#1443 Tattletale Nurse

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1443 - “Tattletale Nurse”
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Chenille
Date: February 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features Chenille, a Utah mother of five—two of whose children have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Chenille shares her family’s profound journey with the onset of type 1 diabetes, dealing with the medical system, school nurses, emotional struggles, and building a supportive family structure. Throughout, host Scott Benner brings humor, empathy, and firsthand experience, framing the conversation with encouragement and solidarity for families managing T1D.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Family Background and Autoimmune History

• Chenille introduces herself, sharing details of her family’s diagnosis timeline and her background as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon).
  • Timestamps: 02:15–04:17
• There is a strong autoimmune presence in her extended family (Crohn’s, Crest syndrome, Graves disease); Chenille herself has hypothyroidism but hasn't been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.
  • Notable quote:
    “I take a thyroid pill. But there’s nothing, like, diagnosed or anything.” (04:17–04:23, Chenille)
    “Chanel, you want to go out on a limb and say it probably is, because I’m willing to do that.” (04:34–04:38, Scott)

2. Kate’s Diagnosis – Guided by Intuition and a Dream

• Chenille recounts an extraordinary story of dreaming about her daughter’s symptoms the night before any outward indications appeared.
  • Timestamps: 06:36–10:00
  • “In my dream, Kate had diabetes, and I wasn't doing anything about it... just a list of symptoms, I guess. A list of words going through my head all night.” (06:52–07:21, Chenille)
• The next day at Walmart, she notices her daughter displaying the very symptoms from her dream, and a pediatrician facilitates an urgent evaluation that leads to a swift diagnosis.
• Emotional challenges escalate when a nurse at the lab is harsh and unaccommodating during Kate’s blood draw.
  • “The lady grabs her arm, isn’t gentle with her at all... Kate starts crying and the lady just yells at the four-year-old: ‘You need to hold still and shut up and let me do this.’” (17:13–17:44, Chenille)

3. Initial Hospital Experience and Feeling Unprepared

• The hospital provided minimal education and support, focusing on basic carb counting and finger pricking every 2–3 hours.
  • Timestamps: 26:05–27:55
• Chenille describes profound feelings of being lost, overwhelmed, and the sense that the gravity of T1D didn’t register until much later.
  • “I didn’t feel any more prepared leaving the hospital than I did going in.” (27:33, Chenille)

4. Second Diagnosis and Family-Wide Testing

• Inspired by a TrialNet pamphlet, Chenille has all her children and herself/husband tested. Her son Ryan is diagnosed 85 days after Kate; another daughter has markers but has so far tested negative on glucose tolerance tests.
  • Timestamps: 28:46–32:39
• Now living with the anticipation of a third diagnosis, Chenille and her children are learning to mentally and logistically prepare.

5. Daily Management – Fatigue, Guilt, and Learning Advocacy

• Responsibilities fall heavily on Chenille, as her husband works; she describes relentless mental fatigue and a perpetual state of vigilance.
  • Timestamps: 34:24–35:38
  • “My brain never shuts off. I’m always thinking about it. I’m always checking it. Someone always needs something.” (35:10, Chenille)
• Initially, she cried daily; over time, she’s developed more resilience but still feels the constant emotional weight.

6. Support Systems: Family and Sibling Empowerment

• Chenille’s oldest daughter, Kiersley, steps up in remarkable ways—learning carb counting, giving insulin, and even changing insulin pump sites unsupervised at age 10.
  • “I said, you changed it? And she said, well, yeah, it fell off and I knew he needed insulin, so I changed it.” (39:19, Chenille)
• Family, though distant, tries to learn and support as much as possible.

7. Medical Professionals: Frustration with Doctors

• A major chunk of the episode is dedicated to Chenille’s exasperation with endocrinologists, especially regarding arbitrary A1C targets and dismissive, even gaslighting, behavior from providers.
  • Timestamps: 41:38–54:00
  • Notable confrontation:
    • “She came in and lectured me and told me it was unrealistic to expect A1Cs under 7… she wanted me to change what I was doing and aim to get their A1Cs up into the 7 to 8 range.”
    • “Why would I change what I’m doing if it’s working and if it’s lowering their A1C, why would I try to keep them in the 7?” (42:58–43:45, Chenille)
  • The provider then suggests a social worker visit, implying that Chenille’s striving for better outcomes is to her own detriment—a point that infuriates both her and Scott.
  • “If she hears something and she thinks that I’m in the other room… She’ll check in with them, she’ll be like: I think you should probably have four Skittles.” (40:28–40:45, Chenille about her oldest daughter)

8. Learning & Community Resources

• Chenille credits the podcast and community resources for proving more useful and dependable than her medical team, and highlights the power of parental intuition.
  • “I have learned so much from listening to the podcast … made such a difference for us and for my kids.” (54:56–55:10, Chenille)

9. Dreams and Intuition in Day-to-Day Management

• A second “intuitive” incident occurs when, after hearing her daughter’s voice in a dream saying she was low, Chenille checks and discovers an actual hypoglycemic incident.
  • Timestamps: 59:08–61:32
  • “I heard her voice saying, ‘Mommy, I’m low. I need a finger poke.’ … I went in, did a finger poke, and she was in the 30s.” (60:10–61:32, Chenille)
• Scott and Chenille discuss the potential subconscious processing that parents of T1D children develop.

10. School Nurses and Barriers to Student Independence

• Chenille narrates exasperating encounters with school nurses—nicknamed the "Tattletale Nurse"—who failed to give corrections, kept her child out of class unnecessarily, and “tattled” when her children managed their own care.
  • Timestamps: 69:21–75:54
  • “The nurse would just keep her in her office all day. She wouldn’t give her corrections … she kept her in there for six hours one day, just monitoring her number, but refusing to give her insulin.” (69:24–69:56, Chenille)
  • “Kate was caught eating a Skittle in class… and she felt like she needed a little bump. That’s what I’m trying to teach her to do… It was a total tattle. And I said, great, that’s what I want her to do.” (74:41–75:54, Chenille)
• The episode closes on the value of empowering kids to self-manage.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Mother’s Intuition:
  • “If a mom thinks something’s up, something usually is.” (15:22, Chenille’s pediatrician/Chenille relaying)
• On Parenting Fatigue:
  • “Someone’s always beeping... Someone needs a correction. Someone needs a juice box.” (34:35–34:50, Chenille)
• On Medical Gaslighting:
  • “I’m gonna send a social worker in to talk to you because I can tell that this is just too much for you.” (47:02–47:19, Doctor via Chenille)
• On Sibling Help:
  • “She had never done it, she’d only watched me… she said, I handled it, Mom, because I knew he needed that.” (39:05–39:46, Chenille about her oldest daughter)
• On School Staff Understanding:
  • “Kate was caught eating a Skittle in class… That’s what I want her to do... And another day, Ryan was caught giving himself insulin, and I was like, perfect. He noticed he needed a correction and he was doing it.” (75:28–75:54, Chenille)

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment Theme | Speaker(s) | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------| | Family introductions & background | Chenille, Scott | 02:15–05:53 | | Kate’s diagnosis & “the dream” | Chenille, Scott | 06:36–10:19 | | Hospital & education failings | Chenille, Scott | 26:05–27:55 | | Second diagnosis & anticipation | Chenille, Scott | 28:46–32:07 | | Coping and resilience | Chenille, Scott | 34:24–35:38 | | Sibling support/empowerment | Chenille, Scott | 36:25–40:45 | | Doctor conflict & A1C debate | Chenille, Scott | 41:38–54:00 | | Trusting parental intuition | Chenille, Scott | 59:08–61:32 | | School nurse (“Tattletale Nurse”) | Chenille, Scott | 69:21–75:54 |

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Tone and Style

The conversation is candid, warm, and often punctuated by Scott’s characteristic humor and empathy. Chenille’s resilience, humility, and openness about both her struggles and triumphs create a relatable and emotionally resonant narrative.

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Conclusion

This episode powerfully illustrates the unpredictability and challenges of parenting children with T1D. It highlights the importance of parental intuition, peer and sibling support, advocating for your child’s best interests in the medical and school systems, and the role of trusted community resources. Both the heartbreaks and small victories of family life with diabetes are laid bare, making this episode essential listening for caregivers, educators, or anyone hoping to better understand the lived realities of T1D families.

Transcript

[A]

Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box Podcast.

[B]

My name is Chanel. Two of our kids were diagnosed with type one in 2022. Our daughter Kate was diagnosed first when she was four and a half and she is seven now. Our son was diagnosed 85 days later, just two days after seventh birthday.

[A]

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[B]

Hi, my name is Chenille. I have been married for 15 years. My husband and I have five kids. Two of our kids were diagnosed with type one in 2022. Our daughter Kate was diagnosed first when she was four and a half and she is seven now. Our son was diagnosed 85 days later. Just just two days after his seventh birthday.

[A]

How old are your kids?

[B]

Top to bottom, My oldest is 11. So I have 11, nine, seven, five and three.

[A]

Wow. Will there be more?

[B]

I don't think so. No more planned.

[A]

I don't think so. How old are you?

[B]

I'm 36.

[A]

So listen, you're 36, you've got five kids. Two of them have type 1 diabetes. In. Earlier, you asked me if we talk about locations. Like, I should stay vague, right? Like, I could say, I live just in Utah. So. Mormon? You're Mormon?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I mean, if you weren't, I'd be like, wow, what a coincidence.

[B]

No, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

[A]

Thank you. And I never remember how to say it exactly right. Which is why I say Mormon, because I'm not sure. And we haven't had an opportunity to say this recently on the podcast, and that my friends are in Utah are letting me down, but I am huge. This podcast is huge in the church, is it not?

[B]

I have heard you say that. It is.

[A]

It's lovely. Okay. I would like to be bigger in a couple of other churches, too. Maybe ones that get outside of Utah would be nice. Okay. So do you have any autoimmune in your family, besides your children?

[B]

Yes, My father in law has Crohn's disease. My mom has Crest syndrome.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So that one's pretty rare. I think I've only heard it mentioned on here once or twice, but she has that, and then my sister has Graves disease.

[A]

Graves. Anything for you?

[B]

Nothing for me. I take a thyroid pill. But there's nothing, like, diagnosed or anything.

[A]

Well, you. But you have hypothyroidism.

[B]

I. I do.

[A]

But you haven't gotten tested to see if it's Hashimoto's.

[B]

Yeah, they've never told me that. They've never told me it. Is it just.

[A]

Chanel, you want to go out on a limb and say it probably is, because I'm willing to do that.

[B]

Yeah, it's possible.

[A]

Yeah. What is the other thing your mom has this here.

[B]

Crest. Crest syndrome.

[A]

I. So you're saying you've heard about that on here?

[B]

I've heard about it. I know once for sure. Like scleroderma.

[A]

Crest syndrome is a subtype of scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes hardening and tightening of the skin and connective tissue. People have talked about this on here. Okay. Crest stands for the five primary features of the condition. Calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmo. Motility. Oh, that sounds not good. What is sclerodactyly?

[B]

I'm not sure that that one has come up with my mom yet.

[A]

Tight, thickened skin on the fingers and toes and. Oh, my God. Telogen.

[B]

What the hell that's why we just call it Crest.

[A]

Cause I don't really. Small red spots in the skin caused by widening blood vessels. How about that?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's considered a milder form of systematic sclerosis. How about that? Oh, okay. I was gonna say cool. I don't know why. Sorry. I apologize. I was almost like. I think I just meant let's move on. Okay. So there's autoimmune happening.

[B]

There's one other thing. When we were about a year into my kids being diagnosed, we found out that my husband's uncle is type one. Nobody really knew that. To tell us when we were trying to figure out with our kids what was going on. There's him. And then my husband's grandma had a brother who died in his early 20s, and they think that he was probably type one as well.

[A]

Oh, there's a fair amount then.

[B]

So there's. There's lots of stuff going on.

[A]

Yeah. And on both sides, too, so.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

Things that we never knew until.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Until all this hit and so.

[A]

And your daughter was first. You said she was 4?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How did it present?

[B]

I kind of feel like a crazy person when I tell the story, but I did not know anything about diabetes. Like, nothing. My dad's type two, but.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I didn't even know there were different types. I didn't know anything.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So one night, everything was normal. I went to bed. My baby was 6 months old at the time, and I had a dream. And in my dream, Kate, that's my daughter Kate, had diabetes, and I wasn't doing anything about it in my dream. I just knew that she had it. And then it was just a list of symptoms, I guess. A list of words going through my head all night.

[A]

Really? That's insane. I had a dream a few nights ago that I had to pee, and when I woke up, I actually had to pee. But that. That's not the same. That's not the same thing. Wait, so you're having a dream that's telling you your kid has diabetes? This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Eversense365 and just as the name says, it lasts for a full year. Imagine for a second a CGM with just one sensor placement and one warm up period every year. Imagine a sensor that has exceptional accuracy over that year and is actually the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. What if I told you that this sensor had no risk of falling off or being knocked off? That may seem too good to Be true, but I'm not even done telling you about it yet. The Eversense 365 has essentially no compression lows. It features incredibly gentle adhesive for its transmitter. You can take the transmitter off when you don't want to wear your CGM and put it right back on without having to waste the sensor or go through another warmup period. The App works with iOS and Android, even Apple Watch. You can manage your diabetes instead of your CGM with the Eversense365. Learn more and get started today at eversensecgm.com juicebox1year1cgm yes, this is why I.

[B]

Feel like a crazy person when I tell the story. But it was just the things going through my head. Constant snacking, fatigue, thirsty, frequent urination, blurry vision. Like, just over and over, these things. And so my baby woke up in the night, and I went to feed him, and I was like, well, this is the weirdest dream I've ever had. I don't know what's happening. So while I'm feeding my baby, I'm just Googling some things, and I'm like, type 1, type 1 diabetes. I don't even know what that is. But that's interesting, because in my dream, Kate had diabetes, and so.

[A]

You're freaking me out. Chanel, hold on a second.

[B]

No, I know, I know.

[A]

Prior to falling asleep that night, were you noticing that she was sick? Did you see symptoms, anything like that?

[B]

No.

[A]

No.

[B]

And so, looking back, she was thirsty, but she had just gotten a new water bottle for Christmas that she was really excited about. So.

[A]

Yeah, I hear you. I'm just trying to decide, like, were you on the scent of this subconsciously? And then you went to sleep, and things, you know, and that you didn't even know you knew kind of popped into your consciousness or. But you don't think that's what happened?

[B]

I don't think so. It was just a regular day? Regular. Everything was fine. I woke up to feed my baby, Googled the things, saw the diabetes stuff, and then went back to bed. And the dream started again, just the same thing replaying through my head all night.

[A]

And you couldn't stop it, even when you were saying to yourself, lottery numbers, lottery numbers, go back to sleep. Nothing like that.

[B]

I wish that worked. It just kept going, and I didn't. It was just really weird.

[A]

No kidding. Okay, so you wake up, you think you're crazy, or you look into it.

[B]

I didn't think too much of it, but I kind of couldn't just shake the feeling, I told my husband, while he's getting ready to work, I had the weirdest dream. This is what happened. This is what it was. And he's like, well, good thing that was just a dream. And then he went off to work, and I was here with the kids, took my two oldest people to school, and then we went to Walmart, and I was printing pictures of the baby for grandma, you know, And I'm sitting there at the computer in Walmart waiting for the pictures to print. And I turn and I look over, and Kate was just sitting in the big part of the cart and kind of had her arm up on the edge and kind of leaning her head on the arm. She looked really pale. And I asked if she was okay.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And she said, not really. I'm hungry and I'm really thirsty and I need to potty. And then she took her glasses off and she said, are these dirty? Because everything looks blurry.

[A]

Wow. And you were like, this is just like the dream. Did you think of that?

[B]

Yeah, I just like, oh, crap. And I just stared at her for a minute.

[A]

And then you said, honey, what are the lottery numbers? Go slow. Go slow. Five. Then what?

[B]

Yeah, right. And so I was like, well, okay, let's go to the bathroom and get a drink. And I got this fruit snack in my purse. I can give you that, I guess. I mean, I didn't. Yeah, I didn't know anything. And so I'm trying to take care of all these things that she said she needed. And while she's in the bathroom, I'm really lucky I have a pediatrician who will text me. I just sent him a quick text. I didn't tell him I was a crazy mom who had a dream.

[A]

I was going to say, I bet you left that out.

[B]

Yeah. These are some things I've noticed. He texted, right? And I said, can this wait for her? Well, child check. Or is this something I need to make an appointment for? And he texted back and said, can you be here in 15 minutes? And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah.

[A]

If any halfway decent doctor would have heard, you know, frequent urination, the blurry vision really pushes it over the edge, too, I think.

[B]

Yeah. And I don't know if her glasses were just dirty. I mean, she was four. They were always dirty. But just that she said that, well.

[A]

In the dream where her glass is dirty or which did she have blurred her. Let's just go with that.

[B]

It was just words. It was just words going through my head, being serious.

[A]

Have you had any other meaningful Dreams that have resonated in real life.

[B]

I have had some cool things happen before, but nothing that was quite like this.

[A]

All right, we're going to, I'm going to ask you about that at the end of the episode. I want to hear what else has happened in your dreams.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I mean, does this put you in a bit of a panic? Can you be here in 15 minutes?

[B]

Yeah, totally. And so I was like, okay, I, I'm coming. So pack up these three little kids, drive straight to the doctor. We go in and he's like, this looks like diabetes. He said, we're going to test your urine, I'm going to do a finger poke and I'm going to send you over for a blood draw. And I was like, what?

[A]

Yeah. How old's your baby at that point?

[B]

Six months.

[A]

She have a six month old? You have your daughter and there's another one with you. Right. Only two kids were at school.

[B]

There's one in between there.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So four year old, two year old baby. And so I kind of was just sitting there and everything was just surreal, I guess, like slow motion. Did the stuff, did the urine test. There was sugar, showed sugar in it. Her finger poke was only 256, but like, I didn't even know what that meant when he told me what her number was. And so he was like, well, you're gonna go over across the parking lot, get this blood draw and then plan on going down to the children's hospital.

[A]

Wow. Hey, did you call your husband and go, I told you that our kid?

[B]

Because I was like, she has been using the bathroom a lot, but like, maybe she had some sort of infection. Like she hadn't been potty trained for that long.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

And so I was kind of, maybe I'll take her to the doctor and we'll find out. She's got like a what, UTI or something, I'm not sure. And so I was kind of texting him and he's like, well, hopefully that's not what it is. Just go get the blood draw, let's see. And so I was like, okay. And at that point I was, I told my doctor, I was like, this is too crazy. Like, this doesn't happen. And I, at that point I told him about my dream.

[A]

Did you really?

[B]

I did. And I was like, I dreamt about this last night and these were the symptoms and this is what happened. And he was just kind of staring at me like, what?

[A]

And at the end of the dream, you said you felt so bad for me that this visit was going to be free that just stare until he talks again.

[B]

And he was like, you know, this is why I always trust a mom's gut. If a mom has a gut feeling that something's off with one of her kids, it doesn't hurt me at all to run the test. So I can run the test, even if it's just to make the mom feel better. So if a mom thinks something's up, something usually is. And. And I was like, well, okay. So I just felt kind of weird. I dragged these three kids across the parking lot to go to this other building where we were supposed to get the blood drop. He had sent me with the paperwork to a paper to show him what they needed to do. And the lady over there was so mean. She, like, I don't even know. I am, I'm there with these three little kids. I'm kind of in shock and don't really know what's happening. It was just supposed to be a quick trip to Walmart, you know. And this lady grabs the paper, looks at it and then she's just so irritated and angry and, and she's like, there is no reason they should be having me do this to a child. And so at that point, Kate's scared. She doesn't know what's happening either. The lady grabs her arm, isn't gentle with her at all. Kate starts crying and the lady just yells at the four year old like, you need to hold still and shut up and let me do this.

[A]

And what was she doing? Just doing a blood draw?

[B]

Yeah, she's doing a blood draw. And I was just.

[A]

That's bizarre. That's weirder than your dream.

[B]

I was like, can you just give us a minute? She's scared, I'm scared. We don't know what's happening.

[A]

Yeah, you're kind of a bitch. So like, let's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe you're polite, you're like, give us a minute. What you mean is, maybe you should take a minute, like, and get away from everything for a second. Did you let her do it or did you ask for someone else?

[B]

And she was like, well, I have to get this done and it's not going to work if she can't hold still. And she had someone come in and Kate was sitting on my lap and this lady just grabbed her arm, pulled it straight and just jabbed a needle in there and got the blood draw. And I was so angry. Like, if that would have happened now, I would have handled it differently. But I was in shock and I was scared, and I didn't know what was going on.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

My whole world was being flipped upside down.

[A]

Are you different now, or do you just. Do you mean just now? Like, when you weren't in that situation?

[B]

No, I would have been more vocal about it now.

[A]

Yeah, because you've been through some stuff now, and you.

[B]

Because. Yeah, because I've been through some stuff, and I've had to advocate for my kids, and I've had to. To teach people things, and. Yeah, you know.

[A]

Yeah, I understand.

[B]

I've just been through the things now.

[A]

So. After Cruella gets the blood out, by the way, I'm gonna. It's the strangest thing. This is gonna seem like a left turn for a second, but you said I drug those three kids across the parking lot, and I swear to you, you almost. The next thing you heard from me was almost me crying, because it has popped in my head. But I remember taking my mom to her oncology appointment to see if this oncologist would do surgery on her. And then after he agreed, we had to go across the parking lot for blood work. And my mom was in a. In a wheelchair at that point because she was so sick. And I swear to you, it took me right back to that spot, and I was so. Like, I. I was so happy you were talking and filling the space because I. I couldn't think for a minute. So interesting how it. Like, those words, like, I drug them across the parking lot, and we were talking about a medical thing, and it took me, like, I felt like I was standing there for a second. I'm okay now, by the way, because the story about the horrible nurse, like, snapped me right out of it. But. But anyway, I just. I thought I would share that. Like, it just. It really took me to another place. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I apologize.

[B]

No, that's great.

[A]

Great. Great. Great that my mom had cancer or great that I started. No, I'm confusing you, Chanel. Okay, good.

[B]

Yeah, so we got the blood draw. They sent us back over to the pediatrician. He kind of just said, go. Go down to the children's hospital, pack a bag. I'll let him know you're coming. And so I didn't really know that I was supposed to go right then, so I kind of went back.

[A]

Did you go back to Walmart to pick up your pictures?

[B]

I.

[A]

God, if you did, don't tell me. I don't think it sounds good if that's what happened.

[B]

No, I didn't do that.

[A]

Okay. Okay.

[B]

But I went home and I was kind of trying to wrap my head around things. I was trying to Google some stuff. I was talking to my husband. My mom lives a couple hours away, so I was trying to get her to come up to take care of my other kids. I was just trying to get things figured out. So some time passes. The doctor calls me and he's like, hey, Chenille. I got a call from them. They told me, you're not there. Is everything okay? And I was like, well, I'm waiting for my mom to get here. We'll go after. My husband gets off work and I pick up the kids from school. And he's like, no, no, no, you need to go. You need to put Kate in the car and you need to get down there. Yeah, they're expecting you. And I was like, oh. Because somewhere in my head, he hadn't actually said, this is type 1 diabetes. He said, this looks like type 1.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so I guess I kind of thought we were going down there for more tests, and I didn't know that it was an urgent thing that we needed to. To get down there quicker.

[A]

Yeah. This moment. Do you think of this as the. The first big, like, life changing event that had happened in your family or had other stuff happened prior to this?

[B]

No, this was the biggest. This was the biggest thing.

[A]

The first big thing levels up your perspective pretty quickly.

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The hospital called me and they were like, are you coming? What's. What's going on? And I was like, well, I'm trying to figure out what to do with my baby. He was breastfeeding at the time, so can he come with me? And. No, no, no, absolutely not. They still had Covid rules. They said that both my husband and I could be there, but we had to check in together at the same time. And once we were there, we couldn't come and go. Once we were there, we were both there. If one of us left, we couldn't come back. And so I just trying to figure things out. But it's funny because when the pediatrician called me and asked like, why aren't you there? And I told him that I'm trying to figure stuff out and I'm go when my husband gets off. And he was like, have you packed a bag? And I was like, well, no, not yet. He's like, I need a bag. And he's like, you're there for the weekend. You're going to be there for at least a few days.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I was like, oh, I didn't realize. I didn't know.

[A]

Yeah. There's a gravity to this situation that just hadn't struck you, Right?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so he's like, grab a paper, write this down. And he, step by step, told me the things to pack. And I feel so stupid now. Looking back, looking back on that.

[A]

Generally speaking, are you a person who. Gosh, I don't mean this in a certain way, but I don't know, do you need leadership or generally? No, no, no, no.

[B]

Not usually.

[A]

This situation just kind of, like, really did just mix you up inside.

[B]

It was just weird, and everything was hitting and I didn't understand what was happening, and I don't know anything.

[A]

And you have three kids with you and you're by yourself, too.

[B]

I'm by myself. I'm thinking about how I'm gonna get my other kids from school. Like, what do I even say to the other kids? I don't know.

[A]

That started to go through your head right away?

[B]

Yeah, all the stuff. Yeah, all the things. It was just. I couldn't shut my mind off, and everything was just going through my head at a million miles an hour. And I just couldn't focus on packing that bag, you know?

[A]

Did you call people and speed them up after that, or did you just let the day unfold still?

[B]

I just let the day unfold. I sent a message to, like, my family group, like, this is happening with Kate. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I don't know what's going to happen. I'll let you know when I know more. So I send a message to my family. I send a message to my husband's family. It took my mom two hours to get up here to. We don't live super close.

[A]

I was going to say, is she far away or does she have your level of motivation in these situations?

[B]

No, she left immediately. They didn't know anything about diabetes either. But she knew that it was serious, that I was being sent to the children's hospital. She left right away. It just took time to drive here. I called my husband and I was like, well, they said, we need to go now. We can't wait till you get off work. And he was like, oh, okay. He came, we loaded Kate up in the car, we went down there, and everything from my dream became a real life nightmare. And we got thrown into it real quick.

[A]

Well, you know what her blood sugar was when she got to the hospital?

[B]

It was in the three hundreds. I don't know the exact number, but at that point, I still didn't even know what those numbers meant. Like, I understood that it was a little higher than usual, but I didn't know. And so they tell me the numbers, and I was like, oh, okay. And so then they're like, well, we're gonna get. Give her a little insulin to get her number down and see how she responds to it. And so they didn't really explain how it worked. They didn't really explain things. They said, you're gonna need to poke her finger every three hours. Every two to three hours, poke her finger, see what the number is. If it's high, you'll give her insulin. If it's been three hours since the last dose, if it's low, she needs a snack. That's 15 carbs.

[A]

That's what you were getting in the hospital?

[B]

That's what they told us. And then they gave us a little booklet to teach us how to count carbs. And, I mean, they didn't teach us how insulin works. They didn't teach us much else.

[A]

Right.

[B]

They didn't teach us much else. Yeah. And so I was just so focused on learning to count these carbs that I was like, well, this is what we need to do. And then I'm setting timers to remember to poke her finger at certain times, because they said every two to three hours.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so, like, I just didn't understand even the basics.

[A]

Yep. I've been through it. I. I know what you're talking about, and. But at the very least, can commiserate with you on that part. Like, it's just not a lot of. I mean, you're so confused and upset and sad and all the things you just did such a good job explaining. Those things are all happening at the same time. And then even if they were, I've come to believe that even if they were giving you good information, you probably wouldn't retain much of it to begin with.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, and they don't know anyway. Like, that whole, like, 15 carbs, 15 minutes test every three. That's the extent of what that nurse probably knows about it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so it's not even like they're not telling you. She just doesn't know. They say things like, we're gonna get you an endocrinologist, and they're gonna. But they're gonna teach you everything. And you're like, oh, okay.

[B]

Right.

[A]

How long do they let you stay in the hospital?

[B]

So we were in there from Friday evening. Ish. To Sunday afternoon.

[A]

That's a pretty good question.

[B]

So we were in there a couple days. I mean, I didn't Feel any more prepared leaving the hospital than I did going in. It was just all chaos and crazy and set the timer so I know when to poke her finger. Set the timer so I know when to give her her insulin. And it was all just timers.

[A]

We ate in the hospital cafeteria as we were leaving the hospital because I think we were afraid to experience a meal and not be at the hospital. So, like, we left her room, went downstairs, and went right into the cafeteria of the hospital to eat. It was just like, it seemed like the safest thing to do, you know? And then I remember getting out to the car and already being confused about something, and I was like, oh, my God. Like, this is the disaster, you know, like, we have no idea what we're doing. And I even look back on that now and I don't know how safe she was in that car. Like, I mean, what did we do for that food? I had no idea. You know, just. It was just the worst. So I want to kind of jump ahead and come back. So. To jump ahead. Once you're home, what makes you get your other kids tested?

[B]

We didn't do it right away. After a few weeks, I'm trying to figure out, like, all the supplies are driving me crazy. I gotta have a way to organize everything. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with the supplies. I'm trying to figure out what to do with this binder of, you know, information that they gave us that I don't know, really wasn't that helpful. And I saw a thing for Trial Net that kind of explained about if you have other kids, you can have them tested. And I was like, oh, well, this came out of nowhere. So chances are they're all fine, right? Chances are it's nothing. But it was kind of in the back of my head, like, we should probably. We should probably do this since we have five kids.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So when things settled down a few weeks later, I made the phone call to set that up.

[A]

Did you do that in a lab or did you have them send out the kids?

[B]

We went to a lab. We scheduled the appointment, took all five kids with us. My husband and I were also tested since we were Both under the 45, I think it is that they'll test up to.

[A]

Did anybody besides your son come back with auto antibodies?

[B]

Yes. So my son came back with two, and our other daughter, who was two at the time, came back with four. Our baby was too little to test, and my oldest daughter didn't have any at that time. Okay, we've Retested. We retested a couple months ago and found out that our oldest daughter now has one of the auto antibodies. So she has developed one in the last two years. And our baby, we. He's now three. So he was tested for the first time, and so far he doesn't have any.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. So. So 85 days after this happens to you, you get another diagnosis. But how long between the information coming from Childnet and the diagnosis happening? Like, what was the gap of time there?

[B]

So it took a few weeks, probably maybe about a month. We did the test. We figured that our daughter, since she had four, we figured that she would be next. And then they had us come back for the glucose tolerance test for the two kids who had the markers and my son Ryan, who had two of the markers. He failed that glucose tolerance test and was diagnosed then. He was diagnosed at that time, right then and there. They were like, yeah, we had to wait for the official paperwork to come back, but after they did the finger poke, the lady was kind of like, oh, we'll just have to see what the lab says. This doesn't look great, but. And so we didn't. We didn't really realize that they were telling us he had it. We were waiting for the official results, but then our daughter, who had the four, she passed her glucose tolerance test and has passed two since then. So it's kind of just the waiting game for her.

[A]

Yeah. My gosh. So you're gonna have three with type one at some point?

[B]

Yep. At least three of them will have type one.

[A]

How is that knowledge for you, knowing that it's coming? What does that feel like?

[B]

Oh, it is scary. It terrifies me. I hate it. But I think that it's actually kind of good for her because things she'll say, she's mentally preparing for the day that it happens. So she'll say things like, when I have diabetes, I'm going to be so brave when I have diabetes.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

Can my purse be pink when I have diabetes? And I'm like, oh, it breaks my heart to hear her say those things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But also, I think it's good that she knows that it's a real possibility for her.

[A]

Has she ever had her finger tested or anything like that?

[B]

Yes, we. We will do random, random finger pokes on all the kids. Really? And she has worn a Dexcom. We used the last 10 days of a transmitter one time to just see what hers was doing.

[A]

And she seems to handle it all pretty well. Yeah, that didn't sound Very comforting. Go ahead.

[B]

As well as she can. When Kate was thrown into it and she had that terrible blood draw experience, and then all of a sudden everyone's poking her and, you know, giving her insulin and testing her blood, and it was so terrible, we had to literally wrestle her down to even poke her finger. She was so scared and so confused and just didn't understand what was happening. And so I know that it won't be like that when it happens with my other daughter. With Carissa?

[A]

Yeah. Wow.

[B]

Because she's. She's got it in her head and she's seen the things happening.

[A]

How much of their care is you and how much is your husband? Do you guys split it or is it one of those things where, you know, you're like, I do it or he does it?

[B]

It's mostly me. He's done all the same classes and been to the appointments and he knows how to do all the things. But I stay home and he works, so it mostly falls on me.

[A]

How are you handling all that?

[B]

Not well. Most of the time. I don't think outside people are like, you're handling this so amazing. And I'm like, I am a mess. I am not.

[A]

What makes you feel like you're a mess?

[B]

My brain never shuts off. I'm always thinking about it. I'm always checking it. Someone always needs something. Like, someone's always beeping. Someone's. Someone needs a correction. Someone needs a juice box. Someone, you know.

[A]

Yeah, someone's always beeping. So people are telling you you're doing great. You don't feel like you're doing great.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Is it you being hard on yourself? Is it psychological? Do you feel. What's the level of the impact on you?

[B]

I handle it better now than I did in the beginning, for sure. Because, you know, I've learned a lot and I've had experiences, and so I know that I handle it better now than I was at first. I cried every day and I'm not usually. I'm not usually a crier, so I just go in my room and just cry. And then I kind of wipe my tears away and pretend like everything was okay. And then I'd go do it again.

[A]

Go do it again.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Sounds like the game. Do you have any support? I mean, you got five kids and you're. You're a stay at home mom, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. So do you have any support for you?

[B]

My family, they're far away, but they're supportive. They've tried to learn, they've tried to, like, they'll ask questions, see how things are going. I can leave them for a short time. My oldest daughter is actually pretty amazing. She, After Ryan was diagnosed, she was kind of just watching things and how everything unfolded. And she came to me one day and she was like, mommy, I want to learn how to help you take care of them.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

And I was like, well, this is a lot. This is a lot for a nine year old. She was only nine at the time, right? She started to learn and she, I would, I would draw, I would like count the carbs and drop the insulin and, you know, do all that.

[A]

Just let her feel like she's part of it.

[B]

But yeah, she, she would be there and she'd be part of it. And I taught her how to do the finger pokes. And Ryan was more open to having, having her help than, than Kate was. And so that first time I, I took a picture of it, it was so tender. She gave him a shot and like, I took a picture and it was just like these two little kids and they just looking at each other and she was trying to be brave and he was trying to be brave and.

[A]

You know, geez, that's kind of lovely. Isn't that nice?

[B]

And I was just sitting there watching, like, trying not to cry again, because crying is what I, what I would do. And since then, she, my oldest daughter, her name is Kiersley, and Kierce Lee has totally stepped up. I don't even hesitate to leave my kids with her in charge. Even as an 11 year old, she understands that. She can count carbs, she can give insulin. I found out by accident that she can change their pumps. We went on a family date that my parents had given us for Christmas, and I, we had to leave the kids. And so we left them with my older nephew, who's in his 20s, and his girlfriend. And we were like, at least I'll have an adult there in case they need it, right? And so they had pumps, they had Dexcoms. We could see their numbers, we could text them. So it was fine. But we were gone for, I don't know, five hours. And when we came back, my nephew's girlfriend was like, oh, by the way, Ryan's thing came off. And I was like, his thing came off? Like what came off? Because I could still see his number. His pump came off. So I was like, Ryan, let's get this, let's get this back on you. I pull out our bag. I'm like starting to get stuff set up to replace his pump site, and he's just looking at me like I'm crazy. And I was like, what came off? Do you need a new pump site? And curiously, my oldest was like, oh, Mom, I already changed that.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

And I was like, awesome. You did. Like, she had never done one, but I had. She had never done it. She'd only watched me. I said, you changed it? And she said, well, yeah, it fell off. And I knew that he needed insulin, so I changed it.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And I was like, oh, cool. Okay.

[A]

I'm gonna go back to what I was doing. Thanks.

[B]

Like, you got new insulin and you put it in the cartridge. And she's like, yeah, I got. I put it in the cartridge. I took a few bubbles out. I got the air out of the syringe. I put it back in. I filled the tubing. Like, she went through the whole thing. And she was like, I handled it, Mom. Cause I knew he needed that.

[A]

Geez.

[B]

And I was like, this girl is, like, awesome.

[A]

Let's also get her in charge of other stuff, because it sounds like she can handle more.

[B]

Oh, she. She's so great.

[A]

She might not be doing enough around the house. This kid's got a ceiling, you know, he's pretty high. That's awesome. Wow. Isn't that great? How old was she again?

[B]

So she was 10 at that time. By the time they.

[A]

Oh, that's awesome.

[B]

By the time that happened.

[A]

But there's a heartwarming part of your.

[B]

Story, so, yeah, I was like, she's got this. She knows how to help me.

[A]

Oh, it's so nice. But she doesn't feel a lot of pressure about it. She just. She knows how to jump in if she needs to. Like, you don't think she's running around thinking, like, this is her job, right?

[B]

No, I don't think that. But if she hears something and she thinks that I'm, like, in the other room. I've heard her. Like, I heard that beep. What was the number? And she'll check in with them, and she'll be like, I think you should probably have four Skittles.

[A]

What if you said to her, the dishes need to be done? Would she be like, oh, no, she would do that. She would do that. Look at that.

[B]

Yeah, she. She does jobs around the house.

[A]

My kids are good all the time.

[B]

My kids are getting such a good helper.

[A]

Very easy here is what I'm realizing. Very easy. My gosh. When you asked to come on the podcast, did you have a reason, like. Or were you just, like, I want to chat? Or, like, was There something that you really wanted to make sure you got out?

[B]

I don't really know. Why. I just saw a post on your Facebook page, and you had said something like, see if you can catch my interest. And I was like, just curious. Wonder if I could catch his interest. So I wrote a couple sentences, and you sent me the link to sign up.

[A]

So I was like, oh, I did all right. I just. I just wanted to make sure, like. But is there. I don't want to, like, look. Yeah, I mean, we're not done. But I want to leave time here because you have notes. Like, you sent a little note here.

[B]

I don't even remember what I put in that. I'm not gonna lie.

[A]

You said there was some frustration you had with the doctor telling you to aim for an A1C over seven. I was wondering if you'd tell me more about that.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Also, there's no chance you're from Canada, right? Originally?

[B]

No. Nope.

[A]

Because you owe yacht a lot. Did you know that?

[B]

I didn't know that.

[A]

Not from Minnesota. Haven't spent time in Wisconsin, nothing like that?

[B]

Nope. Just Utah. My whole life.

[A]

No kidding. I've enjoyed your accent the whole time. So I'm sorry, go ahead, tell me. What?

[B]

I didn't even know I had an accent.

[A]

Well, everyone does, and no one hears it. I sound like a trash person from what I understand from the people who write in. So go ahead, please, about the. This 781C.

[B]

Okay. So we were, I don't know, a few appointments in to both kids being diagnosed. We usually try to schedule them so they can go at the same time because it's just easier for me. So they took both kids A1Cs and we had them. They were at, like, 6.1 and 6.2, and Kate had been up in the eight, and then, like, gradually come down a little bit, but not. Not really. And so finally, I felt like I was doing something right because, you know, they're in the low sixes now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I'm improving on something. And the lady came in, and I was feeling pretty good, and she came in and lectured me and told me that it was unrealistic to expect a 1Cs under 7 and that I needed to come to terms with that. And she wanted me to change what I was doing and aim to get their A1Cs up into the 7 to 8 range.

[A]

She wanted it to go up two points.

[B]

Yeah. Like, somewhere in the sevens high, sevens close to eight. Try to keep it under eight. And I was like, why would I Do that. That makes no sense to me. Why would I change what I'm doing if it's working and if it's lowering their A1C, why would I try to keep them in the 7?

[A]

Did you ask the question?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What was the answer?

[B]

She just told me that it wasn't realistic and I was going to kill myself trying to keep them that low, that I couldn't maintain it. Like it was going to be too stressful for me at that time.

[A]

Did you feel like it was too much for you?

[B]

No, I felt less stressed knowing that they were coming down, knowing that I was doing something better than before.

[A]

How do you handle that then when, when it's said to you?

[B]

I said like, what are you talking about? Like this is working. And she's like, well, you must be having lots of lows. And I said, you can see their Dexcom charts show me where the significant lows are. Like, why would I aim to keep it higher? Why wouldn't I try to keep their numbers as close to normal range as I could? And her answer was that long term complications don't start for at least 30 years.

[A]

Did you tell her your kid was 4?

[B]

And I was like, so you're telling me that I'm going to have my 35 year old daughter coming to me with these complications, like I can't see, I have neuropathy, I, you know, kidney stuff. Like I don't want my kids in their 30s coming to me saying, why didn't you do more for us when we were younger? Because now we're having to deal with this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so I said thinking about that for their future is more stressful to me than trying to keep their numbers in range now.

[A]

Sure. And what brilliant thing did they say to that?

[B]

And they were like, well, it's really, the long term complications are unknown and they're not likely. That's not going to happen with your kids because it would have to be really high numbers for a really long time. And so that won't happen. And I was like, but you don't know that that won't happen. You're here now you're telling me this crap that like, I don't think that's true. You don't know that they're not going to have complications. And I said, you're not going to be here in their 30s when this stuff starts popping up. If I don't get a hold of.

[A]

This right now also, I'm doing a good job. Why are you not being supportive of me? I'm doing it like you're telling me it's impossible. But by the way, it's every cliche that's going to burn you out. You must be having a lot of lows. You're not having a lot of lows. Oh, you don't feel burned out? Okay, well, you know what? It's going to take 30 years for there to be any problems anyway. Oh, you don't like that answer? Well, what about this answer? Like, at what point would the person not say, hey, let me see. I wonder how you're accomplishing this. Why don't you tell me what you're doing? Maybe I'm thinking incorrectly. No, just hammer away at all the. All the standards. How old was this doctor that I'm assuming that you fired and don't go to anymore?

[B]

We have switched doctors a couple times. I still don't have one that I'm happy with. I still don't feel like they help me with pump settings or anything. And I don't feel confident completely. I just try things.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But I don't feel like the doctors help me. And at that point when I said that, she was like, oh, well, I can see you're really stressed about this. And I was, oh. And oh. And I was like, wait, wait a minute. So I'm just getting angry with her.

[A]

Yeah, because you just made me mad. Go ahead, Keith. I'm sorry.

[B]

And so I had said these things, like, show me the low. Show me this. Like, why would I do that? And she's like, I'm gonna send a social worker in to talk to you because I can tell that this is just too much for you.

[A]

Oh, you. Can I curse in the church? Her. You guys don't curse, right?

[B]

We don't.

[A]

Okay. Can I do it for you? Would you mind? Would it bother you? If it'll bother you, I won't do it. But if you want, I can speak for you in this moment and let it be cathartic for you because what that. All right, I won't do it. But my. What in the hell is she thinking?

[B]

Right? And so I was just angry and I was like, I don't need to talk to a social worker. I need a doctor who will help me and who cares about the well being of my kids. Like, I don't need to talk to anyone about this. I need you to help me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And she was like, well, just talk to her for a minute and we'll see how you're feeling after that. And I was just so mad. And I don't want to talk to you. I don't. I'm not talking to them. Like, just help me.

[A]

Was this a. Can I just have the age of the person?

[B]

Probably 40s.

[A]

Not like a married person.

[B]

Married?

[A]

Yeah. Do you think they're married?

[B]

I. I have no idea.

[A]

Man or a woman?

[B]

It was a woman.

[A]

Really? I don't understand. If I spoke to my wife like that, she'd kick me out of the house, first of all. So I assumed a married woman would never talk to anybody like that. That was my point. Oh, my God. I. I would never. I gotta tell you something. I'm not a huge fan of this word because I think it's overused, but I think she was gaslighting you. Like, when you're telling her how you feel and she's like, that's not how you feel.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And I'll send in a social worker now to let you know how upset you are and why you're upset. You're like, I'm not upset. I'm disappointed in your lack of direction. Oh. And then she goes, no, you are. Let me send in another professional to let you know how upset you are.

[B]

It totally felt that way. And I was just so frustrated because I went from being happy. I'm proud of myself for doing something right. To just being so angry and frustrated. And I didn't even want to talk to any of them. Like, obviously, they don't care about helping my kids with this.

[A]

Or you.

[B]

Yeah. Or me. Like, they don't care about them. They're just trying to scoot me through and, you know, and make a little.

[A]

More money sending in another doctor they can bill you for, too.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Oh, there's another spot I would have cursed right there, Chanel, if you would have let me. Whoa. Well, how about that? Boy, that's. That's really interesting. And frustrating and not surprising at the same time.

[B]

That was the day where I was like, they're clearly not going to help me. I've got to figure this out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I've got to help my kids the best I can. And I can't depend on the medical professionals to be there for us.

[A]

At least not that lady. Geez.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wow. Wow. That's really. I don't know. You know, after hearing these stories so many times, I don't know why I'm shocked, but there's something about that specific back and forth that I found particularly nauseating.

[B]

Me, too.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. No kidding. And look at you sticking up for yourself. That was. That was well done, too. Did you look back on that after and be like, wow, I did not take any crap from her at all.

[B]

Not really. I just didn't even know. I didn't know what to say. And so I just said exactly what I was thinking. Why?

[A]

Yeah, if you. If you weren't in the church, you would have cursed at her for sure. Because I was going to curse at her, I swear to you. Like, I don't know why. Nobody ever says stuff like that to me. I'd be thrilled to hear about that. I would have enjoyed that argument very, very well. We sent the kid out of the room first, said, hey, go outside for a second. And then I would have said, are you taking this job seriously at all? Like, what is wrong with you? I. I'm in here with a major accomplishment. I'm looking for a little more help. You're telling me I'm doing it wrong? I'm clearly doing it. And. And, oh, my God. I. I don't. I can't go back. You've made me very upset. Not you personally, the story.

[B]

I'm. I'm sorry.

[A]

No, no, no, no. Don't. Please don't apologize. How long ago was this?

[B]

A little over a year ago.

[A]

20, 23. Look how far we've come, everyone. Look how far we've come. You know, it's funny, may I say, I made that Cold Wind series.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I got some notes from people. They were like, you know, is shining a bad light on doctors. You know. You know, people need to be able to trust their doctors, and, you know, you shouldn't be doing that. One person told me it was like, it's dangerous that you're making this series. I'm like, I'm letting people come on and tell me about their work environment. And you think that's the dangerous part? Talking about it's the dangerous part. Not that they're doing it, but talking about it's the dangerous part. And I didn't even know how to respond to that email. And so if that person's listening, that's why you didn't hear back from me, because I thought you were an idiot. And I just didn't know how to respond back. But I did get that sentiment a few times, like, you shouldn't shine. Like, one person wrote me and said, in this episode, the doctors came off very poorly in that episode. And I think it's dangerous for people to hear that. What? I don't understand how things like this. I don't understand how people's minds work. You know what I mean? These People are out there. Some of them are doing a great job. I know plenty of great doctors. I know of a thousand endos you could have gone to where you wouldn't have had that experience. But the truth is you did have that experience. And that person is meeting people every day and using that level of ineptitude to practice their craft. And in a world where I just interviewed a woman a couple days ago who, by the way, has someone else's kidney in her now, and then goes back and tells a story about how she was mistreated by doctors as a child, and you think, well, I hope they hear that story. I hope they hear that the way you treat a kid when she's 10, it could be the beginning of a long, winding, sad, dark path that ends with her, with her sister's kidney. You know what I mean? And I'm not being ham fisted about it. Like the story it relates. She got bad advice from doctors, then they didn't help her, then they treated her poorly. She spiraled and this is where she ended up. And you could that same thing. Can you imagine if you would have just said, oh, a seven or eight's okay, okay, cool. And then you just left. And then that's what you started doing instead. And then 30 years from now, one of those things that you're worried about actually does happen to one of your children. Like, it's too late now. Like, it's very upsetting. Seriously, I don't know.

[B]

Well, and the first few months, the first couple appointments, I did do that. I just went with what the doctor said and didn't question it.

[A]

But then on your own, you brought it down and then they came after you. Yeah, yeah. There's a post like this in the Facebook group at least a couple of times a week.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

People are just like, I finally found my success. I know what I'm doing. Look at this charts. Look at these graphs. Oh, by the way, today I got yelled at by my doctor.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah, good for them. Everybody should be real proud anyway. And then, you know, who's the bad guy in all this, by the way? When it's over, it's me. I'm the bad guy for pointing it out. Like, you know, like, you don't want. You don't want people to speak ill of you. Do a decent job. Like, not everyone's not looking for perfection, but you gotta be able to hit the big points. You know what I mean?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

I mean, I have learned so much from listening to the podcast and from the different series. And I appreciate it so much. This thank you made such a difference for us and for my kids.

[A]

Thank you so much.

[B]

And I. I will listen to it in the car or like doing pickups or while I'm cleaning stuff. And it's really interesting to see that, to see my kids pick up on things they hear when I don't even think they're listening.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Uh huh.

[A]

And bad stuff I say, or the good stuff.

[B]

Mostly the good stuff.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But they'll. I'll kind of look at him like, where did you learn that? And they're like, well, we heard it on the podcast. And I was like, oh, well, there you go.

[A]

That's awesome. Wow. I should pay closer attention to what I'm saying. No, I'm just kidding. I pay pretty close attention to what I'm saying. Oh, that's lovely. I know there are people whose kids hear it and I try not to think about it while I'm making it because I think it would turn into a Mr. Rogers podcast and I think most people would be upset. But you know, I like that you've got your, you know, you can make your own decisions about what your kids hear. I'm assuming they didn't listen to like the, like some of the After Dark ones and stuff like that.

[B]

Well, that's actually funny because pretty early on, a stranger off Facebook who lives in my area gave me something. I don't remember what she was giving away, but something I thought I needed. I went to her house, picked it up, we talked for a little bit, and she gave me a little note card that said juice box podcasts and like Pro Tip series, you know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it was just kind of sticking there in my binder. And so. And then I heard about other places. I read a little bit about it online and I wasn't. I never listened to podcasts. I didn't even know how to listen to podcasts. And so I was like, well, maybe I'll give this a shot. And I just opened it and clicked one and it happened to be an After Dark one. And I didn't know.

[A]

Sorry. You know, that's one of the things I worry. I do have all these conversations with people sometimes, like in my private life, and they'll be like, can you imagine if this is the first episode somebody heard?

[B]

It was definitely the first one.

[A]

I always say, like, yeah, I wish there was a way around that. But I mean, it is what it is. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I can't, like, hopefully you heard it and you were like, oh, maybe I'll just switch to a different episode and try again. But I thought about that. I do wish there was like, there's part of me that wishes there was a way to segment it up differently in. But podcast players just don't let you do stuff like that. So.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Which one? Do you remember what you heard? Like what the story?

[B]

I don't even remember what it was. But right away I was like, oh, I can't play this with the kids around. I'm going to have to wait. I don't know. And so I kind of didn't go back for a little bit. But then I was feeling so desperate and I needed help and none of the doctors were helping me and I was like, I'm going to go back to that podcast and see if I can learn stuff. And at that point I was like, oh, okay.

[A]

They're not all like that one. Yeah.

[B]

I just clicked on one that happened to be one I shouldn't listen to with the kids.

[A]

Right. Have you ever heard Butthole Adjacent?

[B]

I have heard that one. I actually, I went through, listened to pro tips, listen to Defining Diabetes, then I listened to like Runs in the Family, so I knocked.

[A]

Stuff that really pertains to what you're going through.

[B]

Uh huh. So I knocked a whole bunch of those out and then I started listening at the beginning. Did you really listen to like a few hundred episodes? And then I was like, well, I should listen to the more recent ones. So it's like a chunk in the middle. There's like 500 or so that I haven't gotten to.

[A]

You'll get to them. Take your time.

[B]

I'm working on it.

[A]

You're raising five, working through them. You have, you have no time and plenty of time at the same time. So.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So listen, what about other dreams you've had? What are, what are the other dreams you've had that have sort of come true in, in the real world?

[B]

Well, pertaining to the diabetes thing.

[A]

Well, that. Yeah, we know that one. But has there been anything else?

[B]

There was one more that was kind of, well, diabetes related. We didn't have a Dexcom for what, just over a month before Kate was able to get on the Dexcom. So we were doing it the old school way, finger poking, all that. One of the first nights that she had a Dexcom, we were just using the receiver. She didn't have a phone yet. We couldn't just look at our phone in the night and, and see where she was at. I heard like clear as bells. I'm asleep in the middle of the night, and I hear her voice saying, mommy, I'm low. I need a finger poke. And she said it twice. I sat up, I turned on my light on my phone, and she was not there. She was not in my room. So I'm like, what in the world? So I, like, woke up my husband. Russell, did you hear Kate? Like, is she over there? And he's like, she's not here. You're crazy. You didn't hear anything.

[A]

Yeah. Be like, buddy, do you not remember the dream about the diabetes? How could you dismiss me like this?

[B]

And so I was like, well, she just told me that she's low. And he kind of, like, rolled over and pulled the blanket up. And so I got up and went into her room and go look at the Dexcom receiver, and it says, signal loss. And we had never seen that message yet. We were pretty new to Dexcom, right? So I grabbed the bag, and I was like, well, I'll just do a finger poke so I can see. My husband comes in the doorway totally confused, and he's like, what are you doing? And I was like, well, Kate told me she was low. She told me she needed a finger poke. And he's kind of, like, asleep and tired and, you know, half asleep, and he's annoyed, and he's like, no, she didn't. Chenille. She's been sleeping here the whole time. She hasn't gotten up. She hasn't moved. You're crazy. Like, what?

[A]

He's like, I picked the wrong lady. I'm stuck now. I got five kids with her. But she's. She had a lot of crazy stuff. No, no, no.

[B]

I'm sure that thought has crossed his head.

[A]

Y.

[B]

I went ahead and poked her finger, and she was in the 30s.

[A]

Look at you.

[B]

She was low. And with things like that, I'm. I'm really trying to learn to trust myself more. If I have one of those thoughts or one of my feelings. Maybe I'm not a crazy person.

[A]

Maybe I want you sleeping with those little lottery cards and a golf pencil. I. Seriously. I want you sleeping with a golf pencil and those lottery cards. You wake up with any number, numbers in your head, I want you jotting them right down. You go right down to the. To the 711 or whatever they got out there in Utah. And I want you buying tickets. That's so cr. I. I've had deja vu once. That was so incredibly accurate, it freaks me out. Like, 50 years, like, 40 years later. But we were in the backyard of, like, a person my dad worked with. We had never been to their home before, and it was like this big party, and all the kids were outside. We were all sitting around these chairs, and one kid was sitting up on the back of the chair. You know what I mean? Like, he had his feet on where your butt goes, and his ass was up on the butt on the back of the chair. And, you know, there's all these people around that I don't really know. You're trying to be social a little bit. And there's one kid who has snuck a beer outside, and he's got it, and he's talking to somebody. And in my mind, I watched the kid sitting on the chair fall off the chair. The beer got knocked over, everything got tussled around, people moved in a certain way. And a split second later, it all happened. Oh, man, it was just the strangest thing that I've ever experienced in my life. So I have no idea. I'm sure there's an explanation for it. Like, it happened and I froze, maybe, and then it felt like I saw it. I have no idea what the actual explanation is, but that. That stuck with me. I don't remember much about being a kid, but that whole thing, that scenario just sticks in my mind. Like, if you gave me the furniture right now, I could set it up and put all the people in the space. It's. It's stuck to me so much.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Anyway, that's very cool. Anything else? No lottery numbers? Nothing? Like, where we can make a couple bucks? Nothing.

[B]

You know, I wish. I wish I had the lottery numbers. It would really, really come in handy.

[A]

I was gonna say five kids. I bet you do wish that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Geez, you have five children. So many kids. It doesn't seem like a lot to you? Or does it just seem like what people do?

[B]

I came from a family with six kids. My. My husband came from a family with five. So we always figured, you know, we'll have four or five kids, we'll see how it goes.

[A]

And your. Your husband owns an oil field? What is he. What kind of work does he do?

[B]

He's a civil engineer.

[A]

That does not sound like a job that makes a ton of money.

[B]

Not a ton of money. You're right. Things. Things are a little bit crazy over here. But. But, like, we want all of them. We love them.

[A]

Oh, no, I wouldn't say otherwise. No, I'm just. I'm trying to figure out how they're going to. Do you already talk in their ear? You're like, you don't need college.

[B]

Well, my oldest actually wants to be an endocrinologist, so.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

Well, tell her there's that.

[A]

What about something in a trade? Huh? Has she thought about plumbing? That's a really good job. Makes a ton of money, and you don't have to go to college for it. Let's see what we can get her involved in.

[B]

Maybe we can, like, whisper to them in their sleep or something. Get there.

[A]

I both of my kids, I was like, you guys don't want to do a trade? Like, I think that'd be awesome. You know what I mean? Like, I'll split what college costs with you. I offered my son a car to stay home from college. I was like, this will be cheaper for us if I just purchase you a vehicle and you go to this school. Like, more local school. I want to play baseball in school. I was like, oh, I bet you do.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Well, I think they know that they're going to have to help out with that.

[A]

Well, the one's definitely going to help. The one girl's awesome. She'll probably get a job and start paying for college herself.

[B]

She's already mowing lawns and babysitting for people, so she's got a savings account.

[A]

I knew I wasn't kidding. That kid's got her own money, right?

[B]

She does.

[A]

How old is she now?

[B]

She's 11.

[A]

I'll be damn. Yeah, she's gonna own something.

[B]

Yeah, she's pretty proud. She's not a spender. She saves her money. The. She mows lawns for a neighbor. He hired her, and he's hired her for just some odd jobs around his yard.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

And he, like, joked around with her and like, are you gonna go buy a doll? You're gonna. And she did not pick.

[A]

I started a 401k, but thank you.

[B]

She did not pick up on his sarcasm at all. And she's like, no, I'm going to put it in my credit union account. And he just kind of looked at her and she's like, college is expensive.

[A]

I got a money market paying 5% right now, buddy. Okay?

[B]

And actually, she does. And she was like, I'm going to put it in my money market account and earn some interest on this.

[A]

Where does she learn this?

[B]

I set up a little account for all the kids. They'll get money, and we'll take their piggy banks in and I'll let them deposit it and stuff.

[A]

Awesome.

[B]

But she has really taken it seriously.

[A]

I was going to say, can you put her on learning Dropbox for me and have her come give me a 15 minute tutorial because I'm having trouble setting. I feel like she could get it worked out pretty quickly. Oh my gosh.

[B]

Okay, so she's very, very bright and things seem to come naturally to her.

[A]

That's awesome. Good for her. That's really cool. All right, so I'm gonna let you go, but first let me tell you this. I've Learned this from ChatGPT. A Utah accent and a Canadian accent have some similarities, but are generally quite distinct from each other. But here's a quick breakdown. So 1. They have vowel pronunciations. Both Utah and Canadian accents share some vowel shifts, but the Canadian accent is known for the Canadian raising, where words like about sound more like a boot. Utah speakers don't typically have this trait, though they may have their own unique vowel pronunciation, such as flattening or lengthening certain vowels. Then there's something here called rotific. Ro. Rotific? How the hell do you say that? Hold on a second. This thing's amazing. By the way, it's pronounced rotis, a t. Roticity. Okay, it came in my headphones, so you couldn't hear it, but roticity. Both accents are rhotic, meaning they pronounce the r at the end of the words, unlike some other English accents. Intonation and melody. Canadian accents have a distinct upward intonation, especially at the end of sentences, often referred to as Canadian question intonation. This is less common in Utah, which tends to have more of a level and straightforward intonation and word choices in slang. Canadian English often incorporates unique slang and expressions influenced by French and regional Canadian culture, whereas Utah slang is more influenced by Western American culture. Well, there you go. Bob's your uncle.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

I didn't even know.

[A]

It's not the same, but it's so similar that it struck me for a little bit. Did we talk about everything you wanted to talk about?

[B]

I don't know what else I put in the note, but there's been frustrating things with insurance. There's been totally mean people who just don't understand. We've had some scary lows a couple times with both of my kids, and we've had some. Some terrible school nurses. Luckily, we have a great one now, but in the past, we've had some real, real bad ones.

[A]

What's your worst school nurse story?

[B]

He was in kindergarten. She got on a pump just after kindergarten started, and the nurse would just keep her in her office all day. She wouldn't give her corrections. She said that the Only time they can do corrections is at meal times, even though you know that's not true when they're on the pump. And so she would. She kept her in there for six hours one day, just monitoring her number, but refusing to give her insulin because.

[A]

Your blood sugar was high.

[B]

Yeah. And so I called, and I'm like, what is going on? And she's like, well, we're just monitoring it. And I was like, well, like, give her a correction. And so that time, I actually, I went and I went to the school and did it because she wouldn't. But another day she was going into. This was also Kate. She was going into lunch. Her number was, like, 72, which used to scare me, but I'm not scared of. I'm not scared of that anymore. So this nurse decided not to dose her for lunch because she was low. So she didn't give her at all. Any insulin at all. And so then I'm at home seeing her number just, like, skyrocket, and all of a sudden, it's just high, too. Straight up. And I called because nothing was changing. And I was like, what is going on here? What. What's happening? And she's like, well, Kate was low, so I didn't give her her insulin for lunch. And I was like, well, how many carbs did she eat for lunch? Well, 85. So she gave her 85 carbs uncovered. Wouldn't give her a correction even. And I was like, but you didn't. You didn't even give her the insulin she needed for her meal.

[A]

Yeah, and she's not low anymore. Right?

[B]

And she's not low. She's opposite. She's totally high. And so give her the insulin. And she said, well, now, unfortunately, it's outside of mealtime, so I can't do a correction.

[A]

Why are people so silly?

[B]

And I was like, but you didn't give her her mealtime insulin. She didn't get any of that.

[A]

Yeah, give it to her now.

[B]

She needs insulin. And she was like, well, hopefully it will come down. And I was like, it will not come down unless you give her the insulin she needs. She needs the insulin for it to come down. You can't just keep her in your office monitoring things because it's not coming down unless she has insulin.

[A]

That's a registered nurse.

[B]

Yeah, she was our school nurse. And this same lady, another day she calls me, and Ryan was a little bit high. He's up, like, low two hundreds. And she was like, well, he's high, and I'm watching him, and I'M monitoring things because, you know. And it was the same thing. I can't give him a correction, but we are bolusing.

[A]

We're bolusing Hope. So I'm sure it's gonna come down any second now. Oh, by the way. Oh, let's call your episode Bolus Hope, by the Way. That's a great idea.

[B]

She said, I'm gonna take him for a little run. I'll have him, like, we'll go on a walk and we'll run a little, and I'll have him drink some water, please. I was like, please, just give him insulin and send him back to class. As long as he feels fine. The insulin will need a little bit of time to work, but if you give it to him, then it can start.

[A]

We're willing to hope, we're willing to pray, we're willing to go on a run. We've given him a glass of water. Can you give him insulin? No, it's the wrong time.

[B]

And so I said, please send him back to class. He doesn't need to be in your office waiting for it to come down. As long as he feels fine. Send him back to class. So about five minutes later, I get a call from him on his phone, which he doesn't normally call during school, right? And so I was like, well, this is weird.

[A]

Hey, Mom. The nurse is an idiot.

[B]

That's basically how it went. Hey, Mommy. And I'm like, what's going on, bud? And he says, the nurse is making me run laps.

[A]

And I'll tell you what else. She doesn't even have a money market account. She doesn't know what she's doing.

[B]

He's like, huffing and puffing. And I'm like, I just told her to send you back to class. Why are you running laps? And he's like, oh, she sees that I'm on the phone. I gotta go. And he hangs up on me. And I was like, the bills. Are you kidding me?

[A]

Then they had him cut the shrubs and dig a. Dig a trench.

[B]

And so, yeah, I was like, you gotta be. You gotta be kidding.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

That's. This is not a thing.

[A]

Oh, there's so many dumb people. It's fantastic.

[B]

She doesn't. She doesn't work there anymore. We have a different face.

[A]

No, no, she wasn't a. She wasn't a star. A star.

[B]

Shocking.

[A]

No. My God, that's great. Wait, I gotta go.

[B]

She sees me. She sees that I'm on the phone. I gotta go.

[A]

Well, that's funny, but it's also sad. Mark's crazy.

[B]

Well, and she would also, like, call me to tattle on the kids. Like.

[A]

You know, I had him out running laps, and he stopped, and he was on his phone.

[B]

Kate was caught eating a Skittle in class, and I was like, perfect. And she felt like she needed a little bump. Like, that's what I'm trying to teach her to do.

[A]

Caught.

[B]

She was caught eating a Skittle.

[A]

What a phrasing. How come the. How come the story isn't. Hey, you know, we just wanted to let you know how proud we are of Kate. She got a little low in class. She took care of herself.

[B]

Oh, it was a total tattle. And I said, great. That's what I want her to do. I want her to recognize that she needs something and to just do it. And this is part of her learning how to take care of this. And then another day, Ryan was caught giving himself insulin, and I was like, perfect. He noticed he needed a correction, and he was doing it.

[A]

Yeah. Everybody's like, yeah, it's weird how people think. I'm not kidding.

[B]

And she's like, no, they need to come down to my office, and I need to supervise that. They can't just give themselves insulin. They can't just eat something. We need to know about it. And I was like, you don't. The whole goal is to get these kids independent in their care. They need to learn these things, and I am proud of them. And I don't want you to tattle to me.

[A]

Like, maybe get on the team, for God's sakes. Seriously, Right? Like, try to see what's going on here.

[B]

And she actually told me, because if I see something that I'm like, oh, we're gonna have to catch this before, you know. So I'll tell them to eat. I'll text them and tell them to eat a little something or. And they just give me a thumbs up so I know that they saw it and they do that. So she actually called me one day and she said, I don't have the right to text them while they're in her care. And I was like, I don't have the right. These are my kids. Like, what? I have the right. You can't tell me not to not to text them.

[A]

That's awesome. So, yeah. Oh, so stop talking to those kids because you're finding out what's going on.

[B]

Yeah, pretty much. That's how it felt.

[A]

Unbelievable.

[B]

Are you calling the other parents if you see their kid eat a Skittle or a M. And m? Or something. You calling their parents to tattle?

[A]

Yeah, probably not.

[B]

I'm gonna guess, like, one little Skittle is not gonna send her up as high as you have her by not dosing her for lunch.

[A]

Exactly. I didn't tattle on you when you gave her all those carbs and didn't give her any insulin. You. Oh, man. It must be very frustrating in that your whole story is full of frustration. I'm so sorry.

[B]

No, tell me about it.

[A]

That's crazy. Chanel, I have to stop or I have to spend more money on the editing. You don't want to send over money, do you?

[B]

No, I don't want to cost you more money.

[A]

Thank you very much. You really. I really do appreciate your conversation. Thank you so much.

[B]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[A]

Oh, oh, of course. It's my pleasure. Hold on one second. Foreign I'd like to thank the Eversense 365 for sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast and remind you that if you want the only sensor that gets inserted once a year and not every 14 days, you want the Eversense CGM. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox 1 year 1 CG earlier, you heard me talking about Blue Circle Health, the free virtual type 1 diabetes care, education and support program for adults. And I know it sounds too good to be true, but I swear it's real. Thanks to funding From a big T1D philanthropy group, Blue Circle Health doesn't bill your insurance or charge you a cent. In other words, it's free. They can help you with things like carb counting, insurance, navigation, diabetes technology, insulin adjustments, peer support, prescription assistance, and much more. So if you're tired of waiting nine months to get in with your endo or your educator, you can get an appointment with their team within one to two weeks. This program is showing what T1D care can and should look like. Blue Circle Health is currently available in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama, and Missouri. If you live in one of those states, go to bluecirclehealth.org to sign up today. The link is in the show notes and please help me to spread the word. Blue Circle Health had to buy an ad because people don't believe that it's free, but it is. They're trying to give you free care. If you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri, it's ready to go right now. And like I said, they're adding states so quickly in 2025 that you want to follow them on social media. @bluecirclehealth and you can also keep checking bluecirclehealth.org to see when your free care is is available to you. Hey, thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box Podcast. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by Wrong Way Recording wrongway recording dot com.