:11
So we've found so that, so the first month was miserable. And I think that is probably true for most, I felt like, you know, we went into the hospital, and they told us, Hey, your kid almost died. But no worries, we've stabilized or Now go home type of thing. Like, that's what it felt like. And, you know, the education was, you know, mid COVID. And so this is, you know, quick half day. Very, very basic training. And, and one of the challenges that kind of frustrated us a bit with the training, as well as we had four or five different instructors teaching us and they were all covering the exact same information. So one would leave next one come in for their their portion, and they would just cover the exact same thing, or they would contradict one another. It was just like, super frustrating. super frustrating. And so you know, going home with our paper, and pen, and meter and strips, and you know, that basically, you know, we didn't go home with a CGM, we didn't go home with any sort of pomp or any anything of that sort. And trying to be trying to be a good dad, you know, I, I initially was probably very type A trying to watch her numbers very closely. And it just felt initially hopeless in a lot of ways. I found myself getting down in the dumps. And I was trying to trying to be a good example and trying to not bring her down. She's the one having this experience. Why am I feeling like when she she's the one that should be. And I actually went up one night, middle of the night, which is on the computer, I don't know, just killing time. And on some dads helping dads Facebook page, I posted some, probably some depressing rant of sorts about how horrible things were. And another dad reached out to me privately and said, Hey, my son was diagnosed four months ago. You know, let me let me talk you through this, things will get better, you know, and, and that Dad and I have become really good friends. I mean, we've never had a chance to meet in person, but just Facebook friends where we chat back and forth regularly still to this day. And he is who introduced me to, to the podcast, to juice box and to some other resources. And once I was initially, given those resources, diving into them entirely, is what alleviated that depression. And that kind of anxiety that I was feeling at that time, it allowed me to feel a sense of, oh, I can do this look, this guy can do it, I can do it type of type of thing. It gave me a sense of not everything's out of control, you can actually legitimately control this if you follow these steps. And understanding and learning those steps became kind of my number one priority for a period of time there where I just dived in as much as I could and absorbed as much as I could. And that is really where the difficulty and challenges of diabetes, that's kind of where they were alleviated. And I just I felt like oh, cool, we can do this. Yeah, the

Scott Benner 29:09
diagnosis is, it's like Chutes and Ladders, right? Like you, you're living in this reality for as long as you are. And then in a split second, you're just on another part of the board. And it's completely foreign. It's not what you planned for. It literally is like, it's the first time that's ever occurred to me like that. It just, it feels like someone picked you up on Earth and put you down on Mars and said, just keep going. Like you don't We don't even have a second here, you know, so and

Jared 29:39
I honestly think a lot of at least from my observations, watching other parents who posted in the community and things like that. I often think that they are still living in that state that I felt like I was in for that first month, that state of hopelessness that we can't control this and that we're just throwing darts at the wall hoping that something sticks and I think a lot of people live there. For a long period of time, some probably their entire life, they probably never fully feel like they have a sense of control over it. And I don't want to give like the miss the Miss. Kind of the impression. I should say that, that diabetes is completely controllable. It's not there's days where you absolutely are doing, you know, chasing highs and lows and things are completely out of control. But but for the most part, I feel like if you follow these 10 or 15 Steps pretty closely, you're gonna see a massive improvement. Yeah.

Scott Benner 30:27
So I think that were, I think, why, why the reason why my thing spread the way it did, is because I was able to separate those two ideas. I people in the space would commingle them all the time, they'd say, Well, diabetes is unpredictable, so therefore, it's just going to be crazy. And I would look at it and think, yeah, that's true. But like you said, sometimes, not constantly. And honestly, if you do these couple of things, the crazy days are much fewer than the, than the reasonably stable days.

Jared 31:03
And, and the level of crazy changes greatly. Like for now, you know, a 200 is crazy for me if we get up in the 200. Okay, we got to really take some action here and get this all taken care of. I don't think she's been in the 300 since her diagnosis, because we've we've brought that down, you know, so the crazy changes, you're not seeing swings up into three, four hundreds, really ever

Scott Benner 31:24
instead of instead of, you're exactly right. When people like oh my god, we had a high blood sugar today. And they mean like 380 400, like it was their Dexcom is just like that flat dots across the top. go any higher. And yeah, I just I don't know what happened. I just, I'm glad it's resonating for you. But I don't know, I just I spent the time and I broke it down, like kept breaking it down. And I was like, well, it's gotta Pre-Bolus You got to understand the food, you have to be flexible. You can't stare at highs, like, you know, like, you can't over treat lows. And then I was like, Oh, God, I think that's it. But like, I think I used to joke all the time, like the podcast should be one episode long, 10 minutes. And but nobody would listen, they'd be like, that doesn't make sense. That would be the end of it. Like you have to kind of get, I don't know, you need a tour guide to just sort of walk you through it. You know,

Jared 32:17
I think I think the podcast for most people speaking for myself, and I would imagine this resonates for most people, it is just very comforting to know you're not alone. And you feel incredibly isolated when you first get this even even family who you know, is trying to care and show their love and support and stuff. They're not living it in and out on a daily basis. And so there's just still this feeling of isolation, I think, initially, and having someone you know, thank goodness, you know, the friend, his name's Kyle, thinking, as Kyle was there to reach out to me. And we could, anytime I came across anything, I just shot him a quick message. And he responded immediately. And we just had this constant ongoing thing. And he's only handful of months in front of me with his son. But I think the the, the podcast allows you to hear other people who are challenged in the same way and it just feels comforting to know that you're not completely it's the

Scott Benner 33:11
difference between being plopped down on Mars in the middle of a dust field and being popped down on Mars where six other people were plopped down who has built houses and somehow own a Tesla now, you know, and be I guess Elon Musk shot it there for them. But, but but but, uh, you mean like, you're like, oh, look, this isn't what I wanted. And it's not what I expected. But apparently, this works, you know, like, I just, there's something I don't know, I'll figure it out and move on and in to your earlier point. And how when people don't find that information, they can just get stuck in the loop. Because I mean, think of it like we're not You haven't said what hospital you went to. But if you're in Colorado, you're probably in a pretty good children's hospital. And, and to say that somebody came in the room and said one thing and the second person came in and contradicted them. If you're not of the mindset of I'll take this over. You can be stuck there forever. Hmm, it really is that simple. I've, I've been good.

Jared 34:08
I'm just gonna say I mean, with our initial diagnosis, we had 10 days worth of ongoing communication with the doctor nurse that was assigned to us. And on the 10th day, she gave us our new Basal rates, and she disappeared. And that was the end of it. Yeah, that was that was the whole thing. And in this year, we've only gone back twice. And it's really because we go back and it's like, we don't need to be here. This is kind of a waste of everyone's time. So can we do this remotely? Can we just can we just email back and forth and make sure we're on the same page and get the prescriptions we need to get? And luckily we found some an endo that's that is respectful of that. And it's like, yeah, you guys are doing great. Just yeah. What do you need essentially,

Scott Benner 34:48
I think that can be comforting to people to know that it can get to that point like I college food used more insulin than I expected it to. And so Arden was going to run out of insulin at college and like contacted the doctrines like I just need you to send a script to where artists at school. And she goes, I can't do that. You haven't been here in a year. And I'm like, wait, we haven't. And I didn't even know. I was like, Oh, I'm sorry, I made an appointment, you know? And I said, Okay, now, can you send a script on? And, but that's it. I mean, that's my, it's my fault. It's our fault for not scheduling something, but it was the, you know, not to explain it. But when you go into when you really just

Jared 35:26
need to send them clarity, and they're just gonna look at that. And that's the end of when you can do much in a visit.

Scott Benner 35:32
When you go into the office, the person at the desk on the way out, says, Hey, why don't you rebook your next one? I go, okay, because I'm a boy. And I'm like, Oh, that makes sense. And if the person wouldn't say that, as I was leaving, I gotta be honest, I don't think I'd book an appointment. So we were getting off these virtuals. And nobody was there to say, when do you want to come back? And that's it. I just was like, Yeah, but to know that could happen, I think is probably comforting for people as well. I have to tell you, I remembered the second time I made myself sound old.

Jared 36:04
You're acting like you're 75 or something.

Scott Benner 36:06
I'm a generation older than you stop it. I said Patriot missiles. Those are like, war tools from the 80s. I don't even imagine they make those anymore. And I know that's a weird thing. But when I said that, I was like, those exist anymore.

Jared 36:22
Anyway, well, I didn't know a patriot. I thought you were just being patriotic or something.

Scott Benner 36:28
was actually the were missiles during I think the I don't know, it's not the point. But when I was younger, if you turned on the news, people were shooting Patriot missiles at each other. And I and now I know it made me think I don't even care about warfare. But now when we're done talking, I'm gonna find out if that's a standard weapon or something, I don't even care. And I want to know, I just want to know how old I am. Anyway, so what, what, what gear has your daughter been using for this first year? Yeah, so

Jared 37:02
we started out just with a pen and and a meter, of course. And then after probably two or three months, we were able to get her on a Dexcom, which truly was a life changer. I mean, it really was I, I think that every single kid should be leaving their diagnosis with a Dexcom attached to them. And I'm also, as I mentioned, because we're both self employed, insurance and stuff is tricky, peeved that they charged $90 per finger prick. For every 30 minutes the entire time we were in the hospital instead of slapping a Dexcom on to her while she was in there. But it is what it is. Yeah, every single time they came in every single Yeah, if you I broke down our bill, because we had to based off of how we're paying for it. And every 30 minutes, they were required to take her blood sugar. And that was a $90 charge to come in and prick her finger and record that data. And I'm thinking to myself, Why? Why didn't you just throw a Dexcom on her the moment she came in, like, we need to watch this very closely. And we have a goal of of decreasing this anyway. So I could go off on that rant. Yeah,

Scott Benner 38:05
I think you have your answer from your description.

Jared 38:07
Of course, there's, there's $2,000 worth of fingerprints. And then the next day they say, okay, 11 year old, you're off on your own, you need to do this on your own. But, but so, so Dexcom after two or three months, once we got that sorted. Initially, we were having take care of that out of pocket, but then we were able to get her on some really solid insurance. And then probably six months into it, we got her on the on the button. And that's what she's been on ever since. And I we haven't started looping because I was really hoping to get her on the five. But if we can't get that approved, then I'll probably start looping on my own. Okay.

Scott Benner 38:46
Do you feel comfortable doing that if you have to? Yeah,

Jared 38:49
yeah. Yeah, I mean, I haven't I haven't dived into it. But I've, yeah, I'm not too concerned, to be honest.

Scott Benner 38:54
So I would if you're, it'll be too late by the time it comes out. But I still want to tell people what you did yesterday, which was so nice online, to celebrate your daughter's anniversary? Do you want to tell people how that occurred to you or, or what you wanted to do?

Jared 39:12
You know, we've been thinking of a handful of different ways we wanted to just, I don't know, give solace to this day, or to her one year diagnosis and just kind of pause and, and make sure that that we're doing something special for the community for our daughter. And just, I don't know, just a way to kind of think about this day because it really is a day that changed everyone's life in this home. And so, I am a wedding photographer, but I have done landscape photography for the photos for some time. And so I thought, hey, these photos don't really get much I don't sell any of these because I don't market myself as a landscape photographer, anything. These photos don't really get much traction with them. Let me see if people would enjoy this. So I posted in the community on my page on a handful of different pages, kind of a post sharing how awesome my kiddo is and celebrating this one year and then also letting people know if they would like to order These prints with the holidays coming around, they'd be great gifts, and that 100% of the proceeds would be going to touch by type one, which is a great organization that I feel like, helps a lot of people. And so that's why they posted in the community looks. And we've had, I've been watching it super closely, but a dozen or so purchases come through already. So once we're done with that will fulfill all those orders and all the all the proceeds will be donated.

Scott Benner 40:23
Oh, that's really it was really nice. I got a poster size image of one of your flight time, I thought your nighttime photography was really exceptional. And I don't know, I had trouble picking. I started sort of going through and I'm like, I don't know, where I would put all these I'm at the give that one to somebody. And yeah, but I just thought that was that was really nice. You know, I know, it's probably not, um, it's not like a million people are gonna buy a photo, and it's gonna decimate you or something like that. But the idea of doing it, of not just saying, hey, here, I want to celebrate my daughter today. But I have a thing that I could I could maybe give back here with that I think you people might enjoy on top of that. Oh, it just struck me really well. And then it made me I almost didn't see it. And I started thinking like, I don't know what Facebook has to do to figure it out. But I run a I run out like a vibrant Facebook page, and how can I get tagged in something and not know it exists? Like there are people who send me messages and like, are you seeing this? Are you seeing that? I'm like, I don't see, I don't know what Facebook does? I don't see, I don't think I see 10% or I get tagged in. So anyway, I thought it was really nice. You're getting tagged

Jared 41:28
in 5060 things a day, probably. So it's probably not easy to follow. It's overwhelming

Scott Benner 41:34
at night before we go to sleep. My wife said what are you doing? I'm I'm just answering people online. It just you know, I've gotten it down to a shorthand at this point I used to when I first wrote my blog, like a person a month would send me an email and say something like, Oh, my God, things are so much better. I wanted to thank you is this usually if people sent the right to an email, it's, it's a it's a lovely thing. You don't want to skim it. You don't I mean? So you're, you're reading it closely. And, and then I'd take time and I'd answer back. But the podcast turned it into like, I started getting one a day. And then now it's, I don't know, 1015 people every day are reaching out to share what's going on with them. And I'm like, This is amazing. And I want to respond and I don't know how to

Jared 42:19
that celebrity status you picked up on for tickets. So yesterday.

Scott Benner 42:24
So this really, so I have a couple of people. I'm very particular about the way things get done, but not in the way that we're you'd be like Scott's a control freak. I'm not I would gladly give away a lot of the things I do every day. Absolutely. What if I had enough money, I'd hire people. But I don't have that money. So I'm, I only can be helped by the people who volunteer their time. And a lot of people have and some of them are, get me. And some of them don't like, like Isabel helps me with the Facebook group. But she's a person who reached out to me. And I was like, I did the same thing I always don't like I'm fine. You're very kind, thank you. But I don't know the rest of that voice in my head is I got this thing here because I do what I want to do when it makes sense to me. It's my vibe, it works if I start bringing in other people's vibes, and then she said just you talk to me and I'll and 20 minutes on the phone with her. And I was like this lady's in my head, like, knows what I'm doing, you know. And I'm like, alright, you can help, which was great, because the Facebook group, if I'm being if I'm being 100% honest, there's sort of like a little triumvirate here, right? Like, I made a podcast, it's great. The podcast, bought out the Facebook group, the Facebook group is huge. But people know it as a Facebook group. They are oftentimes there and don't understand that there's even though the Facebook group is called Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes, people don't recognize that it's for a podcast. So the goal is to take the people from the Facebook group and introduce them to the podcast. And the way I found to do that was to answer questions with links to episodes. And it works except it got so big, that there was a moment where I'm like, Well, I can't do this, you know. And then so Isabelle started helping with it. And it was like it was such a weight was lifted. I was like, This is great. And then it kept growing. And I said first of all, I'm not paying her. She's like, you know, just helping when she can I feel terrible. She calls me boss privately. And I'm like, I'm like And so like when you have something for to do I feel like I can't just say to her, hey, you know what you should be doing right now. Because I don't pay her and be you know, she has a life and everything. But she comes to me one day, and and I and we were talking and I said I wish there were more of you? And she said, Oh I think there are and I was like what and so she pointed out these three people. I mean, I can say their first names because it's Krysta and Nico and Stephanie and she's like these three people would be good at this. And so we reach to them and again with the same amazing offer. Hey for no money. See, if you'd like to help support this thing, and it got easier again, it was it was, it was really terrific. But I can't, like I can't keep up with it. So anyway, I get a note the other day from this person. And she's like, I just recently graduated from like a really impressive college. And I want to help any way I can. And so I had a nice call with a girl named Angela yesterday. She's young, she's like, a year or so older than my son. And she started talking about the podcast. And I swear to you, and she was explaining to me what she sees it as she's just got a master's, and she's getting a master's in public health, I think she wants to go on to become a doctor, like, this girl was an impressive person, you know. And she started talking about the podcast and calling me an innovator, and talking about how it was moving the space in a different direction. And I'll tell you, that was I was I didn't know how to

Jared 45:59
react, I think she's spot on. I think it takes someone who's not completely seeped into the the medical side of things. I don't think an endocrinologist could create a podcast, like what you've what you've done, they have so many rules and, and just guidelines that they have to kind of abide by that it really takes a parent who has lived this experience, to be able to speak to parents who are living that experience, I don't I think I think it'd be almost impossible for for a doctor to have the same level of success that that you've had with the podcast.

Scott Benner 46:33
When I first started, I thought like, Oh, it'll just be parents because I'm a parent. So that's all little care. Then when it went to adults, I was like, This is crazy. And then when type twos who use insulin started showing up, and they were like, hey, the podcast works for me too. And I mean, you have to imagine, I mean, you've listened to enough to know, like, I didn't do this on purpose. Like it was an idea. And I had a hope and a goal. But as it built and turned into what it turned into, it's not like I had some Machiavellian like whiteboard behind me where I was like, first of all, dominate this space. And then I'll do a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, and I'll take over Facebook, and like, you know, like, it wasn't like that. It just kind of worked the way it worked. But to hear her describe what she thought the podcast was, was, I don't know, it was good for me, because I thought even the things I knew, I don't think I can give them the correct way. Because I joke around, and I'm really sarcastic and everything, but I don't have a feeling that I've done some amazing thing. And you should all be walking around thanking me for like, like, I don't feel that way day to day. I'm aware of what it does. But to hear another person and an impressive person explained it back to me. I was like, Wow, I did do that. And then I just didn't I didn't know how to react. So it was this strange thing, you know? Yeah.

Jared 47:46
I think almost, if you were to watch, I think almost all great companies and and organizations, if they are able to create a community that will take them to the next level, you look at some of the greatest marketing companies out there. You look at Harley Davidson, for example, there is a community that they have created. Yeah, they great, great motorcycles as well, or whatever, however you feel about motorcycles, but but more so than the motorcycle more so than the info you're providing. The community that people are able to join and be part of, is really what sets

Scott Benner 48:18
it apart. It's a it's a lifestyle, the motorcycle is and as you're saying that it made me realize that the lifestyle around the podcast is just sort of being healthier and happier with as little effort as possible around diabetes. And, and to have what you talked about earlier. It's just strange to me, like, I mean, it's December right now you and I are talking, I'm winding down like the eighth year of the podcast. And I just hit 800 episodes. And it's odd to me to sit here with a person I don't know, and just hash out a conversation and recognize that I still don't know what this is completely. And a no it was when I was talking to this person yesterday. I don't know if she'd want her name on here. And she started talking about what any way I could fit into the organization. And I laughed and I was like the organization and she goes yeah, I'm like, It's me. And she goes, No, you have people that work for you. Behind the scenes. I was like, no, like, I mean, there's these lovely people that help with the Facebook group, but she was you don't have an editor. I was like, No, and she was you don't have this and I was like no, I was like it's it's all made, like I make the whole thing. And she goes oh, oh, and then she got very like, like, you know, like I'm still sitting there a little beat up for my illness and a sweatshirt like leaning into the camera like she's all upright like she's obviously been on some very professional calls. I'm just leaning over my desktop trying to hold my head up, you know, and I don't know it's just really it was a nice thing that happened yesterday.

Jared 49:43
Well you don't have an editor or whatever while it is may just be just you it doesn't have to be it you certainly could. It has grown to the I would imagine to the point where you know you could outsource some of your editing and whatnot. If you chose to if you wanted to. I had to see that with with my business itself. In a similar fashion, it grew to the point where I had, I was faced with the, essentially, the question is, where's my time most valued? And is that with my wedding photography? Is that camera in hand at a wedding, or is that sitting behind a computer processing these files, and while I can train someone to process these files in a very particular method, and, and, you know, we can work on that over a period of time, for me, that allowed me to then take on another 10 or so events a year, which is really how I make money. And so, for me with with the photography, editing, you know, I've had a full time editor for three years. And that has allowed me to double the amount of work that I take on because I'm not here at a computer.

Scott Benner 50:41
And so I completely agree with that. And I also think that that would allow me to record more. The problem is that me recording more doesn't lead to more income. At some point, there are only certain amount of days in the week, I can only put up a certain amount of episodes, I can only put a certain amount of I mean, I could sell more. I could I could I don't like thinking about this. I can sell more ads if I wanted to. I choose not to. Yeah, so

Jared 51:09
like, but rather than doing more recordings, you may be able to recapture more of your personal time and pursue personal endeavors. Oh, no, it would

Scott Benner 51:16
definitely help my life, don't get me wrong, I could go go for a walk and things

Jared 51:20
like that. So So for example, with me, since I've, since I've changed the way that my business runs, it's allowed me to enjoy summers, I take, you know, in the middle of wedding season, I take almost an entire month off because I don't want to work during that month. And financially, it doesn't impact me because I've made these adjustments. For the month of December, for example, I am doing literally zero bookings, I've done this for like five years, and I block out the entire month and I don't take a single booking and it allows me just to be present with my kids in the summer, when they're home from school, I get to take a month to hang with them. And in the winter Christmas break, I get to just be Mr. Dad, you know, and, and have a have a good time. This is

Scott Benner 51:57
the Colorado and you I bought, I bought out December at the beginning of 2022. And hold on a second 123.

Jared 52:07
And then you made a mistake on

Scott Benner 52:10
1314 1516 1718. Nine, and I'm gonna record 19 times before Christmas. And I somehow set up a recording for two days after Christmas. And that was and now I'm I'm in the position where people are contacting me and want to be on the show. And I'm saying to them like no why it's November, December. I'm telling people can you get back to me in June? Well, I

Jared 52:33
want to say so. I'm trying, I was trying to refresh my memory. When your reminder email came through. Hey, don't forget about our call. I was thinking holy cow. This is It's been a while since I scheduled that. I've tried to pause and remember exactly. When I reached out to you. I feel like it was about three months into her diagnosis four months into her diagnosis. Yeah, that I initially reached out to you. So some seven, eight months ago, maybe longer. I can't recall

Scott Benner 52:58
it. Don't worry, Jared six months from now this will come in. It's the one thing about me that's scheduled. The way you heard that I built the podcast is off of just like, I'm basically a canoe going downstream and there's a fork in the in the stream like every 20 feet, I go left, right left, just sort of how I like do things. But when I took an ad the first time I said to my wife, I sold an ad to these people. There needs to be an episode. They're like, I owe it to them. I'm going to start recording ahead of time. And she's like, can you do that? And I said, Yeah, most of my conversations are incredibly evergreen, and the ones that aren't, I'll just put in in real time. And now I and the other day, the list popped up in front of me. I actually got an email from Steven who's in a terrific episode. And he said, Hey, if you didn't like it, you know, it's cool. And I was like, I'm like, What's he talking about? So I pulled up the queue, my editing queue. And I saw it in front of me on the screen a list of of files. And I thought, oh, that doesn't look right. I don't think I have enough. And so I started counting. And when I got to 70 I was like, I guess I'm okay. Anyway, but part of that is why it's also because I wanted to treat the podcast, like a real podcast. Like, you know, I didn't want to give you an episode a month or one a week. Like it's content. If you there's four week if you want to listen to them, you should and if you don't want to. It's cool, you know, like, like, but it needs to be there. It just occurred to me one day I was I was doing it once a week. And I thought how mad would I be if Howard Stern was on once a week when I was in high school. You know,

Jared 54:38
like, I love I love that you compared yourself

Scott Benner 54:42
just because as a kid as a young person when I needed content he was on every day like it was there and I thought I should treat it like a real thing. Not like a hobby, you know. But anyway, the downside of that is is that I now see my schedule. I'm booked through October version of 2023 already, like every day,

Jared 55:03
yeah, and I mean, content is king in this in the world of entertainment. Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, those who tend to have great success tend to be great at putting out massive amounts of content. And for whatever reason, YouTube with the daily vlogs that certain people went out for for a period of time, they're the number one YouTube channels were the individuals that were somehow able to put out a daily vlog every single day, and create a community around that where people like, like when we were kids, and we'd watched, you know, TV, and we had to log in right after you sit down right at the right time at seven o'clock, my show comes on seven to 730. Don't bother me while I watch it. I think those that create a community that is similar in fashion in the sense that every day on my drive to work, I'm gonna pull up and find Scott's most recent podcasts and listen to it. That's, it's a good thing.

Scott Benner 55:58
I appreciate that. I was talking to the girl yesterday, I told her, I said, I can't believe I do something that I enjoy. That helps people and pays some of my bills. Like as a child, I just thought it was going to work in my uncle sheetmetal shop forever. Like, you know, I was like, I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to, I'm going to I have a task, I'll do it. And then I'll build a life outside of that that thing will pay for the life outside of it. That's what I'm going to do. And so I told her, she's like, you're working too hard, she said. And I said, No, I don't think I'm working hard enough. I see. Because I'm 51. And I think you're right, I think I think I've I don't know if I'm moving the needle, but I redirected it in, you know, and people are thinking about things differently now. And it scares me speaking about how social media works, and how content works. Contents, like, think of it as a stone that you need to keep warm. And if you have a flame in your hand, and you can hold it to the stone, the stone stays warm. And the second you take the stone away from the flame. It's ice cold again. And she's like, why like somebody because somebody said to me the other day, why did you put out an extra episode the week of Thanksgiving? And I was said I said well, they needed it right there. I put out an episode about how to handle eating that day. Yeah. And and she's like, but as well as many people listen to it. And I said, I don't know, probably not. And then I but but I think that's where it's needed. And so I went back and looked at Thanksgiving, and they're not real by the way, Thanksgiving. For people who don't make content or use the internet for what they were. It's one of the deadliest weeks online. Like it just it just it man, people disappear that week. And I was only down a couple of 1000 downloads a day that week. So it held up and, and I and then so I said this the person in my life, I said see there is a desire for the content there. Everyone else stops doing it because they've been told don't bother that day. Nobody. Nobody's gonna listen. But I don't know. COVID told me the opposite. Like when I think

Jared 58:06
that was the only one I listened to last week, ironically. Right? Because it made it seem very, it was a very practical podcast, this is something we're all going to be dealing with this week. Right? Fresh, you know, having a refreshers. Great. I honestly think I may have, yeah, I think I listened. I've listened to it before because it was a repeat, right?

Scott Benner 58:25
It's 30 minutes. And it just it gets you're ready for a day of eating. And it just it's I don't know, I think of it as like when the coach gets everybody on the sideline before the game and gives you like, Let's go kill them talk. And very quietly, because they don't want the parents to hear that they're explaining to your children, how they should turn themselves into guided missiles and go try to hurt somebody. But But yeah, like, like, get out there. This is what we're going to do that way it's fresh in your head when it happens. You're not to stop and think you're like, Oh, the voice in my head told me this earlier this morning while I was ripping up stuff and or something like that. And, and I also sprinkled more Nishi stuff through that week too, because I thought, well, somebody wants this, they'll really want it. And if they don't, I'm not burdening them with content. Anyway, I have a whole theory around it. And it's working out pretty well. But I wanted to be there for people. I think what you talked about earlier around community and stuff like that. That's the part. That's the it's almost the most important. And it's the last thing you think of Right, right. That's very true. Yes. So you kind of have to what I explained to this, this person yesterday who is going to end up helping me with something I said I think that one of the biggest mistakes that content I don't think of myself as a content creator.

Jared 59:38
You're definitely a content creator.

Scott Benner 59:42
I think the biggest mistake that people make when they're creating content around health stuff, is that they deliver information that they believe people want. And I deliver information that I believe that people need. So I take them to some degree it take you guys out of the equation, because I'm assuming you talked about earlier you met a guy, Kyle. Right. Yeah. And he's only four months ahead of you on the path. But still, he's seen every broken branch and pothole and dark corner, and he knows how to turn it around to you and say, Hey, don't step there, step here. And if he was asking you what to do, you wouldn't know because you were behind him. And I, that's how I feel sometimes, like, don't get me wrong, I'll, I'll go online. Some of the best episodes of this podcast for our management are based off of like, people's, like feedback and like, Oh, I do this and this situation, or like how to travel or how to, you know, handle a sick day or something like that. I love going online and getting everybody's thoughts and kind of correlating them and talking about them. But if you just got diagnosed, I mean, flat out, I know more than you do. You're like, I shouldn't be asking you what to do. You know what I mean? So I think that's in a in a time in life where everybody is very, I don't know, careful not to offend anybody. And sometimes offending people can be as easy as telling them something they don't want to hear. I just think that, I mean, listen, between you who were just diagnosed that me, I put me at the head of the path. And so I don't know, I just throw I put out information the way I think it's needed. Yeah,

Jared 1:01:17
I think I think you're you're spot on, I think, with time, just being able to sit with someone who's experienced the same thing, even if it's not sharing specific ideas of how to improve but just sitting with someone who is experiencing the same thing is is hugely helpful. I think, Kyle, and I, you know, he's his sons on on the Omnipod. Five and Evelyn is not so we're a little bit different. But now at this point, what it what it has become as our friendship of just a show me your 24 hour Thanksgiving, your graph, you know, Heck, yeah, we both we we both did it, you know, we both stayed in range, great work, you know, and it's just a way of just keeping up with one another in that way and supporting one another in that way. Right.

Scott Benner 1:02:01
It's listen, I appreciate even for you. I mean, it's obviously not as many men come on as women. And generally speaking, when men come on, they're more conversations like this, because I don't know, you know, there trust me there have been guys on there as in touch with their, with their feelings as anyone's, I mean, Josh has all the feels is one of my favorite episodes. And it's it is a great one. Yeah. And Josh is just Josh is in touch with how he feels. And he's willing to just say it out loud, which is where a lot of guys fall short. Like they have thoughts and feelings, but they're not so open with them. It's hard for me to get men to come on who are just, I don't know,

Jared 1:02:41
I think my wife and I have divided our responsibilities with you asked us earlier and I actually didn't answer it all the way. I handle Evelyn's health 100% in the sense that I'm fully responsible for for making sure she's, you know, she's dosing when she needs to and, and taking care of her meals or whatever is associated with managing your health. And my wife is one 100% responsible for the insurance and dealing with the doctors. And we've split it in that way. I don't want to deal with any of that. I will wake up two or three times every night all year long. So at the end of the year, I don't have to read negotiate our insurance terms. I'm completely content to do that. And that's the way we've divided it. So while my wife I think could very easily step into this role and handle Evelyn's health we've chosen not to we've chosen, responsible don't Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:03:29
yeah. It makes a lot of sense to me. Is there anything we haven't talked about that we should?

Jared 1:03:35
Nothing specific, I think I think what I was really just wanting the impression I was really hoping just to pass on to the community. It's just a message of hope message that for those that are freshly diagnosed that things absolutely do get better that this horrible experience that they are going through with time will pass and the management of this just like anything else, the more you do it, the more proficient and accurate you're going to be. And just to be patient with yourself to give it time to recognize this isn't going away. So if you screwed up today on the pizza you got tomorrow and work on on figuring out how to dose for that tomorrow and, and slowly, every single day, hone in your process home and hone in your systems hone in whatever it is, until one day it becomes second nature to you. To the point you're not not thinking. It's not taking over all of your mental bandwidth. It is something that is happening and you're aware of it, but it's happening in the background of life. It's not happening in the forefront of life. And I think that that is that will happen quicker, the more that people are willing to dive in and to understand the actual logistics of how to manage this this disease and the sooner they can do that the better. But time heals a lot of a lot of this as well. And just naturally over time. I think a lot of those a lot of that will just become easier and it won't be The main thing that you're you're thinking about

Scott Benner 1:05:02
in the beginning, it's hard to believe that you'll be the line leader one day. Right? Where all the way in the back and you feel like I don't, where are we going? I hope someone knows. And then one day, you'll just, you'll be the person who's everybody's behind you. And it just works.

Jared 1:05:15
And I'd love just to remind people again, just keep it simple. And what I mean by that is, you know, get your basil honed in, if you get your basil really honed in your life is tons easier. And that was a huge thing for me. And it fluctuates, too. I mean, it's not, you know, my daughter can go anywhere from nine units a day to 18 units a day. And it fluctuates based on her health and you know, with, you know, your daughter getting the flu, she's probably going to require a little bit more, and you're going to be conscientious of that, as she's getting sick.

Scott Benner 1:05:44
arted had 200% of her Basal rate from 8pm Last night till six in the morning.

Jared 1:05:50
Yeah, I wish that Dexcom allowed you to go over the, or, excuse me, Omnipod allows you to go over 90% Temp Basal, because oftentimes, you want to experiment with that, but then just change your Basal profile, not not a huge issue, but get you get your Basal profile honed in. And, you know, we we try to be as bold while maintaining responsibility as we possibly can. And it's hugely helpful. And then the last thing is, we have you know, the Pre-Bolus is huge timing is almost as impactful as the quantity of insulin you're giving, it almost truly is. In our home, the rule that we've kind of put is 20 minutes, unless you hit 75. And then you can go ahead and eat. And that has worked really, really well for us.

Scott Benner 1:06:34
When I was a college. She's like, I'm Pre-Bolus. And I'm like It's not long enough. And she's like, yes, it is. And she got home. And for the first couple days, she's like, Oh, look at my blood sugar. I'll handle it. And one day I said to her, Look, you did a great job. She really did. I think you did a marvelous job at school for your first time. We just have to make a couple of like fine tunings here. And so she had this big meal once and I said, Why watch, let me Bolus for this meal. And then she didn't spike and I succeed, you just You're not Pre-Bolus and long enough. And she's like, Oh, okay. And then but it was kind of under her breath she was. So I take your point, I think it's, I think what you just said, is right. And also I feel like you're repeating something I've said, so it feels weird to agree with it. But

Jared 1:07:18
that's probably where I came up with the idea. But we're a big fan as well as eating our meals kind of in a particular way. This morning, her daughter wanted some Christmas candy she got from her Advent or whatever. And, and she ate it first before she ate her breakfast. And although she dosed for it, because of the order that she consumed it, we saw a spike that I don't think we would have saw if she would have eaten her normal breakfast first and then eating the chocolate on the tail end of it.

Scott Benner 1:07:42
Right. Also, when you come out of come out of sleep. There's a lot of impacts in the morning, too. But alright, I'm gonna let you go. But I have to ask you first Why do you have a nice microphone and headphones?

Jared 1:07:51
So I in the in the photography industry, I'll do podcasting and stuff as well. Yeah, I haven't done it as much in recent years. But years back, we had a large community where we create education, about 250,000. Members and and I was doing a weekly online livestream, where I was interviewing people in a similar fashion.

Scott Benner 1:08:13
Oh, that's cool. Sounds terrific. So more people should have podcasts that they sound good on my podcast. That's what I want. All right, Chad, hold on one second for me. Okay. Yeah.

A huge thanks to Jared for a a huge thanks to Jared for coming on the show today and telling us your story. I also want to thank cozy Earth and remind you to use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% at cozy earth.com. And don't forget, drink a G one.com. Forward slash juice box. When you make your first order at my link, you're also going to get five free travel packs and a year supply of vitamin D. And if you already use a G one, but you didn't sign up through my link, you can switch the mind and support the podcast. Do it, won't you? Please thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

Once there was a time when I just told people if you want a low and stable a one C just listen to the Juicebox Podcast. But as the years went on, and the podcast episodes grew, it became more and more difficult for people to listen to everyone. So I made the diabetes Pro Tip series. This series is with me and Jenny Smith. Jenny is a certified diabetes care and education specialist. She is also a registered and licensed dietitian and a type one herself for over 30 years and I of course am the father of a child who was diagnosed at age two in 2006. The Pro Tip series begins at episode 210 with an episode called newly diagnosed They're starting over and from they're all about MDI Pre-Bolus Singh insulin pumping, pumping and nudging variables exercise illness, injury surgeries glucagon long term health bumping and nudging how to explain type one to your family. Postpartum honeymoon transitioning all about insulin Temp, Basal. These are all different episodes setting your Basal insulin, fat and protein pregnancy, the glycemic index and load and so much more like female hormones and weight loss. Head now to juicebox podcast.com. Go up in the menu at the top and click on diabetes pro tip. Or if you're in the private Facebook group, there's a list of these episodes right in the feature tab. Find out how I helped keep my daughter's a one C between five two and six two for the last 10 years without diet restrictions juicebox podcast.com Start listening today. It's absolutely free.