#972 Glass Half Full

August 9, 2023Scott Benner

Karen has type 1 diabetes and Hashimoto's.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 972 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's show I'll be speaking with Karen, she's an Air Force veteran, a doctor practicing family medicine she has type one diabetes, and Hashimotos. While you're listening today, 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 are becoming bold with insulin. Interested in getting started with Dexcom dexcom.com forward slash juicebox want to save 40% off of comfortable sheets clothing and towels cozy earth.com Use the offer go juice box at checkout. If you're looking for a free year's supply of vitamin D, and five free travel packs with your first order, drink a G one.com. Forward slash juice box links to all of the sponsors are in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now. And at juicebox podcast.com. When you click on my links you are in fact supporting the show. And I cannot thank you enough for that. I do have some time left here. So let me remind you about the private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes 40,000 members and climbing every day. There's a conversation happening right now that you would love

this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod makers of the Omni pod dash and the Omni pod five, use my link to get started Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox Omni pod is tubeless and reliable and the insulin pump that my daughter has been using for 15 years Omni pod.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast is also sponsored today by another device that I see around my house. That contour meters. Oh goodness me. Today's episode is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter, contour next.com For slash juicebox. A meter should be a couple of things. It should have a bright light, it should be accurate, it should be easy to hold and easy to read. If you agree, then you also want a contour meter contour next.com forward slash juicebox.

Karen 2:24
Hey, everyone. My name is Karen. I always say I'm the good guy, not the bad guy and I am 27 years old. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes when I was 23. I am currently in my second year of training in family medicine. So I'm basically in my specialty training. I'm a doctor. I'm also a Air Force veteran and married to an active duty Air Force officer who's currently stationed in Las Vegas. And yeah, that's me.

Scott Benner 2:58
All right. So you're okay, you're 27 you're an Air Force that you've had diabetes for about four years. You already have your MD But you're still working towards it or you are? Or like where are you at in that training? I'm sorry.

Karen 3:15
Yeah, so I went to four years of medical school, so I graduated two years ago. And then once you complete medical school, you generally do a couple years of specialty training, and a specific area of medicine. So some people will go into surgery, some people go into pediatrics, some people go into internal medicine, I My specialty is family medicine. So we like to say we take care of all age, basically from birth to grave, it's the whole age group that we take care of. So I have the pleasure of getting to take care of members of an entire family, which is just a really unique part of our specialty. So I am an MD But I'm in my second year of family medicine training.

Scott Benner 3:58
This seems brilliant to me. Almost like it's funny that the parallel I was about the choose, I need to pick a different one. Hold on. I was almost like, like an online model, like business model. Like if you ever, ever heard somebody say like, look, I don't need 20,000 customers, I just need 1500 People who are who come see me every month. And so like you you might end up with like a smaller group of people, but actually stay with them for their whole life is that about how that ends up going?

Karen 4:31
That is potentially how it can end up going if you stay in the same area for a long period of time. Some of my more senior like faculty members have taken care of families for like 40 or 50 years and you know, they take care of grandma, they take care of mom and then even you know moms babies and so it's you can literally take care of multiple generations of my family

Scott Benner 4:56
that can see the benefit in that too like just off the top of my Add if your grandmother has hyperthyroidism, and you come in and you show you're showing signs of it may, the doctor might like kind of like light up a bulb in their head faster than if you just came in. And they didn't know any of your family history like that. Central. Yeah. Interesting. What made you what made you choose that? What made you want to be a doctor? I guess first of all?

Karen 5:23
Yeah, so I think it's like a really long story. But coming out of high school, I always had more of a personality trait of caring for others, and really wanting to take care of others. And that just kind of slowly developed over my time when I was in college. And now it's just most more so like, I really do enjoy taking care of people from a health perspective and helping people live the happiest life that they can live through their health is what brings me a lot of pleasure and joy. And I think that's one of the reasons why I went into medicine because as we invited me, as we kind of get older, a lot of things that prevent us from really enjoying life to the fullest is our health. Unfortunately, you know, some people struggle with like, you know, chronic pain as they get older or chronic disease. And if I can help people live a better and healthier life so that they can have a happy, more functional life as they get older. That just brings me a lot of pleasure and happiness.

Scott Benner 6:23
But it's such a I mean, it was it's obviously the answer you're hoping for when you ask somebody that question, you know, not like, Well, Scott, I enjoy being in power. And and I know for sure, because I know a handful of doctors, they wouldn't tell anybody to become a doctor at this point. So it wasn't because people were telling you, it's great to get into right.

Karen 6:44
Yeah, I mean, we work a lot of hours, we obtain a lot of debt. Yes, that's true. But I'm lucky family medicine we actually don't get we don't have to deal with that very often. We're one of like the least the specialties that deal with that issue the least often.

Scott Benner 7:03
Oh, that's really interesting.

Karen 7:06
So I think, Oh, I'm

Scott Benner 7:07
sorry, I spoke every

Karen 7:10
Oh, no, I think it's just because we have a really good continuity of care with our patients. So they we know them, they know us. So it's, I feel like that is probably a contributing factor. So

Scott Benner 7:22
explain. Explain to me. You graduate from high school. Do you go right into the Air Force?

Karen 7:27
Yeah. So I went to one of the military academies. I went to Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Are you familiar with the Naval Academy or West Point?

Scott Benner 7:38
I've seen a lot of movies and television shows where they talk about them. So yeah, familiar enough. So essentially,

Karen 7:45
that's where I went to, that's where I got my college degree from. I essentially went to a military college is kind of the way you can put it and one of the main officer training programs into the Air Force, okay. And it does tend to like ROTC. So that's where I went, and my college was paid for. I had to, like wear a uniform to class every day, we had to like March information. But I had lots of other really cool opportunities there that you just wouldn't get anywhere else in the world. Yeah, that's where I went and I got my commission there and graduated, got my degree in biology, got a scholarship to medical school, and kind of went from Air Force to medical school here in North Carolina.

Scott Benner 8:31
How long are you in the Air Force for? Are you are you still active or?

Karen 8:36
No, so that was at the diabetes is what ultimately, my Airforce journey? Yeah, what

Scott Benner 8:43
am I thinking they booted your ass right out of there. Okay.

Karen 8:49
So I made it into my second year of medical school. And that's when I kind of started noticing that something wasn't right. And that's when I was diagnosed. And I went through about a year and a half to two years of the medical evaluation board in the Air Force where, you know, if you something like this comes up, they like put you through a whole process where they see if you can, you know, even be in the military anymore. I think my process was prolonged because of COVID. Okay, yeah. And also, I was in a weird reserve status at the time. So there wasn't it wasn't as clean as a process. If I was on active duty,

Scott Benner 9:27
before the diabetes, was it your intention to stay in the reserves after you served your time?

Karen 9:32
I mean, it was my it was definitely my intention to be in the active duty Air Force as like a military doctor. That was my intention. So I would have graduated from medical school, gone from reserve status back to active, you know, done my residency in family medicine, but what I've done it through the air force,

Scott Benner 9:52
you know, Kevin, I've heard this story a number of times, and this is the first time it didn't make sense to me. Why the heck couldn't you be at Dr with type one diabetes, like just don't send your warzone. If they're that worried, do you know what I mean? Yeah. Did you make that argument?

Karen 10:09
I did make that. Unfortunately, the way the military views it is, I mean, what's an important part of, you know, our military is being prepared to go on deployments. And unfortunately, being on insulin makes you not deployable, because they out in the field can't safely keep insulin refrigerated. What happens if I hear the event?

Scott Benner 10:35
I want one of you has to stay back in Colorado and take care of people or whatever. I don't like this. Okay, that's fine. They'll Miss Yeah,

Karen 10:43
I, I think some things may change into the future. I think they recently, I heard that there was an Air Force Academy graduate, who got diagnosed with type one when he was at the academy who ended up commissioning. So I think things are changing. I was jealous. But I mean, he was in a different position than I was he had a lot more resources and leadership support to kind of help him get through that versus I kind of went through this entire process on my own. Because I was basically kind of a civilian at the time that this all happened, although, I was still considered a member of the Air Force.

Scott Benner 11:23
Okay, so you're, like halfway through medical school, when you get diagnosed? How does it present? And I'm dying to know how much of your, you know, education helped you, or if you were just as lost as everybody else when you were being diagnosed?

Karen 11:38
Yeah, so I will say I was completely lost. People think you're really smart of your medical school. But it's surprising, like how much you don't know. And I, you know, I'm still learning as much as I'm learning now. But so essentially, so I was diagnosed in August of 2018. So it's just at the kind of the beginning of my second year. And that's summer, I was like, I was thinking about it before I was talking to you. I just did not feel right that entire summer, prior to August, it first kind of notice just like some changes to my exercise tolerance, just seemed to be getting fatigued more quickly. And I was like, well, maybe I'm just like, really, really out of shape. Who knows. So I kind of was dealing with that for I'm not sure maybe about two months. And then I went into some training up in Ohio, for my Air Force stuff. So I was required to complete some training. And I did get a really, really bad viral cold there. I know, classic story. Got back from that training, went home to my parents house in California. And he came back and was, you know, getting medical school started back again, we kind of had a small break, and still having like, tiredness, then you know, it's started feeling more thirsty. And I was like, well, it's the fan in my room. It's July and

Scott Benner 13:04
the fans drying you out? Is that where you went to?

Karen 13:07
Yes. And of course, I started paying more because they're drinking so much water as the damn fan. Yeah. And then the hunger started, I was eating a lot. I was like, Well, this is so great. I'm hungry. I'm not gaining weight. Wonderful. And then in it was like two weeks into August, I noticed I stepped on the scale one day, I was like, wow, I've lost 15 pounds. That is not normal. And I all I've been doing is eating and continuing to my normal lifestyle. So that does not make any sense.

Scott Benner 13:45
Does that put your brain towards cancer? Once you finally say, Yeah, that's what happens. Right? You think I'm losing weight? And I shouldn't be Oh, God, I have cancer.

Karen 13:55
Exactly. And ironically, we're in the cancer unit of my medical school education. So I was terrified.

Scott Benner 14:05
Like, guess what, everybody gotta get some first aid experience off a Karen in a second. And so who exactly you go to the doctor, do you? This is interesting. You go to the doctor and you try to figure it out on your own.

Karen 14:15
So I did go to the doctor, I initially went so I went to my family medicine primary care doctor. And I thought it was my thyroid because I also have we didn't know until after I was diagnosed with type one that was Hashimotos. But I had hypothyroidism that I was diagnosed with when I was at Air Force. And so I was like, oh, maybe my thyroid is like really active. And that must have caused my 15 pound weight loss.

Scott Benner 14:42
Well, you know what, that's reasonable. I mean, I don't know about 15 pounds, but it's reasonable to think that your weight got knocked off course by thyroid. Okay.

Karen 14:50
All right. So I went and we checked my thyroid and that was, you know, that was fine. And then another two days went by and this by this time, it's a Friday. As something just wasn't sitting right with me. So I was at school and I was telling my friends about what was going on kind of had like a little bit of a breakdown because I was really scared. Sure. And we went, and we were calling a bunch of clinics around town trying to find a clinic that was open for me to go see somebody. And of course, I mean, I will, you know, agree with this Friday afternoon to get into a doctor's office very difficult. So we ended up talking to one of those school administrators or people who was one of the family doctors nearby. And I told her what was going on? And she's like, you know, does diabetes run in your family? I was like, No, it does not. And I hurt I sure hope that's not what's going on, because I'm gonna get kicked out of the Air Force. And she's like, Oh, okay. Like, I don't think that's what's going on. I think she was just trying to reassure me. And she ended up holding one of the residents at the family medicine clinic that I currently train at over for like a late afternoon appointment and sent me over there. And so I got into the office, they checked my blood sugar. It was like, in the four hundreds and my agency, I don't remember what it was, but it was definitely greater than 12. Oh, wow. When they checked it in the office?

Scott Benner 16:13
Well, okay. Well, that sucks. And so right away, I don't have cancer, but I'm out of the Air Force.

Karen 16:21
Yeah. And that was legitimately my first thought. And I said the F word. And I called my it was Max, my who's married to now but he was my boyfriend at the time, called him immediately. And I couldn't imagine what it must have felt like for him to be on the receiving end of that phone call. Because I was very upset and wasn't even thinking about what my health like was like that this was very serious. Because I frankly, I didn't know like, I was like, told my blood sugar was over 400. And I'm like, Well, what does that mean? Like, that's really high. But But yeah, is it was it?

Scott Benner 17:00
I don't know. You're probably so overwhelmed. This is gonna be a stupid question. But I mean, was there ever a moment when you thought, Jesus, I'm in medical school? And I didn't, I didn't know about any of this.

Karen 17:10
I think about that a lot. Now, I'm like, How did I not know about but not at the moment? Right. Right. And I will, I hadn't had my endocrinology block yet. I hadn't later. But yeah, I had no idea. Like, I had no idea what a high or low blood sugar was, like, the first year of medical school is much more like basic sciences based versus clinical based. So I just had no context for any of that information.

Scott Benner 17:39
Yeah, in fairness, Arden's going to fashion school. And she said, I don't think anything about fashion is happening in my first year of college. And not much. Not much different. Right. Like you're getting the basics down and, and the whole thing, and your was your boyfriend at that point.

Karen 17:55
Yes. Maybe we had been together, I think for about three years at that time.

Scott Benner 18:00
Okay. So he under so he very uniquely understands the loss of of the of the Air Force, whereas somebody else who's not serving wouldn't have, right and was there ever conversations like oh, well, like stay in the air force together. Like that, it kind of put a wrench in what you were thinking about doing. Beyond the obvious stuff.

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Karen 22:00
I think yeah, I think we did mention that we were both going to do our Air Force commitments I didn't. At this point. I don't know if we would ever thinking about doing a career. But that was definitely a part of our plan was for us to eventually I would complete my training, we would either I would continue with my commitment in the Air Force, and he would finish up his or we would do it together. So did it kind of change things. But ultimately, I think, you know, in the end, if you want to look at the big picture, everything kind of works out the way it's supposed to be. And I think it would have been very difficult for both of us to stay in the air force in the career fields that we are the Air Force, I mean does try their very best to keep spouses and families together. If you're you know, your both of your jobs can be placed at the same base, but knowing what his job is he he's a pilot and what my job would have been being a physician it would have been I think kind of very difficult for us to be at the same place. So I think you know, everything kind of works out for the way it's supposed to and this was not a great way to get out of the military but maybe it that that was the silver lining of it all is to me it makes our lives a little bit easier.

Scott Benner 23:13
Did it impact how you were paying for college though? It did. She's had cost diabetes cost you more than everybody else? Like everybody's like insulin is expensive here like yeah, plus medical school. Oh, wow.

Karen 23:27
Exactly.

Scott Benner 23:27
Oh my god. Oh, that's super sucks. Oh my god. Terrible. I would but you don't know. I'm so cheap. I would have been in the hospital people would have been like you have diabetes. My brain would have went oh my god, I'm out of the airforce. Oh my god, I gotta pay for medical school. Like I would have been like in 30 seconds to that thought like, Oh, no. Oh, that sucks. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Okay. Oh, it's not okay. What do you mean? It's okay. It's horrible. I mean, half of medical school. Can you tell me where you're enrolled?

Karen 24:02
I went to Wake Forest School of Medicine. Sounds expensive. It was very expensive, but I had a great aunt she she

Scott Benner 24:13
well, you're really hot. You're like a glass half full person. Huh? I am. Yeah, I would definitely be like this is both I am being screwed in every direction right now. Like you didn't you didn't have any. Oh, well, I'll ask you. You didn't have any feelings like that? Are you did?

Karen 24:31
Oh, I did. I I was very angry for a long time about about like, what happened the like how like, life is unfair. I had like my life planned out. I served my country. I was going into medicine. Like why did this happen to be? So I did go through that. Oh my god. I only really recently kind of I only went to two sessions but she was is very helpful. I saw a psychologist who specializes in managing adults with chronic illness, specifically cystic fibrosis and type one. And she was very helpful in kind of getting over those feelings. And like, coming to acceptance that my life has changed. This is my life now. We're not going backwards. All we can do is move forwards. And now I feel much more at peace. Yeah, what happened?

Scott Benner 25:29
Well, that that person must be a genius because I just Googled it. And we're talking mid 60s a year. Am I right? Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Those people better get good and sick when you become their doctrine come every week.

Karen 25:44
Yes, please go to your appointment. Yeah,

Scott Benner 25:47
you might you might be the first doctor with a tip jar out front. Feel you've got an excellent service. Nothing wrong with putting its money in the jar in your way. Karen's got bills. Oh, my goodness. I'm so sorry. Okay. To go backwards really far for a second. The idea of calling someone to Karen is only a few years old. Isn't that right? Yeah, right. Yeah. Did it kind of started around the time of the lady in the park? Right, where she acted scared of a guy and the guy was like, I'm not even talking to you. And then she like flipped.

Karen 26:21
I call the police. Yeah, like, it's

Scott Benner 26:22
right around that time. I think it's right around that time, like 2020 or so. Did that actually have an impact on your life?

Karen 26:30
Not really. So I always feel like Karen has been one of those names that people joke about a lot. Mostly if you think of mean girls. Oh, have you seen them?

Scott Benner 26:40
Listen, Karen, let's not make me admit on the podcast that I've seen Mean Girls. Okay. But yeah. Are you gonna admit it? I've definitely seen me girls. Yes.

Karen 26:50
So I always feel like Karen has always been one of those names. It's always kind of been on the route end of a joke. So it's been this way my entire life. But yeah, the Karen thing that happened back in the light would have Yeah, like you were saying 2020 Now I just kind of get out in front of it. And people think it's funny. I'm like, I'm carried on the go guide. So I get out in front of it before anybody else can own it. I just Oh, my name.

Scott Benner 27:13
Your Why are you so um, pleasant? I'm being serious, not being sarcastic upbringing, scared of Jesus. Somebody, like Did something happen? Like, seriously, you're a really pleasant person. But tell me how that happened to you? No, no, no. Yeah. First of all, you're welcome. It's it's, I think it's a hell of a compliment. And I mean it. But I mean, like, I'm not as pleasant as you. But why not? Like, if I grew up in your house? Would I have been? Is it just your disposition? Like, I'm serious? You don't know Do you

Karen 27:44
probably get mixed up. I mean, I think it's like a mix of like the environment. And like, what I've experienced in life kind of up to this point, I feel like I've experienced a lot of different things. And for 27 year old upbringing, for sure. I don't come from a religious background at all. But my, my mom always taught me to kill people with kindness. So

Scott Benner 28:06
you're not acting when you're talking though? This is who you are.

Karen 28:09
No, this is who I am. Like, I really like I prefer to treat people nicely and kindly and give people the benefit of the doubt, I feel much more happy about life, if I think positively about it. I mean, there are times that I get into a place where I'm just upset and angry and mad. And that's where Max comes in. He's very helpful. But I just find that you know, things generally work better if you come at something with a positive attitude and try and work the problem. That's something my dad always said to me. He's like, Well, you know, here's what's in front of you find a way to work the problem like this didn't work. But what else might work?

Scott Benner 28:51
If I met a person that was that suck days, a person who truly sucks? You've met somebody like that? Yeah. Could I say I'm positive that this person sucks, or that doesn't count as being positive? I think you could say that. I don't think I'm not by the way. I don't think I'm not a lot of the things that you mentioned, too. I just, I don't know. There's like a cynical side of me that, that looks for that stuff. And it just it's fascinating to me when people don't do that. Like I actually think I'm good at like a number of things. Because I'm always wondering, on some level, like who's trying to get over here, who's screwing us like, like, what, you know, what's the angle? Why are they saying that and you don't have you're not encumbered by any of those thoughts?

Karen 29:40
So much, but I will say there's a disadvantage to that. Okay. Well, you know, there's always I think there's always good I think there's goods and Bad's to all personality types, but at least you have some level of suspicion and questioning, or sometimes I might just look something over and be like all as well. So I think it's, you know, less than Maybe something I guess sometimes I don't always. Yeah, question and have a critical mind all the time when maybe I should. And so I might miss something that you might pick up on. Yeah.

Scott Benner 30:10
Like, you're having a great time in a group and then when you leave, you're like somebody stole your shoes. And you're like, how that happened. And

Karen 30:16
exactly, where's my money go?

Scott Benner 30:19
That's crazy. Nobody's told my buddy, we were just hanging out that guy over there was smoking crack, and I don't understand what happened. Yeah, he was lovely. Alright, so Okay, I'm getting all this. I understand you. The the, you have Hashimotos? You said, is that correct? Yes. Okay. And is there any other autoimmune in your family?

Karen 30:41
So none that we know of. So I also had psoriasis when I was very little. So that was the first kind of autoimmune issue that may have been like a warning sign. So I had that when I was two, but no one else in my family that we know of has any autoimmune disorders other than myself, okay. I'm a fraternal twin. She's completely fine. I also have an older sister who, only two years older, who has no issues at all that we know of

Scott Benner 31:14
on curse can on believable. Are you serious? Right, I'm trying so hard to get you upset, and it's not working. But that does that. Does that hurt a little bit? Ah, you know, Karen, I married the wrong girl. You are so pleasant. She. I mean, you're way too young, and everything. But still, if I could get into a time machine, I go try to find you like 17 I'd be like, Hey, what's up? We should be friends. Because you're gonna grow up to be a lovely person. And I want to be around this. Oh, my God. That's no kidding. So how about for years? I'm sorry, twins as a sister or brother?

Karen 32:01
I forget. Yes, sir. Certainly half sister. Yeah.

Scott Benner 32:05
And so do you think they feel bad?

Karen 32:08
I think they do. Really, especially because a lot of these health things didn't come up until I was in college, and we were all separated. So I think part of them feels they do feel bad. You know, my family would always make jokes to kind of, I think, lighten up the situation, they always say, Well, we're so glad it's you. Because we couldn't, we couldn't do this, like we couldn't handle the things that you have to do. You're a strong person. And, you know, like, that's all well and good. But I do that I honestly do think they feel for my situation, and all the things that I've gone through. And I think they hope that it doesn't happen to them. I hope it doesn't happen to them. But I just, you know, I kept them on alert. I'm like it, you know, I have these things going on. They might show up later in your life, you know, just be aware that are related. And you know, if something could happen, who knows Karen

Scott Benner 33:00
behind your back, they think of you as the Ghost of Christmas Future. They're like, keep keep her out of here with those stories about what might by the way, it's a lovely thing you're doing by keeping them abreast of what's going on. And and because then they might have a chance if they do see something to see it sooner. Or you the right, let's be honest here. Are you the smartest of the siblings? Where's that doctor thing doesn't necessarily make you smart.

Karen 33:26
I don't think I'm like intellectually, the smartest, I think I maybe I think my older sister is like, the smartest. But I think I have I think I understand people and can really hear people out in a unique way, maybe. And that might be why I was drawn to family medicine. Because it's a lot more social and talking with people and hearing like their views about medicine and trying just to meet them where they're at. But I think I'm very good at picking up new skills and I'm very committed to what I do. I just think you're all qualities that make a good physician. I mean, people will tell you, you don't have to be the smartest person in the room to be a good doctor. You really have to care and and obviously know the medicine and other things. But I don't think I'm like the intellectually the most like the smartest person in my family. Although my family members might disagree just because of the academic stuff I've completed thus far.

Scott Benner 34:24
Are you a little worried that you're going to spend the rest of your natural life fielding fielding questions from your friends and family about their elements? Oh, I'm

Karen 34:31
already doing it. I find people ask you all the time where people feel like they have to come and explain their health to you. Oh, really? Oh, it's weird that like, oh, I have this going on. And they just like want to like share everything with you.

Scott Benner 34:48
Like if you were a mechanic and the their carburetor was dirty, you feel like they would be like, Oh, the cars running rough. Like that kind of thing. Like that. You think they're telling Oh, no kidding. I have. One of my close friends is that As a physician, and anytime I asked him about, I start, my first sentence is just like, hey, I'm really sorry. And I realized that not everyone does this to you. And we talked about it sometimes. And he's like, everybody, everybody does it. Like, it's like everyone I know who has a question. It's like, Hey, I'm coughing, what's going around? Or can you look at a picture of this? You know, like, that kind of stuff. And I'll tell you when you're friends with a physician, you have to really stop yourself. You know what I mean? Because it feels easy. Like, oh, well, you know, Karen on I'll just text are real quick. I saved them for really like, like moments. Gig if I'm asking something's something's wrong anyway. It's gonna be your whole life. You might as well just get it. Yeah, you guys will get a burner phone right now and just give it to your to your husband. Although you're not going to care, you're the nicest person I've met in the last six months. So you never killed anybody? Nothing? No, nothing big like that. You're hiding?

Karen 36:03
No. Oh, I wouldn't try going hunting, though. I think at least once just to try it is to try it. I've never done that.

Scott Benner 36:10
Now. I have to know. I know. We haven't talked about your diabetes yet. I'm assuming we will soon. Honestly, I don't know. But what was it like? Being in the Air Force? Because you're commingle right men and women? And and you are? You're just incredibly pleasant. And you're kind of are you a small person? Like stature? Wise, are no, Are you tall? No.

Karen 36:32
You're tall? About 510? Okay,

Scott Benner 36:34
so you're taller. Okay. But what's it like? Well, I mean, what's that whole thing? Like do is there is I mean, obviously, there's got to be a boys club is to try to get into it, or you don't care about it, or they crass and you have to be crass and return or like how did that whole thing go?

Karen 36:50
I hear the boys club thing. I think that's definitely I don't know, if that's all related to the military feel like that's present in a lot of organizations. I'm sure. Even in medicine, I will say that you will come across that. But trying to think it's been so long since I was there. But I always felt very promoted by my leadership to pursue leadership within my squadron. You know, they, I feel like the Air Force does a particularly better job at I think elevating women than maybe some of the other forces. I don't know if that's true, generally, a more female friendly force for my understanding compared to the other ones in terms of like percentages if you look at it, but I don't know if it's just because the academies are a place of like leadership development, that they do try and promote, like, equal opportunity between everybody. But I never felt like I had to, like, act differently. Okay, I think we all learn ways to kind of blend in, to blend in and work how to how to work best with people, and how to, you know, if I'm trying to achieve the means how can they communicate in such a way that will get my vision across? But I think you learned that with working within a lot of different organizations, as well as how do you best communicate with people that may be different from you?

Scott Benner 38:17
Does does the fact that you're dating somebody in the Air Force? Does that put like a force field around you? That keeps the creepy away? Maybe does the guys know? Like, is that something? You might not? Yeah,

Karen 38:31
I mean, I don't I didn't have a serious Max was actually my first like, mostly big serious relationship. And we didn't start dating until we were juniors in college. And we were best friends for three years before then. I think honestly, just being kind of like a taller like person like you're taller female. Or maybe just pushed away a lot of people for a while. I'm not quite sure. Hey,

Scott Benner 38:54
that's, that's no kidding. Right. Like guys are intimidated by taller women? Yeah, I think so. They don't hit on you as much. They don't think of you like, like, I'm not wrong about that. Right.

Karen 39:06
I would agree with you. And also, like when you're stuck in a military, like you're in a military uniform all the time, your hair is up all the time. People don't always see you outside of that. Yeah, model where you're kind of everyone's like, you know, you're doing your duties throughout the day look like it's hard to see people outside of that. Sometimes I see. Yeah.

Scott Benner 39:29
Interesting. You play. Did you play any sports in high school?

Karen 39:34
I did. I played basketball, which I think was another thing that might have kept people away just because that's a little bit more of an aggressive sport. So I don't know if people thought of me is Karen's the basketball player.

Scott Benner 39:46
That's it. I mean, my my wife's five, nine. And yeah, and I mean, they're obviously taller people than her but generally speaking throughout the day, she's the tallest woman I see anywhere. And she would say that through high school. Cool, like everybody was sort of a little like, you know, it was hard to find a guy that was taller than her. And they did seem kind of like, you know, a little scared to talk to her. And that stuff, I luckily have like, no filter whatsoever. So I'm not tall, and I was able to just like, just ignore that fact. But I mean, it's, it's not lost on me that, and I'll tell you where I was, I was somewhere giving a talk. And I was trying to move from room to room. And a bunch of people kind of descended on me as they were like, you know, carrying in a diabetes setting. I'm like The Beatles, if I walk outside, nobody knows who I am. But in that thing, like people were kind of flocking, and we were taking a lot of pictures. And at one point, I kind of had like, grown women on either side of me, and I thought I should have married someone shorter. I feel so tall right now. And I feel so like, it's a bizarre thing, and not something I normally think of it, but I felt more masculine. I felt like doing it like seriously. Anyway, I don't know, it just it just occurred to me, we are so far away from the fact that you have diabetes. So this is your fault for being delightful. You're a unicorn. As far as your attitude goes, You're a doctor. And we're in the Air Force. So there was too much to talk about this. Let's go. So I'll bring it back to diabetes, because we should probably talk about a little bit diagnosed it was out of nowhere. Do you start with MDI? Do they give you a pen? Do they give you a pump? Do you? Does anybody talk to you about CGM or sensing technology? Anything like that?

Karen 41:33
Yeah, so I was really lucky. So one of my clinical skills instructors in medical school was an endocrinologist. So she was one of the people that like taught me like about the physical exam, like how do we like talk about patients and think about clinical judgment. She was kind of like, one of those types of teachers. She was an endocrinologist. And I texted her basically, immediately once I found out what was going on. And while it was in the hospital, said go in the hospital eventually, because I was in DKA, when they diagnosed me, she got me hooked up with an endocrinologist almost immediately, and a diabetes educator. So I had that was, I had, like, immediate follow up coming out of the hospital, did MDI while I was at the hospital. So they started me on, you know, long acting, I was on core genes and basically on Lantis, you know, the short acting with meals with way too much coming out of the hospital. But that's okay. The only reason why I knew was my roommate at the time, her boyfriend was also a type one. So he had just been transitioning, I can't remember if it was from G four to G five or G five to G six.

Scott Benner 42:48
It was three years ago.

Karen 42:50
It was yes, it

Scott Benner 42:51
was the G G five to G six. Probably.

Karen 42:55
Yeah, I remember I had to wear them for you know, you had to what was it? Yeah, it was changing it every seven days.

Scott Benner 43:02
Yeah. Yeah. I think the five was every seven days for sure.

Karen 43:07
Yeah, I mean, I think that sounds right. So I was really lucky because he found out immediately what was going on. And he's like, I have all these extra decks cones, because I'm on the new decks calm. Take them, here's how to put it on. Here's how to make it work. So I got out of the hospital and basically was on Dexcom homeless immediately, which helped me find out that my baby's hole, my insulin was way too much. I didn't eat like, like two pieces of toast, like in peanut butter before bedtime in order to avoid going low. Okay. And then I had immediate follow up, basically right out of the hospital, which was helpful. And I think I got the Omni pod within at like, gosh, I had it been like, less than three months. So I got a really quick

Scott Benner 43:53
Wow, yeah, that is fast. So you were in the very beginning, though too much basil, you were feeding, you're feeding the insulin basically trying to keep up. The CGM helps you see it. And so you have a CGM pretty early on. Yeah, you'll see you get to see the impacts of your, your insulin of your carbs and everything and make good decisions from there. Do you take to it well, or did you struggle with it? Are you still struggling with it? Are you doing great? Like, how did that part go?

Karen 44:22
I think I took to it Well, I think I was kind of in a state of mind where I was like, I was in this fight. And I was like, I'm gonna figure this out. I was having my fighter brain. And I think I took to the technology well, in terms of kind of, like, okay, I can see what this all is. I think I learned how to figure out the Omni pod really well. I think my medical knowledge definitely helped. Because I could understand, you know, like, I needed to take insulin. I could see the effects on my blood sugars. I didn't really start getting, I think understanding like Pre-Bolus and things like that. Until a couple of months later, but my first initial agency, after I started everything and kind of got going, we got it. I mean, we kicked we got it down really? Immediately. I think my first day went see back in the office was a 5.3. So whether that was from Lowe's or whatever, but I also found your podcast very quickly. Oh, I did. Yeah. I just Googled around and somebody had mentioned, oh, you should look up outcasts. And I was like, okay, so I like went on the internet and eventually found your podcasts and I started listening to it. I was like, oh, like, Omni pod. I'm like, I have an omni pod. And that I learned to Pre-Bolus for you. And then my endocrinologist is like, Yeah, you should Pre-Bolus Like that will help and avoid some, like post meal spikes. And so I think, with all of that, I think I got a really good understanding of, you know, how to use insulin, you know, make feel competent to make adjustments to the system on my own. In learning what like the insulin to carb ratio was, what does sensitivity factor mean? I think I'll talk to that pretty quickly. I think it was just based on my personality that I was, you know, this is your this is my life. I have to figure this out. I'm going to figure this out. I can figure this out. And I feel like I did. I did that

Scott Benner 46:30
sounds like it for sure. Also, there must be a little bit of professional pressure to write because you can't, like how are you going to be a doctor who can't take care of their diabetes?

Karen 46:39
Right? Yeah, nobody can ever put that pressure on me. But I can definitely, I don't think

Scott Benner 46:45
anybody put it on you. You had to think about it, right? Like you're gonna be a fraud if you can't do that.

Karen 46:50
Right. Like, I'm a perfectionist to, which doesn't help.

Scott Benner 46:55
Now that I know, but I would have guessed that way if you would have asked me, so. I don't I don't know why exactly. It just what does that mean, though perfectionist? Does it mean? Everything in your house is exactly where it's supposed to be. And we take our shoes off at the door, or when you get into a project, you finish it, you finish it? Well, you do it right. Like where does that touch your life.

Karen 47:16
So I think it definitely, when I do something I want to do to the best of my ability sometimes. And ultimately, if I do end up finishing something, it's a very good product. But sometimes it can prevent me from starting things, when I anticipate that it's not going to be a successful outcome. So that's that side of it. My house isn't perfect, but when I go and complete a task, I've always wanted to be at that, like the prot end product to always be at the highest that it possibly could be. And if it's not, then sometimes in my mind, I'm like, Well, you know, oh, it could have been better. Even though it was good.

Scott Benner 47:56
You're not gonna treat your patients that way. Are you caring like Oh, no. Too late for you? Forget it.

Karen 48:00
We care. For myself. I'm like, Oh, I didn't do a good enough job. But sometimes good enough is good enough. Like perfect isn't, you know, always like you don't need to achieve perfection to to be good enough. You

Scott Benner 48:14
don't have to explain that to me. I have. Yeah, if you set the bar low enough. You'll never trip over. And everything seems like a success. I put my socks on. Yay. i Yeah, let's keep it simple. Okay, so you get a CGM. I mean, eventually you ran out of free CGM. You had to get it yourself. And, and you've got a pump. Are you still using Omni pod?

Karen 48:44
I am. So I'm actually about to start Omni pod five here in a couple of weeks

Scott Benner 48:50
looking. Nice. So you're gonna go automated, which is, I think a great decision, especially for me. So where you're at right now in your training? Are you actually you're in the hospital now? Right working, aren't you?

Karen 49:06
Yeah, I do. I do a mix of things. So where I'm training in my family medicine program. We do a mix of inpatient medicine, so hospital medicine, and then outpatient office medicine. So my first year of my training, I did a lot more inpatient hospital medicine. So I did all my rotations in the hospital. On like a normal medicine. Floor I rotated through the pediatric emergency room and pediatric inpatient team. I did adult emergency room, adult medicine to intensive care units. What else did we do? Those are the big rotations I've done that I did during my first year and now that I'm in my second year, I think about half my time is in the hospital. half my time is in the office doing like my continuity Club. Next,

Scott Benner 50:01
do you have any trouble being on your feet all day? Or are you pretty good at handling that

Karen 50:06
sometimes if it's like a really more active day, and this is where I'm hoping the automated part can help, you know, struggling, if you're, for some reason, the day becomes more active, having to deal with some low lower blood sugar. So we've been on our feet for a long period of time, like on rounds, or something that can be a struggle from, from time to time, I haven't had as much as us during clinic because I feel like I have a little bit more control of things. But it can't be that way. When they're, you know, you go a longer time without eating, because you're rounding with your attending, or, you know, for some reason, the day becomes a little bit more active than you were anticipating. But I just generally try and carry like glucose tablets with me in that type of instance. And really, if it comes to the point where I'm like, I'm Whoa, I need to sit down, I always have people who can, who are willing and more than able to step in to help to allow me to do what I need to do to fix something. If that was ever the case. It's excellent.

Scott Benner 51:05
What made you want to come on the show?

Karen 51:09
I really love this show. And I feel like I kind of have a unique story. So I wanted to share my story. And I just hear so many people come on here. And I know I've found what other people say I always might hear a phrase that I pick up and I find that personally helpful in my life. And I really just wanted to come on to like, share my story to give back to the community. Talk with you and just, I don't know,

Scott Benner 51:34
I'm delighted. I'm delighted that you like me, because you've 100% feel like somebody when I was younger would not have liked me. So I feel like I'm growing as a person. Or at the very least, so I've always

Karen 51:49
liked to I've always, I've never I know some people I've heard I like when I listen to your podcast. You don't have comments and

Scott Benner 51:59
too bad, but I don't think so. And so you hear my sarcasm? Yes. Yeah. Even though you do you employ sarcasm in your life at all?

Karen 52:08
I don't think I have the gift of sarcasm. Unfortunately.

Scott Benner 52:12
It is a gift card. It really is. Yeah. Just so much intent and tone and phrasing. I don't know.

Karen 52:20
It's funny to like, sometimes it is really funny. I wish I could be funny like that. But,

Scott Benner 52:25
you know, my family doesn't think I'm funny at all. Well, can I tell you something too bad. I'm gonna say something that happened the other day to me. And I don't know if this was this is gonna sound like, like, it's like in a salad bowl or not to people. But for my entire life, like the first time I remember this happening as an adult. I was maybe 18 or 19. It was during a heatwave. And we didn't have any air conditioning. So my friend and I, Mike, Mike and I, we bought a baby pool at the at the Kitty City. Does anybody remember toy stores, there was a toy store near us called Kitty City went down there, we bought this plastic plastic baby pool. We brought it home. I think we took it to my house, filled it with water brought out like a TV tray, like drug A television outside, put it on it. And we just sat in the damn pool all night to stay cool. And watch TV. And we're watching Seinfeld first run. And I don't know if you know, do you know a lot of people who like are like, like, honestly funny. And once you know them for a while you'll realize like they run lines on people or they'll use stuff over and over again or like their stuff. They say like I have things I say sometimes. And if you don't know me, you wouldn't know that I would have said it 50 times in the last 10 years or something like that. My wife like I can see the look on my wife's face. Like she's like, Oh, he's gonna launch into this one. You don't I mean, and so we're watching Seinfeld. And this thing that I've been saying forever, just is happening in front of me on television. And I turn to Mike and I go, I swear to God, if I find out you're selling my ideas to people, I'm going to be pissed. And he's and we launched in very quiet, and he turned to me and he goes, You gotta try to get into this somehow. He goes, that's literally your bid. He's like that. He's like you like, you know, you, you. That's how you that's how you tell it. It's Tony's like that whole thing. Anyway, two nights ago, I'm scrolling on the I don't know, you know, whatever, one of those things. And I land on a Louie CK bit. And he and Louise telling us this thing. And it's like word for word, a joke. I tell like for years and I thought, am I as funny as Louie CK. And I was like, because that guy obviously makes questionable decisions with his penis, but it's really really funny. And so do you know what Louie CK did? I don't want to say it in front of you, Karen. I feel like it won't go well. Do you know? Oh my god. Alright, it turns out Karen, that if you knew Louis, and you were hanging out like in his dressing room after Have I don't know, something Louis might announce to the room that it is his intention to take himself out of his pants and handle himself and you should leave if you want to. Apparently, that was. Go ahead. laugh again, Karen. I didn't realize you were gonna laugh that was so nice. Do it again. Well, I'll get you up again. Don't worry about. And so anyway, that's a horror, obviously. And but the guys know, he's a really funny comedian. And so anyway, so he's running this like bit on stage and this little thing, I'm just walking past and it's like, word for word. I'm like, I do this, like, I do this thing. And I'm like, so my idea that I had like, a few years ago, and Louie's idea are very similar. Like, am I could I be a professional comedian? I was like, I gotta quit this podcast and find out. You didn't mean? Like, this party has taken up way too much of my time. So I could like, although I probably probably make more money than than a starting comedian. Maybe I can't afford to do that. But anyway, the point is, I don't know what the point is. Karen, I think the point is, I think my parents are like, Well, my parents didn't have Jesus character. You have no idea. My parents really did not think I was funny. And my family like, like our dad, I laugh together, we have the same. We have the same sense of humor, basically. But once somebody says, I'm funny, she goes, No, he's not. It's so interesting. Like, she won't give me credit for it. Anyway. Yeah, I think my point is, is that I think there are people getting away with being professional comedians, and they're just, they're funny, but they're not like, like, you don't I mean, like, they're not all Dave Chappelle. You don't have to like chapels humor to know that as far as a person who can deliver a story, in a funny way, the man's like a. He's like at the top of a class. You know what I mean? Anyway? Do you like stand up at all?

Karen 56:50
I don't listen to a lot of stand up. No. Have you ever been to a

Scott Benner 56:53
live show? No, not at all. You should try that. I should even like we just did one. Who did we just do? It? Why can't I remember what we just did? I had the COVID Recently, Karen. Oh, no. I'm coming back out of it. You know what I mean? But it took it took its toll on me. Anyways, the worst part? The vacillating fevers. Okay, like, oh my god, I'm dying. I'm so hot. Oh, my God, I'm so cold. And they would happen in the middle of the night you couldn't sleep. So like 11pm that would start at like 6am you could fall asleep. And by that you were just laying in a pile of your own white human sweat. And just like going like, Oh, God, I can't believe it. But I'm actually going to go to sleep now that I'd sleep till like 9am Wake up and make the podcast. And then like live a whole day. And then just, it would all it just went over and over again. And then every time we think it's over, it's not over. And then it turned into bronchitis. Nice. Yeah. So we literally watched sick for two months here.

Karen 58:04
And just like I feel like it bounces back and forth.

Scott Benner 58:06
Oh, yeah, we gave it to each other. And oh my god, we gave it to each other. Like we needed antibiotics to get out of it. Like it was just like, a horror. And I think it is I think it's messed with. I mean, I'm okay now, I think. But I do think that six months from now, when people are hearing the podcasts come out. If they really pay attention, you might hear where I was sick while I was interviewing people a couple of times. Because I was just a little like a, like a maybe an hour or something like that. Anyway, you could be funny. Do you ever say anything? That's funny? Are you ever funny by mistake?

Karen 58:43
Maybe from time to time, I can't think of anything funny to say like off the top of my head. But I think maybe within my group of friends, like, amongst my like friends that are also doctors. I mean, we have things that we say that we think are funny. But if anybody was listening to our conversation, they'd be like, What the heck are they talking about? Or they might think we're super dirty or lame? Or gross? I don't know.

Scott Benner 59:03
I would love to know if you're actually funny. If you all just have the same bad sense of humor. I would love. I'd love to be a fly on a wall in that room. Yeah, to hear what we're talking about. You want to see a funny television show. Somebody should pay Arden and I to watch other people just see if they're funny or not because we would be funny and horrible to them as we were judging them. Anyway, John Mulaney I just popped into my head I saw John Mulaney live recently. And I'm telling you, like, I think stand up like recorded like on Netflix can be like it's I think it's a little dollar on television that it is alive. So anyway,

Karen 59:42
I mean, I feel like that's the same thing with music. It's always better live. Oh, yes, you're there and you're in the moment you're with the energy with the people like it's just better

Scott Benner 59:50
see in the movies the same way right? Like you just like yeah, a bunch of people you can feel that you feel like you can feel each other in the room, you know? So anyway, Mulaney was funny But I don't know. I don't know where we got how we got here. What do you, I appreciate you wanting to come on. And I want to like highlight what you said a moment ago about just picking up tidbits from other people's conversations. I think that's a super important part of why the podcast helps people are why they like it or whatever, that you can't just like, he just can't expect to interview like 10 people and get all of the information out that someone needs, you're always going to be missing something like Jenny and I recorded a show the other day that just went off. And it was we did a we did. ketones. Thank you, Jesus, I am the worst person to tell you what's going on in this podcast. But I'm just I'm so far like ahead of where you guys are sometimes, like, my head's not there. But it was Isabel, she came through the through the community. And she's does such a great job of seeing what people like where people's gaps are, and coming to me and saying You really should do an episode on like this topic. And she's, I mean, as far as I can tell, she hasn't been wrong yet. So she came to me and she said, look, there's plenty of information about illness, ketones, like spread through the protests, and a couple of other places. She's like, but put it all in one place. And let's make it part of the bowl beginning series. And when she said that I was like, but I already finished the bowl beginning series. And at the end of it, I told everybody, that's the end of the bowl beginning series, and she goes, you're gonna have to tell them that you were wrong. And I was like, alright, so but just that kind of stuff is super valuable to like, like targeted stuff, where you just like, I'll listen for 45 minutes and understand how to clear my ketones out when it's over. Yeah, I still think that picking stuff out of conversations is a big part of why I tried to have so many of them. And why I hope that this is entertaining on some level, because it's diabetes. And if you just came on and droned on about diabetes, I can't imagine anybody would listen to it, you know, like, even if it was rock, rock solid information. How do you find just as interesting? You're still learning about medicine, and you're still formulating your ideas about how to talk to people about it? How do you find the pro tips and those other targeted series? Where are they valuable for you? Did you get anything out of it even about how I talked to people about their medical stuff,

Karen 1:02:20
I think it's things that I probably maybe have gotten out of it. I mean, it's just always being open minded to your like hearing what people say and knowing that you know, when people come in, and they may be pushing back on you trying to explore where that comes from, knowing that everyone kind of has like a story behind like, you know, like where they're at with their health or something like that, in terms of like medical knowledge or like diabetes, because it's a very type one focus, I mostly deal with type twos that are on oral or like once weekly injectable medications. I wouldn't say from like that standpoint, it's necessarily been helpful. But I think definitely, from the perspective of just like understanding people, and where they're coming from, it's definitely helpful to hear like people's stories and the experiences that they have, that have colored their experience with the medical system, to having a better understanding that people come from different places. And most of the time, there's some level of like fear and misunderstanding and just wanting to hear where people are coming from so that I can understand them. And maybe we can find a place where we can meet in the middle ground, where like there are things that are definitely medically indicated. And I will let you know what those things are, but also noticing that things are working in progress, and you can ultimately get to the same place with time.

Scott Benner 1:03:46
I think we it's funny, you're not asking, but if you asked me, Scott, you've spoken to 800 people have a medical condition, maybe more. And what do you think I would tell you not to try really hard not to assume you know, where how somebody got to where they are, what they know, or what they are, what what their expectations are, and you shouldn't ever apply medical expectations to them because they might have different expectations for themselves. Yeah. And that I think that will end up being really helpful for you because I've done a handful of interviews with type twos, and over whelming Lee the story is I got type two diabetes, somebody pushed a protocol on me. I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't know why I was doing what I was doing what was supposed to be happening, what I was looking for. I didn't even know what outcomes were. Were hopeful what how outcomes were acceptable, like, you know, what should I be shooting for? And then the doctor just looks at me and if my agency falls into some sort of a range, they go, everything's fine. And if it doesn't, they say, you know, try hard or, or lose weight or exercise or something that's, that's vague, and maybe doesn't take into account what, what their situation is like, it's easy to say to people, like just lose weight, or just do this or whatever the thing you're gonna say to them is, but it might not be easy to them. And it's very difficult for those people to speak up in that moment. Yeah. Like, that's kind of what I've learned talking to people.

Karen 1:05:24
Yeah, I think what's hard, too, is our appointments are, are they're just so short now. So it's like, almost like, for me, like, there's so many things that go into the management of chronic health conditions. It's not just, you know, it's like, it's lifestyle in medicine, and all these other things, that, you know, it could take a whole 1530 minutes appointment just to talk about lifestyle. And there are certain, like, more like lifestyle medicine doctors who can, who may be able to focus a little bit more on that. But I think we all would love to have more of that time, especially in like primary care, to talk to patients about, you know, those types of things in their lives, that, you know, what, what is impeding them from being able to achieve the outcomes that they want. But it's so you know, we only have so much time, and I think that that's a, that's something we all kind of deal with a lot as health care providers is that if you can only start on medication at something, but sometimes the things that, you know, the best way to deal with anything is to put the two together.

Scott Benner 1:06:26
I think, too, that I understand that the visits are short. But I think that that gets met sometimes by physicians with like, look, I have X number of minutes of information to to deliver, but I have this many minutes to do it in, there's not enough time. So it's not going to work out. But But think about that, think about it like this, like you listen to the podcast, right? Like I Why? Why do people listen to this and then do well with their diabetes? It's because I figured out and made the assumption that that and then tried it with my daughter and then came forward and said, Okay, look, these are the T shirts, slogans you need to know, to manage your diabetes is there more to it definitely is. But you need to Pre-Bolus you have to understand the impacts of your food glycemic index and load, you have to be fluid, you have to Bolus for fat and protein. You shouldn't look at a high blood sugar and just go I hope this comes down. You know, like, you know, I'd rather stop a lower falling blood sugar then fight with a high win, like these sorts of like, I hate to say it, but their T shirts slogans that in the moment are like, oh, yeah, I my blood sugar's 300. I should want this to be down. And or like, Well, how do I make that decision? Well, you have to learn to trust that what you know is going to happen is gonna happen, like, I went to great lengths to take something really complicated and make it simple enough that you can get a good launch into it. And then you start seeing some progress and some success. And it makes you want to learn more about it. And it makes you want to fine tune it more. And I think I can't I'm I'm betting on you. I think there's a way to get people into that room in that limited amount of time. And you are smart enough to figure out what your T shirt slogan should be to get them moving in the right direction. I'm putting I'm hanging this on you. You said people didn't pressure you about some people. I'm pressuring you. I want this. You're my you're my emissary in this field. And I get going. Get out there. Does that make sense to you?

Karen 1:08:31
Yeah. And it makes me wonder how can we do the same for other things that people deal with? How and and I think there's something unique with this might with this podcast kind of maybe reminds me of are we do have these like things called like group medical visits, where it's like a group of people with the same thing who come together. And it's like a normal doctor's office done with a group. So I wonder if there's something unique to the fact that this is almost like a group experience of people who have, they have the same thing as you talking about what they do. And people just I think as humans we are, you know, we're connected. Individuals, we live in societies, and maybe there's just something uniquely different about being in a group and our ability to receive and accept information, as opposed to when you're singing in a doctor's office, which is a can often be a power relationship where you are maybe feeling like the prey and the Predator, you know, or like,

Scott Benner 1:09:38
Mom and Dad, there's a hierarchy and you're at the bottom of

Karen 1:09:41
it. There's a hierarchy. Yeah. And I wonder if there's just some thing uniquely different about being in a community of people who deal with what you deal with and our ability to receive and understand and implement information pitch

Scott Benner 1:09:57
that idea to a hospital a few years ago, I It's like, instead of bringing everybody in for 20 minutes, once you bring everybody in for two hours and put 20 people in the room, I said, Well, HIPAA violations and like they argued with me, I was like, it's a great idea. It sounds like you guys might be doing something like that, which is smart. I do think the last piece of it, which is privacy, like you want to have a group, you want to have a group experience, but you went private that a lot of people want privacy through. I think that's why the podcast is helpful. Because you feel like you're talking to everybody who's listening to everybody, but you are in your ears, and you're by yourself, and nobody knows what you're listening to. And, but I think you can do it. Karen, I'm so sorry, I have to jump are you I would I don't put you off, though, make sure that you told me everything you want to tell me.

Karen 1:10:40
I think we did. I do want to one person I want. I want to thank somebody, I do want to thank my husband for being so wonderful. I think he's a really big reason why I've been able to do all the things that I want to do. We don't get to live together. Because of his because he's in the Air Force and stationed a different place. But I think a lot of my calm and ability to be who I am today is because he's very much my personality type two. So whenever he hears those, I'm gonna make him listen to it. I just want to say thank you to him, because he could have just gotten up and left me when all this stuff happened. And he's always been my best friend. And he didn't. And he helped me a lot.

Scott Benner 1:11:23
I don't usually do personal shout out to the podcast, but that was touching. Very nice. Well, yeah. Way to be a good guy, man. And like, not be a deck and not be scared. And you know what I mean? A little bit, because I take your point, I asked people a lot actually. People have died dating age. I was like, Do you worry that this would would kind of push people away from you or scare them or whatever? It does happen. There are plenty of people who are like, Oh, you have one? Look over there. And then they're gone. And you turn back around, you know? And yeah, that's that's good stuff. Well, you obviously must really love you.

Karen 1:11:58
Yes. And I love him too. He's my best friend. And I think a lot of what he does for me and for a lot of people, you know, goes without being faint. And I just want to put that out there.

Scott Benner 1:12:11
Hey, listen, let's give him a little ego boost to super sexy. He flies a plane.

Karen 1:12:17
Yeah. He points to drones. Oh, wait, wait, he's not up in the thing. No, but he still wears a flight suit. So that's,

Scott Benner 1:12:26
I didn't know. Is he a pilot? Like, I know he's a pilot if he flies to Trump, and is he a pilot? Like you guys like, like pleasure flying together like us? Does he have a?

Karen 1:12:37
No, he doesn't have his private pilot's license. And I think kind of a little terrified to go up in the small planes are the ones that always

Scott Benner 1:12:45
well, there's the answer. She loves you but not that much. She and I get in a plane. Carrying this was really, really a treat. I appreciate you doing this. And I'm so sorry. I know. We moved the time around a bunch of times. And but you were really flexible. And I appreciate it.

Karen 1:13:00
Yeah, well, I just, this was really great. I've been I've been looking forward to this and thank you so much for letting me come on the podcast

Scott Benner 1:13:07
pleasure. Seriously, get out there and find a different way to help people. Okay, and then and then call me back. Especially then tell me what it is later. Like,

Karen 1:13:15
I will try I'll try and figure it try like

Scott Benner 1:13:18
Listen, buddy. I just need to build some people. I gotta buy a house leave me alone. Actually, I don't I gotta pay off my Yeah, like listen, after we pay the 125 i Oh, Wake Forest, then we'll talk about it. Wake Forest couldn't cut nevermind, they could have cut you a break. All right, hold on one second for me.

I of course want to thank Karen for coming on the show and sharing her story. And I'd also like to thank the contour next gen blood glucose meter for sponsoring this episode. You know who else sponsored the episode? Omni pod, go to Omni pod.com forward slash juice box to get started today. And don't forget contour next one.com forward slash juice box links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. Honestly, that the show was sponsored by these two companies, that's why the recording exists. That's how the editing got paid for. It's how the hosting for the show exists. It's It's why you get the podcast. It's why it's free. So I really appreciate it when you support the sponsors. If you have type two or pre diabetes, that type two diabetes Pro Tip series from the Juicebox Podcast is exactly what you're looking for. Do you have a friend or a family member who is struggling to understand their type two and how to manage it? This series is for them seven episodes to get you on track and up to speed episode 860 series intro 864 guilt and shame episode Oh 869 medical team 874 fuelling plan, Episode 880 diabetes technology episode 85 GLP ones metformin and insulin, and an episode 889 We talk about movement. This episode is with me and Jenny Smith. Of course, you know Jenny is a Certified diabetes Care and Education Specialist. She's a registered and licensed dietitian, and Jenny has had type one diabetes for over 30 years. Too many people don't understand their type two diabetes, and this series aims to fix that. Share it with a friend or get started today. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.