#1642 Bozo No No

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1642: Bozo No No
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Catherine
Date: October 2, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features an engaging and candid conversation between host Scott Benner and Catherine, a British expat living in California, diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) at age 47, just after New Year's Day. The discussion centers around Catherine's diagnosis journey, hospitalization, initial fears and confusion, the process of adapting to life with T1D, and the emotional and practical realities of managing a "late onset" diagnosis. The episode touches on finding community, lifestyle changes, balancing parenthood and personal identity, and how diabetes shifts one’s outlook on life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Catherine’s Diagnosis & Hospitalization

• Catherine was diagnosed with T1D eight months prior, after a sudden and dramatic illness during a family holiday:
  • Initially experienced unexplained weight loss, attributed to an active year performing in clown shows.
  • Became severely ill in Las Vegas over Christmas, thinking it was the flu; symptoms escalated after returning home and culminated in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
  • Her husband eventually sought advice from ChatGPT, which recommended calling 911 (06:03).

"He was giving all my symptoms to ChatGPT, and ChatGPT is like, I really think you should call 911."
— Catherine, [06:11]

• Catherine described losing consciousness, being admitted to the ICU, experiencing delirium, and not remembering events until New Year's Day (05:49–13:22).

• Her blood sugar was “super duper high...like 600 or something,” and medical staff indicated she “should have been on a ventilator” (12:00).

Emotional Response and Processing the Diagnosis

• Catherine struggled to process the diagnosis at first, feeling the world was “unstable” and confused by contradictory messages from healthcare staff and acquaintances:

"Some people are like, oh, this is terrible. It’s a death sentence… and then other people, I mean, like, the educator, she was great because she actually had type one...I found that really, really reassuring."
— Catherine, [17:37]

• The diabetes educator's Pac-Man analogy helped her first understand insulin's function (13:59).

"Insulin's like the Pac-Man that goes round and hoovers up all the sugar with your system, like the little pills. And I was like, oh, now I get it."
— Catherine, [13:58]

Life Changes & Adjustments

• Catherine’s lifestyle shifted dramatically post-diagnosis:

  • She’s now “low-carb, gluten-free” and eats “a lot more fruit and vegetables… fish” (30:12).
  • Lost around 40 pounds during her illness and has maintained her new weight and dietary habits.
  • Currently on a CGM (Dexcom G7) and MDI (multiple daily injections), but still in partial remission ("honeymoon" period).

• She described feeling as if her diagnosis forced her to “slow down” and focus more on day-to-day responsibilities, stability, and family, rather than “chasing dreams” (18:48–22:32).

"All the sort of fun and games and everything kind of had to slow down a bit and I had to really sort of regroup and life became a lot more simple."
— Catherine, [19:17]

Family, Identity & Mental Health

• Catherine is a mother of three (ages 16–24), and discussed the impact of her diagnosis on her children, especially her youngest, who witnessed her being taken by paramedics (24:27–25:41).
• She reflects on past adversity—her British upbringing, being raised largely by her grandparents, her mother’s struggles with alcoholism, and her own improvisational and entrepreneurial path in the US (49:14–53:32).
• The diagnosis contributed to new feelings of vulnerability and anxiety, with diabetes acting as a catalyst for a broader reckoning about stability and life’s unpredictability:

"I think I had a lot more faith in myself. I think now maybe I've lost a little bit of like, okay, I need to take care of myself. I'm not as invincible as I thought I was."
— Catherine, [37:56]

• Catherine acknowledges “chasing security a bit more now” since her diagnosis (37:51).

Community, Support, and Information-Seeking

• Catherine found major relief and a sense of normalcy through Scott's podcast and its online community, counteracting the sense of T1D being a “rare” and isolating diagnosis at her age (32:03–32:41).

• She appreciates stories from others, which made diabetes feel more “manageable” and less terrifying than what “Googling” suggested:

"The more people that I saw sharing their stories and saying, well, I've had it for this long, I'm managing it, this is how I manage it, it started to feel a lot more manageable. It stopped feeling like this terrible, scary thing that I wasn't allowed to Google."
— Catherine, [34:24]

• She values practical, community-based support over sterile or alarmist messages from some healthcare professionals.

Entrepreneurship & Personal Journey

• Catherine has been self-employed for 15 years, currently building online courses and software—initially starting by reselling items on eBay and Amazon, then teaching others to do the same, and now helping people publish “low-content” books on Amazon (54:37–59:22).

"I made a living selling on eBay and then I just started teaching other people how to do that and built a business from there. So really it’s...pretty fun."
— Catherine, [53:35]

• Her story is interwoven with humor, resilience, and a sense of creativity, even as she admits to missing the improvisational "yes, and" mindset her diagnosis interrupted (60:49).

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On using ChatGPT during a medical emergency:
  “He was talking to ChatGPT...and ChatGPT is like, I really think you should call 911 at this point.” ([06:07])

• On how diabetes changed her perspective:
  “I think I've been very lucky in a lot of ways...this was the first thing that really made me go, oh, okay, now I need to plan a little harder.” ([23:32])

• On community and peer support:
  “I think seeing a lot of other people in a similar boat really, like, was really reassuring for me.” ([32:41])

• On improv and saying ‘yes’ to life after illness:
  “I used to do a lot of improv. And in improv they say, yes. And...I think honestly getting a little bit sick with all of this with diabetes...I kind of lost a bit of my yes, and.” ([60:49])

• On family communication about T1D:
  “I think for my youngest, I think he was a little traumatized by me going into the hospital and just that whole experience, especially being in ICU.” ([25:01])

Other Notable Moments

• Scott and Catherine bring humor to heavy topics, touching on:
  • The “clown fitness” regime (“get a red nose and head out if it worked that well,” [42:07])
  • Navigating the American citizenship process and cultural quirks ([43:41–46:33])
  • Distinguishing British accents in California and funny family speech therapy anecdotes ([27:42])

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Important Timestamps

• Diagnosis Story Begins: 02:24
• Hospital/ICU & Delirium: 05:49–13:58
• Emotional Response & Processing: 17:02–20:25
• Changes in Outlook/Lifestyle: 22:56–26:54
• Parenting with T1D: 24:27–28:49
• Management Details & Diet: 26:21–31:22
• Finding Community/Podcast: 32:03
• Mental Health, Fear for Future: 36:20–38:17
• Entrepreneurial Journey: 54:37–59:22
• Improv, Identity, Yes-And: 60:49

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Conclusion

This episode is a rich, genuine exploration of the disruptions, challenges, and unexpected silver linings that come with a late Type 1 diagnosis in adulthood. Catherine’s journey—navigating diagnosis, family, recalibrated dreams, business creativity, and a renewed search for stability—is full of practical takeaways and heartfelt insights for anyone touched by T1D. The episode stands out for its blend of serious reflection, humor, resourcefulness, and a strong emphasis on the power of community and story-sharing.

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Further Information

• Facebook Group: Juicebox Podcast Type 1 Diabetes
• Resources Mentioned: trialnet.org for family screening
• Relevant Series: Bold Beginnings, Pro Tip Series
• Website: juiceboxpodcast.com

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Transcript

[A]

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

[B]

Well, hi Scott. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. My name's Catherine and I was diagnosed with Type one pretty much the start of this year around New Year's Day.

[A]

If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box Podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all, look for the Juice Box Podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Want to learn more about your diabetes management? Go to juicebox podcast.com up in the menu and look for Bold Beginnings, this, the Diabetes Pro Tip series and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or or becoming bold with insulin. This episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by Omnipod5. Omnipod5 is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve A1C and time and range for people with type 1 diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. Learn more and get started today@ omnipod.com juicebox at my link. You can get a free starter kit right now.

[B]

Now.

[A]

Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found@ omnipod.com Juicebox USMED is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box Podcast and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from USMED for years. You can as well usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514, use the link or the number, get your free benefits check and get started today with US Med.

[B]

Well, hi Scott. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. My name's Catherine and I was diagnosed with Type one pretty much the start of this year around New Year's Day.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah, it was a crazy time.

[A]

Oh my gosh. You guys have New Year's in England too?

[B]

No, I'm not. I'm not in England. I'm in California.

[A]

You're in California? You sound British.

[B]

No, I am British. I've been here for about 16 years now.

[A]

Oh. Oh. But they do have New Year's in England though.

[B]

Yes, they do.

[A]

It's on the same day.

[B]

Well, you know, we have this weird calendar that. Yeah, it's the same day.

[A]

They do it on the same day. It's awesome. I like when there's unity. So, wait, how old are you?

[B]

Oh, God, I, I mean, I'm, I'm.

[A]

47, but that sounded like it hurt you.

[B]

Oh, I, I never tell anyone my age.

[A]

Well, we need to know for context. So you're 47?

[B]

I'm 47, yeah.

[A]

Okay. All right. Do you want to say it a couple more times till it stops hurting?

[B]

No, it's, it's like. No, I, I, I'm gonna pretend this never happened.

[A]

Okay. And you're, you're diagnosed, so eight months ago?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wow. Out of, like, the clear blue, something you saw coming. You didn't have an illness even first.

[B]

Wait, I didn't have what?

[A]

An illness. Were you sick prior?

[B]

Yeah, so. Well, it was funny. Yeah. I was losing weight last year, and I didn't really know what was up. And I had a bit of a crazy year. My husband and I were trying to be clowns, and we were going to LA a lot and performing in clown shows, and I just thought maybe I was just overdoing it a bit and doing this sort of theatrical clown thing. And it was very exercise heavy and losing a lot of sleep. And I, I was, I was okay, though. I was functional right up until just before Christmas. Like, I was literally in a show on the 23rd of December, and I was fine. And then we went on vacation to Las Vegas, and on Christmas Day, I just started getting really sick. And I was like, oh, I think I've got flu, and I'm just not doing too well. And we kind of cut our vacation short, which was sad because we had the kids there. I've got three kids who are aged between 16 and 24. And we came home to San Diego, and, gosh, I just got really sick. Once I was home, I started throwing up, and I just was like, this is the worst flu I've ever had. And I kind of don't remember a whole lot after that. I think it got to. I was admitted into the hospital on the 28th of December, and I don't really remember anything until 1st of January. And everyone's just running around me saying, happy New Year. And all the nurses are wearing, like, little hats with, like, New Year's Day and stuff.

[A]

You're like, it was Christmas last time I looked. What happened?

[B]

Yeah. And so I guess I went into dka and I had no idea at all.

[A]

Did you take yourself to the hospital or did your husband take you?

[B]

So I guess I was getting sicker and sicker. I started Growing up, and I had a shower, and I kind of just like, sunk down in the shower, and my husband was like. He didn't really want to take me to the hospital. He was like, oh, are you really sick?

[A]

And I don't want to give up the afternoon, and I don't want to pay for this.

[B]

Yeah, you know how it is. And so in the end, he was, like, talking to ChatGPT, and he was giving all my symptoms to ChatGPT, and ChatGPT is like, I really think you should call 911 at this point. And so he was going to take me to urgent care, but I had stomach pain, and apparently I was saying, no, I can't go into urgent care. So in the end, I think I started losing consciousness, and I was just rambling. And so he called 911. And, yeah, he also. It was so funny because I read the logs back afterwards, and he was having this conversation with ChatGPT, and it's like one of those scenes in a TV show when people are just doing. They're not doing the right thing, and you're going, no, call 911. And he goes, do you think I should give her some ham? She hasn't eaten. She'll like some ham. And I'm reading this back, like, what?

[A]

No, by the way, like, lunch meat or a cooked ham that you had. Guys had made. What was it?

[B]

You know, just like a. A slice of ham.

[A]

Where'd you find this boy out? Were there. Were they out of boys when you were starting to look or what happened?

[B]

Yeah, you know, he. He's an angel. He. He just. I think he just had a lot of anxiety about going into hospital and just what's gonna happen?

[A]

And are you telling me, though, that if I look back at this transcript between your husband and Chachi bt, I'm gonna see a thousand red flags that would have made me call 91 1.

[B]

Absolutely. Yeah. It's like, oh, her legs were going blue and, like, she's mumbling.

[A]

And, yeah, ChatGPT wasn't like, oh, she might pop back out any second. Just hold on another minute. Wow.

[B]

Chatgpt is like, yeah, get her to the hospital.

[A]

Do you have any other autoimmune issues?

[B]

Well, I suspect I have celiac, and I've suspected that for a really long time. And so I've never had it actually diagnosed. The doctors looked at it now and said, yeah, I probably do have it, but, you know, you've got to go through the thing where you have to actually eat gluten and Then get tested. And I just didn't really want to do that to my digestive system.

[A]

So you're gluten free on your own?

[B]

Yeah. So about it was actually a long time ago, after my youngest was born. I had a lot of stomach pain and it was like chest pain as well. And I realized it was heartburn, and I'd never had heartburn before, and GERD and all of that. And I went to a specialist and he did a lot of examinations. He also found my liver or the levels for my liver in blood tests were really out of whack as well. But he couldn't give me any answers. He just said, oh, you've got GERD and IBS and you should go on Prilosec for a while. And I was like, okay. It didn't help that much. The Prilosec helped, but I was still getting all this pain. And so I just kind of went through my diet taking out different things. And finally when I took out, like bread and started taking out wheat, I was like, oh, this. This made all the difference.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I've just stayed off wheat since then.

[A]

How long ago was that?

[B]

That was 16, 15. 16 years ago.

[A]

You would just come here or you just.

[B]

Yeah, I just moved to the US So I moved here pregnant with my. With my third child.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I had him. And then just after he was born, I got really sick with these stomach issues.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And I had no idea what was going on with that. And so, I mean, that for me was the solution I found. Giving up weight just solved it. So. Yeah.

[A]

Hey, why did you come here? Did they kick you out or were you. You come here. What was going on?

[B]

No, Well, I was married to an American at the time. And also, actually, it's funny, my grandmother lived with us and she wanted to study Montessori education. She was a retired teacher and she got really into Montessori education. And I just finished my college degree and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I had two kids and the third one was, yeah, he. He was on the way, and I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. And I knew I wanted to move to the US at some point. And at the time, my husband was American, so it seemed kind of like a good choice. And she said, listen, I got this idea, but Montessori institutes in California, Florida and these various places. And I was like, well, that sounds fun. So she was kind of the catalyst in a way to get us moving here.

[A]

So also, you said it twice now in A way that makes you feel like that the boy that helped you with the DK is not the same boy that made those babies.

[B]

It's not? No.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

Yeah. We ended up getting divorced after we moved here, and.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, that was a bummer. It was kind of unexpected. It worked out, though. I mean, and, yeah, it worked out. And then I met my new husband, Isaac, and he's been absolutely amazing. We've been together now. Yeah, I mean, I met him when My son was one year old, and he's now 16, so we pretty much raised him together.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, wow. That's lovely. Did you stick with an American or did you try something else the next time?

[B]

Yeah, he's American, too. Californian.

[A]

Okay, so now you're whacked out of your skull, we finally get you to the hospital.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

No thanks to that lovely boy. I mean, he waited till you were like, just loopy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotcha.

[B]

And then I had delirium pretty badly, apparently.

[A]

I was going to say, did they tell you what your blood sugar was?

[B]

Oh, gosh, I've forgotten. It was like, super duper high. It was like, off the charts high. I. You know, I don't remember off the top of my head. I think I have it logged somewhere. But I. Yeah, I know. I think it may have been like 600 or something. They said I should have been on a ventilator.

[A]

How did you respond to the news once you were up and moving and doing better?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What were your initial responses?

[B]

That's a good question. So I had a couple of memories of being in the icu, and Isaac kept trying to tell me what had happened, and I was just like, whoa, that's crazy. That's crazy. He said every time he told me, he had to keep telling me over and over. And he was like, they think you've got diabetes. They think this thing happened to you. It's called dka. And I couldn't understand any of it. I was just going, it's crazy. Whoa. And then I guess on New Year's Day was when I first started, they moved me out by CU into a regular room. And that was when I started to kind of understand more what was going on. Like, okay, diabetes. Okay, that's interesting. But I was really struggling. Like, they kept asking me what people's names were, and I couldn't remember my kids names. They were like, you've got children. What are their names? And I'm like, I thought I knew, but I didn't know, really.

[A]

What did they attribute that to later.

[B]

They said it was delirium. Basically, I had flu, and the flu triggered the dka. So it seemed like I'd been building up the diabetes probably. They said at least four months, but it was probably a lot longer.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so it was really complicated for me to wrap my head around. The diabetes educator was coming in, and she was trying to explain it to me, and I'm like, wait, what does insulin do? It makes it go up or down or what? Like, I just. I was really struggling to wrap my head around things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Fortunately, they sent a really nice educator, and she was really helpful, and she. She kind of spent a lot of time with me, sort of. And she came up with this Pac man analogy, which was great. She was like, well, you know, insulin's like the Pac man that goes round and hoovers up all the sugar with your system, like the little pills. And I was like, oh, now I get it. This is a great analogy.

[A]

She didn't make that up, by the way. I've heard other people use that, but that's good.

[B]

Oh, that's. That's a common thing, is it?

[A]

Once you're through the hospital experience, right. And you're. You're back on your feet and you're, you know, making sense of things, people are talking to you, and you're understanding them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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[B]

I really struggled with the idea that this could just happen out of the blue. So I was like, is there something else wrong? Is something else going on? Is this a symptom of something bigger or scarier? Or, like, is this really just it that I go home and I take insulin and now I'm okay? And it was weird because I felt like I was hearing very mixed messages from different people. Like, some people are like, oh, this is terrible. It's a death sentence. It's gonna get worse. And you kind of think of like, all the horror stories you've heard.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And then other people, I mean, like, the educator, she was great because she actually had type one and she was like, well, you know what? I've lived with this 20 years. I'm here doing this job. And I was like, okay, this is good. Like, seeing someone who's here that has been in a similar position and who's doing okay. I found that really, really reassuring.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But, yeah, going home was scary. It was like just sort of coming out into a new world and trying to wrap my head around sort of how you use insulin and what you do and. Yeah.

[A]

Does it affect you otherwise? Meaning, do you start thinking, well, if this just happened, like, what else might happen? Do you start having, like, bigger concerns? Like, maybe life's not as on Autopilot as you thought it was originally.

[B]

Yeah. That's interesting. You asked that. Do a lot of people feel that way?

[A]

No, I heard it in something you said a little while ago.

[B]

Oh, that's interesting. That's really perceptive.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that's my whole job. Like, you know. Would you tell me a little bit about that, please?

[B]

About feeling kind of unsteady in life?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

As I say, last year we kind of had this kind of wacky year where we were like, okay, let's. I mean, my first degree was in performance and so I've always kind of chased that. I've always had that in the back of my head, like, okay, I love acting, I love doing comedy, I love sort of doing very outward things and I do YouTube and stuff like that. And so we really kind of dedicated ourselves to doing these classes last year and performing and it was going really well, but it was a little crazy. It took us away from our work and our day to day lives and it was like suddenly everything kind of stopped after this happened. It was like, okay, I need to get more responsible, I need to double down on work. I need to make sure that we're going to be okay. Because both myself and my husband are self employed and I would say the world feels a little unstable at the moment as well. Like it kind of came like the diagnosis came along with all the elections and the LA fires were happening at the time and I kind of stepped out the hospital and it was a very new world that I stepped into. All the sort of fun and games and everything kind of had to slow down a bit and I had to really sort of regroup and life became a lot more simple. I mean, now we kind of focus on work and just taking the dog for a walk and it's sort of become less about sort of chasing dreams at the moment. I mean, I always hope that comes back and there's time to chase dreams. But. Yeah.

[A]

What do you do for a living? Like, you don't have to tell me exactly, but what kind of work do you do?

[B]

We create software and online courses.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I've been self employed for 15 years. Teach people how to make books.

[A]

And you've been making a living at that your whole adult life. You've raised three kids off of that, but in your heart you'd like to be a clown?

[B]

You know, I don't know if I'd say like, I want to be a full time clown, but I think performing, I enjoy live performance. It's a lot of fun. I'm good at it. My. My husband's good at it too. And it gives you a buzz like nothing else does. It's really fun to be on stage and to just create something that's new. And we were doing these classes and they're so fun. There's a place in LA called the Idiot Workshop, and what they do is they put you on stage for 10 minutes and they say, okay, you got to be funny and you can't repeat anything that you've ever done before. You have to sort of improvise on the spot and. And you've got to be funny. And it's like you've got to make the audience laugh and they'll gamify and say, okay. When the audience laugh, you're allowed to step forward, but you can't step forward until people are laughing at you. So you go through everything you can making funny faces or like grabbing a weird prop or like staring at someone. You go through all these things. And it's really empowering, though, because you come off and you go, wow, I had no idea that was going to happen tonight, that I was going to come up with this weird thing that I did. This routine or this performance.

[A]

I think I understand also. What did you call it? The Weird Workshop. What is it called?

[B]

It's called the. The Idiot Workshop.

[A]

Idiot Workshop. When you said that, I thought everybody who's hate listening to me right now thought to themselves. Yeah, that's. That's what we call Scott's podcast.

[B]

Yeah, it's. It's a great name.

[A]

Yeah, well, I. I mean, I. So I take your point. Do you think you'll get back to it or do you, like. I guess my question is, did this sober you the diagnosis, or do you think it just slowed you down for a half a second?

[B]

That's a really good question. I mean, I would love to go back to it. I think it's just one of those things where it's like we need to stabilize first and sort of make sure that our lives are in good order before we can sort of take, like, you know, just sort of take risks, take time away from work and things like that. That feels like now that the stakes got a little bit higher, is what I would say.

[A]

Like life turned on or something like that. Like the thing that you hear happens to other people. Happen to you.

[B]

Yeah, that's. That's probably a good way to say it. Yeah.

[A]

Like, you have three grown kids.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You've navigated changing continents, you navigated changing husbands, you raised three kids. You found A way to chase your dreams. While you were doing that and have a good time. Nobody had been sick except for when you were like, oh, I can't eat wheat anymore. Which probably didn't seem like a big deal at the time. Just like, oh, that sucks, but I just won't eat wheat. So other than that, you hadn't seen a lot of illness through your life?

[B]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think I've been very lucky in a lot of ways. I think I rode on that a lot and sort of this was the first thing that really made me go, oh, okay, now I need to plan a little harder. I can't just rely on, like, ah, the universe loves me and everything's going to be great. It's like, I need to.

[A]

Like all those people who told you, like, put, you know, save for yourself first, you know, make sure you have health insurance. Like all those people who seem like they were being a little too careful. Maybe they just had an experience you hadn't had yet. It's interesting.

[B]

That might be true. Yeah.

[A]

I wonder, like, you know, to that point, how did your kids accept that, like, mom's sick, I mean, is the first thing. And then they have to understand what diabetes is. But do you put a ton of effort? I mean, you're only eight months into it. You're still learning what it is for yourself. Are you sharing it with them or are you trying to figure it out for your before you decide how to tell other people more about it?

[B]

Oh, that's interesting. I mean, I think at the moment I'm still quite lucky because I think I'm still in the honeymoon phase, and so I'm not, like, needing a ton of insulin at the moment. Like, I need a little bit. I mean, touch wood. I feel like I'm managing it well at the moment. So it's really just, oh, I got to go do a shot before I eat, and things like that. I don't think it's really affected them too much. I think. I think for my youngest, I think he was a little traumatized by me going into the hospital and just that whole experience, especially being in icu. I think that was pretty hard on him.

[A]

Did they see you there, like, when you were unconscious? Did your husband bring them or.

[B]

No, no, he saw me going into the hospital. He saw me when the paramedics took me, but they didn't see me in icu. They came see me in the hospital once. I was in a regular room.

[A]

But that's five or six days later, right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

That's a long time to be at home thinking like, my mom just got like my mom was babbling and they put her in the hospital and I haven't seen her in five days.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

How soon until you can care about that? Do you know what I mean? Like, when do you get to be a mom again? When is the trauma for you dying down enough that you can start thinking about the other implications?

[B]

I think New Year's Day. I say that that was pretty much when they put me in a regular room and I could speak and sort of normally. And that was when I FaceTimed them from the hospital. And that was pretty cool. Once, once I could talk to them and talk with FaceTime. Then that kind of changed everything. Then, then I could think about them. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And they could see you and see that you were at least kind of popping back a little bit. Jesus. A lot. It really is. Okay. So you're, you know, you're eight months into this. They started you out, I imagine with a pen maybe. Did they give you a cgm?

[B]

Yeah. So I've got a Dexcom now. I've got on a Dexcom 7. And yeah, I've got pens. So I'm, I'm still doing that. Okay. Just using the injections.

[A]

And you think you're maybe honeymooning still?

[B]

At least the endo. She, she thinks that. So it hasn't changed too much. I've stayed. I do a basal of 14 units each now night, and I just did maybe two units before meals. But we eat pretty simply. I eat pretty low carb and that. I've just found that. That seems to be working well for me.

[A]

I already asked you how old you were and that made you upset. I almost asked you how much you weighed just so I can understand the.

[B]

Insulin you're using, but I lost 40 pounds. I was kind of overweight last year and between some. I came out of the hospital £40 lighter.

[A]

The flu A beds knocked £40 off you?

[B]

Well, yeah, it did. I. I was. I think I was about £180 at some point. Last. 185. And now I'm like 140, 140.

[A]

You've been here so long you didn't tell me in stone. I appreciate that.

[B]

Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[A]

Every time someone says that, I'm like, I. I don't know what that means.

[B]

Oh yeah, I. I forgot what a stone is. It's like 12. Is it £12? £14?

[A]

I love that you don't know. You sound like you would know. But you don't know.

[B]

I just Googled, do your kids talk.

[A]

Normal or do they talk like you?

[B]

I've got two girls. They're 24 and 22, and they kind of have British accents. My son's Californian, but it was so funny. My younger daughter, she has autism, and she was on an IEP at school, and they were assessing whether she needed speech therapy, and they were like, well, she has this very storybook way of talking. They're like, we can't decide whether she has a speech issue or whether she's just British.

[A]

Did they figure it out? What did they land on?

[B]

I think they landed on. I think she had a little bit of speech therapy. But they determined that even though she has kind of an unusual pattern of speech, it wasn't anything to be concerned about. She just uses very long words and talks like a fairy tale.

[A]

Talks like a fairy tale. So right now, your management's not too overwhelming. Is that giving you some opportunity to kind of settle into it, or do you find yourself thinking, I'd like to get to the part where this is more, you know, predictable?

[B]

No, I, I, I'm like, I'm just. How do I keep it like this as long as I can? You know, I'm kind of grateful that I'm doing okay. And I, I feel like the doctor always tries to scare me a bit when I go in. She's like, oh, it's gonna get worse, you know. Oh, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're going to have more symptoms, and, like, okay, I'm just going to enjoy this while it lasts.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, no. I would take it for as long as you can get it. Sometimes people will describe that, you know, you make a big bolus for something, and then your body jumps up and helps a little bit and you get low. But it doesn't sound like you're using much at all. Like, you're, you're putting, you know, what basically translates into a half a unit, an hour of basil. And for a person, your weight is not very much, and then you're just putting in a couple of units to what, like, kind of kill the spike a little bit at mealtime?

[B]

Yeah, that's it.

[A]

You go up and come back pretty quickly after that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I keep it pretty smooth. And we walk every day, and I found that helps. But I often find I go low when I walk, though, so I tend to take, like, a big bag of, like, cherries and strawberries and things with me and just sort of munch those as I Walk along the beach.

[A]

Oh, so. So when you go for a walk, even that smaller amount of insulin is too much. You start getting low.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Interesting. Did the weight stay off?

[B]

Yes, it has, actually, but I really changed how I ate, so I tend to eat sort of. I eat a lot more fruit and vegetables and just. I eat kind of healthy now. We eat a lot of fish.

[A]

So before this is a thing, people mention sometimes that the gluten free options for a lot of foods are maybe more caloric.

[B]

Yes, that's probably true. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And so would you get away from like, the breads and things? Like the gluten free breads?

[B]

Yeah, I. I did. I gave up. Yeah. I don't bother buying bread anymore. We eat tortillas, we do quinoa. I get like chickpea pasta and lentil pasta, and we do those. But. Yeah.

[A]

And those are adjustments you've made since your diagnosis?

[B]

Yes, very much. I mean, last year, honestly, I was eating a lot of junk food. We were driving a lot, going between San Diego and la, and yeah, I mean, I would drink like venti lattes and I, I was doing all the wrong things. Like, it, it was such a surprise. I mean, but it's. It's been a big change of lifestyle. But. But it hasn't been bad, actually. It doesn't bother me. I'm kind of happy that I'm eating healthier.

[A]

Yeah, no, I. I mean, I guess there are people who would talk about, like, things got taken from me, but you're seeing positives from it, so it feels more like a good step instead of something being taken away.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. As far as food's concerned, that's. That's definitely the case.

[A]

Okay. How did you find me?

[B]

How did I find you? I don't know. You know, I think I found you through Facebook. I think I was looking for groups and what, what I found. Well, so it was interesting because a lot of people told me, like in the hospital, they were saying, oh, this is very rare. Oh, it looks like you've got type one. But that's really unusual for someone to be diagnosed with that later in life.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's not.

[B]

But. Okay, well. Right. And so it was interesting because then that was what I found when I found your group. I found a lot of people had similar stories and I was like, oh, and I felt a million times better. So as I said, I kind of had this sort of hypochondria brewing of like, is this all that? If it's so rare, why has this Happened to me. Like, what? What happened? And I think seeing a lot of other people in a similar boat really, like, was really reassuring for me. So I'm very grateful for your group and your podcast that I've been able to find that and see that in other people.

[A]

I'm glad. I mean, even if it just alleviated your feeling of, like, oh, what's going on here? Like, is this me?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, that would be a lot. But there's. I'm sure you've gotten more from it since then, and more will even come, especially because. And I'm not here trying to scare you like your doctor, but doctor's also not wrong. You know, as your insulin needs go up, the game changes.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

I mean, I don't know how long this will last for you. Listen, I've interviewed people like you who, you know, been in, like, a honeymoon. Like, you might have lotto. Right. It could take years for it to come, you know, full circle. I've interviewed people who have lotta who started using, like, a GLP medication, and they're down to almost no insulin at all.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And not gonna last forever. But, like, they apparently had some insulin resistance on top of the type one, and they got even a, you know, a little more of a boost out of it. So no one knows how long it's going to take for you to, you know, see the quote unquote, full effects of this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But, you know, hopefully it happens gracefully and gently so that you can adjust as it comes.

[B]

Yeah, I hope so. And I think that was the other thing that I really got from your group and also from friends as well, that the diabetes educator in the hospital, she sort of said to me, don't Google anything. Just don't Google. And that freaked me out even more because I was like, oh, my gosh, what am I going to find? What terrible things? And then I started sort of having all these, like, everything started becoming, like, a terrifying thing to me. Like, oh, no, if I. If I have, like, a sore spot on my toe, is. Is that going to turn into my legs falling off or something? Like. And there was this sense of the unknown. And then I think what I found was the more people that I saw sharing their stories and saying, well, I've had it for this long, I'm managing it. This is how I manage it. It started to feel a lot more manageable. It stopped feeling like this terrible, scary thing that I wasn't allowed to Google.

[A]

Yeah, no, I agree. I think that I don't want to Say knowledge is power, because that sounds very simple, but I think you should know as much as you can handle knowing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That that will pay you back at some point. Having information, for sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Really what I was saying too, is that as this progresses, you're going to have that group to bounce things off of, because right now where you're at, like, I don't even think the Pro Tip series would help you that much. How interesting, because you're not really doing a lot with your insulin at the moment. Like, I mean, not that you couldn't get ahead of it and grab yourself an understanding, but I don't know how much of it you'd get to use right away when you're basically right now shooting Basil and just, you know, throwing in a couple of units for a meal and making sure you have a snack when you go for a walk. That seems like what diabetes is right now for you. Is that right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's pretty much it.

[A]

Well, I hope that lasts forever for you. First of all, that would be awesome.

[B]

Thank you. So do I, like touch wood?

[A]

Exactly. That would be. That would be really, really lovely. And I've talked to people who have had this part of it go on for way longer than you would think. You know, it wouldn't be unforeseen if it lasted years. And it also wouldn't surprise me if you sent me an email in 3 months and you're just like, hey, I use a lot more insulin now. Yeah. You know, so.

[B]

And. And that's one of those things where I'm like, you know, I. I do wonder about sort of whether there might be a time in the future to go back to the UK or to go back to Europe, where there's a bit more security, or if it feels like maybe there's more security around sort of insulin and things like that. So those are the kind of, sort of things I think about at the moment of like, okay, where's the future?

[A]

You mean to get free insulin?

[B]

Yeah. On the nhs?

[A]

Yeah. Because, I mean, I think there's going to be insulin here. But, you know, if you're talking about just the pay for it side of it, I mean, yeah, it doesn't hurt to be somewhere it's free. Also, that sometimes changes a lot about the options you have for taking care of yourself and the kind of. The kind of stuff you have. Like, I don't know if I think they'd cover your cgm, but I don't know if they'd cover every pump you wanted or if it's just some pumps, if you decide you want to pump one day. Yeah, I don't know. Like, you'd have to talk.

[B]

I had that covered. Dexcom. So I was like, well, even that, that's pretty awesome you got Dex Common insulin. It's.

[A]

Does it scare you that much or is that just a big idea? Like, are you really thinking about that like practically or is just a thing that popped into your head that you've considered?

[B]

I do think about the future and I'm sort of looking at the, the sort of gestalt of being self employed and just how things are, political climate and just there's like a whole bunch of things at the moment that feel very uncertain or very unknown. And so I don't know. And I do wonder if it's like becoming sick and there's sort of maybe some mental health issues that go with that because I do feel like diabetes. Kind of like I notice when my sugar goes low, I tend to start having a lot more anxiety than I used to have.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And I don't quite have that sense of like, oh, everything's just going to be totally fine all the time, so.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

Yeah. I, I do wonder if I chase security a bit more now.

[A]

Yeah. Did you have anxiety?

[B]

Prior anxiety, on and off. But I also, I think I, I had a lot more faith in myself. I think now maybe I've lost a little bit of like, okay, I. I need to take care of myself. I'm not as invincible as I thought I was.

[A]

Oh, so the reality of life is getting to you?

[B]

Yeah, I think that might be it. Oh, I don't like that word reality, but yeah.

[A]

No, I mean, listen, there's a couple different ways it's going to hit you the way it hits you, but I'd be happy that it made it. You made it this long without like needing anything like that. You know what I mean? But at the same time, I understand exactly what you're talking about. Like just the way I look at it is you're mainly cruising along and things are going well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I had the same exact thought. You know, my daughter was diagnosed when she was 2. That's 19, 19 years ago now, I guess. Yeah. And prior to that diagnosis, not only was life like working like we had climbed out of, you know, a number of different, like we know, a slow start in life. I grew up poor. My wife was too. We were like pulling things together. You know, things were coming together. We had bought a little crappy house and, you know, we were in the middle of having, like, our daughter's second birthday party in the backyard during the summer, and we were like, wow, look at. This is going, like, you know, this is going great. Our kids are doing well, and, you know, we're chipping our way through life and everything, and all of a sudden, like, bang. Like, there it is. Right? Like, yeah, not. Not a thing you never thought about in a million years. Like, I never once considered that this could possibly happen to anybody, to me or to her, to anyone that I.

[B]

I think that's even more of a shock with a child as well. Like, you really don't expect that.

[A]

I don't know. It all sucks. But that feeling of, like, wow, how did this happen?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is this the reality that we live in now? And it is like, the truth is, is that, you know, sometime later, she got hypothyroidism. My wife had it. You know, my son has it. I don't know, you know, bad luck. I don't know what you want to call it, you know. Have you had your kids tested to see if they have any markers?

[B]

Yeah, we've. We've checked. No, I haven't, actually. That's probably something we should be looking at doing.

[A]

Well, if you need something else to worry about, let's start thinking about that.

[B]

Great. Okay.

[A]

Yeah, you can [e-mail] that's one of the places.

[B]

Is that the place to look? I'll take a look at that.

[A]

That's one of the places you could look. They could do a blood test and tell you if they have one or more of the markers that would indicate that makes type 1 diabetes more possible.

[B]

The first thing we did was we checked everyone's blood sugar. We were like, oh, let's. Everywhere. Okay. Everyone's taking a fingerprint. Let's see where your sugar's at. So they all seemed okay now.

[A]

Yeah. There's five markers, and the more of them you have, the more likely it is you're going to get type one at some point.

[B]

That's interesting.

[A]

Yeah. So my expectation for you would be that you had markers and the. Something about getting the flu just kind of, you know, short circuited your. Your immune system and. And here you are.

[B]

Yeah. There were a lot of things sort of going off last year, as I said, I was losing a lot of weight. I was really thirsty all the time. I was. I got a slushy machine, like, to make ice, and I was just drinking nonstop. And in hindsight, I. It seems kind of obvious what was happening, but it didn't kick in until I got the flu and they said that was like the trigger for it all.

[A]

Now listen, I interviewed a woman this morning who's an ICU nurse and she ignored about every like blaring siren about her kids diagnosis. So don't worry. You weren't going to figure it out from being thirsty and losing weight, you know? Yeah, you're probably just, I mean, listen, you're a lovely person. You said. No, no, no, wait, listen, you said before you take the, take the compliment. I thought being active and clowning was why I was losing weight.

[B]

That's true. Yeah.

[A]

I held in a laugh when you said that. I just want you to know because I was like, oh, she's, she's like, oh, I'm more active now. I must be losing weight. And it's from like. And all it made me wonder is like, geez, what's involved in that clowning that you thought you lost weight from it?

[B]

It's pretty active. You bounce around a lot as a clown.

[A]

Well, yeah, but don't you think that everybody who wanted to lose £40 would just like get a red nose and head out if it worked that well?

[B]

That's a great idea. I think I, I think there should be a workshop for this.

[A]

Why don't. Yeah. See, here's how you handle it now. You combine these two things. It's clown school and like kind of like an exercise program.

[B]

You know, I think someone actually, actually was doing that for a while.

[A]

Are you serious?

[B]

Yeah, I, I think that it had a name. It wasn't like clown fitness, it was that. Yeah, someone was doing something like that.

[A]

But yeah, I can't imagine that was a big winner as a business. But I want to try to also like lessen your fears a little bit. Like, I mean, if you feel like politics is more fraught than normal. I have to be honest, like I've been here my whole life. I don't think it is.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, I think the, the words and the things we're worried about are. They're new and they're more, they're maybe a little more different than they've been in the past. But this thing has a pretty amazing way of self leveling.

[B]

So that's what I hope. That's. That, that's my hope. I mean, you know, I became a citizen last year and I was so happy to, to become a citizen. I'm so proud because I really do love America. I mean, I've been here 15 years and 16 years now and I think it's a Great country. I'm very happy to be a citizen.

[A]

I'm glad. That's nice. Welcome.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Of course. What's it like to become a citizen? What do you have to do?

[B]

Oh, it's better. Yeah. Let me think. Well, you have to take the tests, so that's kind of easy. You just got to learn the questions. They have, like, 100 questions, and then they ask you. I think it's like six to 10 of them. And once you get. I think it's like six, Right. Then you pass, and you have to get all your paperwork together and just sort of show them all your marriage stuff and things like that. But it's really funny. They kind of reel you in with all these videos of, like, stadiums of people waving flags, and it looks like this huge. And then, oh, you're going to go to a ceremony, and it's going to be this big, exciting thing. And then really, what happens? They put me in a room with this guy on Zoom. So I wasn't even with, like, a. I was with someone on Zoom. So I was just in a little office on my own, talking to a guy on a computer, and he interviewed me and asked me the citizenship questions. And at the end, he's like, yeah, okay, you passed. And then he's like, please go outside to the corridor, and then go in the elevator. Oh, okay. So you go out and you go in the elevator, and they take you up, and then you come out and then this, like, they. They call it like, a revolving ceremony or. And it just goes on all day. It's like a permanent ceremony that's just happening. And so they push you into the room, and you're there with a bunch of other people, and they give you, like, a little welcome pack with a flag and leaflet and a letter from the president, and then they're playing that song on the tv. They're proud to be an American song.

[A]

Wait, no one was waving a flag, though, like, in the video?

[B]

No. And I'm like, can my husband come in? And they're like, oh, no, sorry. No one can come in. It's just. Now you're just going to stand here, and so you just stand there with whoever else is in the room, and you all just sort of mumble this oath together, the vow together, and the Pledge of Allegiance, and that's it. And then. Then they're like, here's your certificate, and you have to hand in your green card, and then you're done.

[A]

But the Pledge of Allegiance isn't part of the test.

[B]

No, I don't think so. I think you have to say that at the end, but I don't think they. It might be included in the question. So they ask you any of these, like, hundred random questions. Yeah, like, so it may be one of the questions that's in that.

[A]

Could you knock out the Pledge of Allegiance right now if I told you to?

[B]

Sure, but are you gonna pay me to that?

[A]

Do you know it? Yeah, go ahead.

[B]

I pledge allegiance to the. Actually, maybe not. I don't know.

[A]

To the flag of the United States of America. Right. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[B]

Wow. Yeah, that's really good.

[A]

Every damn day of my life in school, they made us say it.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. Wow. You did that every day at school?

[A]

Every day. Every day you got. You had to be at your desk at a certain time, you sat your ass down, five seconds later you got your back up again, found the flag, turned to it. Hand over your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic, which it stands, one nation under God, liberty and justice for all. Boom. Kindergarten first, second, third, all the way through 12th grade.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. I guess. I guess it's been a year, so.

[A]

Yeah, I haven't said that in 40 years and it just flew right out of my mouth. Yeah. And my memory is horrendous about stuff like that. Like if you ask me any of the kids names that I went to school with, like, I, like, I know like 10 of them.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

I don't remember anything I learned, that's for certain.

[B]

Like, can you ask me like 80s song lyrics or something that I'm, by.

[A]

The way, that I'm terrible at? Did you hear we put up an outtakes and blooper short episode the other day where I got it into my head to sing She's Gone by Hall and Oates and realized I don't know any of the words except for she's gone. She's gone.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I don't think I know any of the words to that.

[A]

I'm terrible at lyrics.

[B]

I mean, I'm a man eater or something. I could maybe do that.

[A]

My wife will get in the car with me and she'll go, this is one of your favorite songs. You don't know the words to it? And I'm like, no, I know, like. And then I tried to have this conversation with her, which she laughs at me for, but there's a thing where some people hear song lyrics as music.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

So I don't really always know what they're saying. It's more like a. It feels like a collection of, like, the musicality of it. Like, the words are sort of meaningless to me. It's more about the beat and the rhythm and everything like that.

[B]

My husband's like that. He's. He's a musician. He plays guitar and he. But lyrics are kind of not that important to him. I love lyrics. He. He loves music, so it works. But.

[A]

Yeah, I hear you. All right, so we got diabetes. We're a little worried about everything at the moment, but I imagine that will come together for you over time. Yeah, we're thinking maybe we'll check on the kids, but we don't know. They're also a little older. They might tell you to go to hell, right?

[B]

They might. Yeah.

[A]

No, you might. One of them might say, look, I don't want to know that.

[B]

Yeah, they're all busy. I mean, they're all sort of doing their own college things, and so. Yeah, they kind of have their own lives.

[A]

Mom's a bummer. She called me at school. She wants me to get my blood test to see if I might get type 1 diabetes one day. They're probably like, ugh.

[B]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[A]

Other autoimmune in your extended family?

[B]

That's a good question. I don't really know. I'm sort of a straight. I never met my father, and my mother died quite young, actually, from alcohol. Catherine issues.

[A]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[B]

Yeah, so I don't really know. My grandparents were fine. I mean, very. My grandmother has type two now, but she's in her 90s, so she didn't get that till quite late in life.

[A]

Did you grow up with them? With your grandparents?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, I thought this was going to turn into a Dickens novel. Oh, I was in the poor house, sir, and I didn't know. Wasn't sure where that was going, but. Oh, so your grandparents raised you from what age?

[B]

It is a bit Dickensian. I mean, my father left when I was a baby. My mother was only 16 when she had me, so they kind of. My grandmother pretty much raised. Actually, both my grandparents raised me pretty much from a baby, but I went back and forth a bit. So I actually, I grew up on an island and my mother moved to an even smaller island, and I was sort of to and fro between the two islands for a while, sort of living with my mother and then living with my grandparents. But I talked to my Grandmother this morning, actually. So she's. She's in her 90s, and she moved over here. As I say, she was kind of the reason I moved to the US because she wanted to study Montessori education. So she did that. But then her student visa ran out, so she ended up going back to the uk, and she has another daughter there, my aunt. But I actually. Yeah, I talked to her this morning, so I chat to her all the time on FaceTime. So we're still really close.

[A]

How old was your mom when she passed?

[B]

She was 43.

[A]

Wow. My gosh. But you. You weren't particularly close with her? She more like a friend from high school.

[B]

Yeah, it was a bit like that. It was a bit sort of like she. Yeah, I was more stable when I was with my grandparents, and so I kind of went up and down with my mother, and she. She was just dealing with her own issues. She was in and out, like rehab and trying to get sober, and it was always a struggle for her. And so it wasn't an easy relationship. I was sort of dealing with being a teenager, and I don't think I was as sympathetic as I wish I had been.

[A]

No kidding. Yeah. Some hindsight there. Well, I mean, that's all you're gonna have is hindsight at that age, when you're put in that situation. But if we brought Dickens back now and let him start writing about modern life, those stories would sound so much different, wouldn't they? Maybe not, though. Who knows? Maybe the. Maybe the main themes stay the same.

[B]

I think so. I think all the big stories in life, they never change in some ways, which is kind of reassuring, I guess.

[A]

Can you tell me. I know this isn't why you came on, but what kind of an impact did your upbringing have on how you raised your kids?

[B]

Oh, that's interesting. I'm a very. I would say, laissez faire mother, so I'd never been a very pushy mother. I put them in Montessori schools when they were little. And then my son, now he's homeschooled, and really he does School of Rock. He was doing Coda school. He does. And now he's doing community college. So I actually pulled him out of school during the pandemic. I wasn't very happy with. I felt the school wasn't doing a very good job. They kind of fell apart during the pandemic and didn't have enough teachers, and there was a lot of things going wrong. So he's been homeschooled, and now he's doing community college and he's a singer, he's a musician, and he's. I think he's hoping at the moment he's looking into doing firefighting or being an emt, and I think that would be pretty cool for him.

[A]

Awesome.

[B]

But my oldest is. She's like literally a rocket scientist. She's doing. About to start her master's. She just graduated with an aerospace engineering degree.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So she's about to do her masters. So I guess it worked with her. She's done really well. And then the middle one's starting. She's going to be doing writing, literary arts this year. She's starting that.

[A]

Well, listen, if they're happy, it went well for all of them, right?

[B]

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I don't think I'm the typical mother. I sort of tried to run off to be in the circus for a bit and I've been an entrepreneur for many years and the ups and downs that go with, like, I literally, when I moved here, I. I made a living selling on ebay and then I just started teaching other people how to do that and built a business from there. So really it's. Yeah, it's. It's pretty fun.

[A]

So tell me a bit about that though, like, because I see this all the time, you know, I pay attention to social media a lot, trying to figure out, like, what other people in different segments are doing that maybe I could, you know, co opt or steal or try, you know.

[B]

Oh, we should talk. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Because I never, like, most of it never goes well. You do see that thing that happens, right? Like somebody has some success early and then if they can get to the teaching part of it soon enough, then they become the thought leader on the thing. And now their new success is just telling somebody else, you can be successful. This is how I was.

[B]

That's. Yeah, I guess I was kind of. Kind of been on that. So. Yeah. So what happened? I was. I didn't really have a source of income. After my son was born, my grandmother moved back to the UK and I was just kind of like, okay, I really need to figure out what I'm going to do with myself here. And I happened to run into someone who was reselling from stores, from shops. And I don't know how long we've got this bit of a story.

[A]

I want to hear it. But we can end on this. I'd like to hear this. Go, please.

[B]

Okay, sure. So I was buying things from yard sales, estate sales, selling those on ebay. And then I happened to be out with my husband, and we ran into one of his old friends in a shopping mall, and he was coming out Victoria's Secret, and he had bags and bags of stuff. And I'm like, does this guy have a lot of girlfriends? Like, why is he buying all this stuff from Victoria's Secret? And Isaac's like, this is my old friend. We should say hi. So I said, okay, let's say hi. And he said, actually, what I'm doing is reselling this stuff. And I got really fascinated by this. I was like, wait, you can buy things and then resell them on ebay? And I talked to him a little bit, and then I went and did some research, and I decided to try it. And so what I did, I went to Nordstrom Rack, which is. And there may be people who've heard my story on YouTube, and.

[A]

Are you. Hey, are you more famous than I think you are? Catherine, what's going on?

[B]

I do some videos.

[A]

Okay, go ahead. Keep going. I'm with you.

[B]

I wouldn't say famous, but in. Yeah. So what I did, my Isaac bought me an iPad, and I went. I started looking up everything that I could see in Nordstrom, because you know how, like, Nordstrom Rack, everything's on discount. And I found that the thing that had the best discount was Hunter rain boots. And I realized that these were selling for about $50 more on eBay. So what I would do is I would make a list of all the sizes and colors that all the Nordstrom racks in my city had, and then I would list them on ebay. And I was more or less, like, selling them out of the shop. Yeah.

[A]

So you were selling them without buying them?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, that's brilliant, isn't it? Oh, because then you didn't have to put out any of the money. Basically. Basically you said. You said to people, like, look, there's stock at the store. I can see it online.

[B]

Right.

[A]

This thing costs $20. If you give me 50, I'll go get it for you and ship it to you.

[B]

It was kind of like that, except I literally just put them on ebay and just hope for the best and just kept track.

[A]

Why wouldn't they go to Nordstrom rack.com and buy it themselves?

[B]

Because I was actually in the store. I was, like, physically in the store, hunting through, and I just drive around all the stores.

[A]

Oh, it wasn't that. It wasn't something they could have done online. They had. They would have had to. Yeah, you were doing work, but that was the work you were doing. You were going out and basically taking stock of what every place had that you saw that was popular online.

[B]

Yeah. And so I kind of built this up. And then I discovered Amazon and selling on FBA with Amazon. And so I. I started doing that. And then I started teaching because I can't keep my mouth shut about anything. So I started teaching it on YouTube and talking about it and saying, hey, this is what I've been doing. And people are like, okay, can you show me how to do this? And so then I moved into. I created a course about it, and then I sold the course. And people were like, this is really fun. This is actually making a huge difference. I'm actually making money doing this.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And so. And then my husband left his job and he's a programmer, so he built the course platform for me. And then from there we started building software together. Building courses. And now we mostly teach people how to make books. We have software for that. And people publish their books on Amazon and it's called low content books. So a lot of people make, like, notebooks, exercise books, guided journals, things like that. And we show them how to put those on Amazon and get them selling. And so it's been a really fun business. I've been doing it for over 10 years now.

[A]

That's crazy.

[B]

With Isaac. And so, yeah, that's our thing.

[A]

That's really awesome. Good for you. That's great. But that's the most American thing I've ever heard in my life.

[B]

We hustled our way from the ground up. Yeah, for sure.

[A]

Yeah. Wow. How about that? I appreciate you sharing that with me. Thank you. And I will take a pause after we're done recording and see if you have any thoughts for me.

[B]

For sure. If you're any interest in sort of books or notebooks, anything like that, like, diabetes books are huge.

[A]

Isn't that interesting? Are they really?

[B]

Yeah. I think a lot of people want to do, like, logbooks to keep track of things.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

If you can find a unique spin on that or a unique way to log things especially. I think the tip I'm finding at the moment with people making planners is to put an emotional connection in there. Like, how are you feeling today mentally? Not just, like, how are you so medically doing? How many units did you use today? But, like, how are you actually feeling? And I'm noticing this in. Even in, like, kids, homework planners. It was interesting. One of my friends the other day, who's a teacher, she shared a picture of the planner that their kids have at school and in the old days, we had homework books, and it just said, this is the subjects I'm studying and this is the homework I'm doing. And this planner had. But how am I feeling today? And it had little emojis that you could circle. And I was like, this is 2025. I think it's a little bit nicer now. Like, people actually care more about how kids are feeling. And I thought that was really cool.

[A]

How about that? Look at you. You're out there doing stuff I didn't even know existed. That's pretty awesome. It really is. I appreciate you doing this very much with me. What made you want to come on and be on the podcast?

[B]

I used to do a lot of improv. And in improv they say, yes. And like, if someone gives you an opportunity, you say, yes, I'm going to do it. And I'm trying to get back to that instinct. I think. I think honestly getting a little bit sick with all of this with. With diabetes and everything, I think I kind of lost a bit of my. Yes. And. And now I'm trying, like, if I. If I see something like, you put it out there. I saw a post and you said, hey, I'm looking for people to be on the podcast. And I was like, yeah, I want to do this.

[A]

I can do that.

[B]

I want to go and say hi.

[A]

Yeah, that is awesome. Well, I'm glad you.

[B]

I'm really grateful and I'm really, really grateful for the podcast and for your group as well.

[A]

Oh, well, I appreciate that you're saying something nice about it and that it's helping you. I'm really glad to know that it's been valuable for you.

[B]

It really was. And really reassuring.

[A]

Well, I think that as time passes and your insulin needs change, you're going to find a lot of value in maybe the Bold Beginnings Pro Tip series. Some of the other series that are available for the podcast, so they're in the feature tab of the Facebook group that you're in. If you want to check them out right now, there's a lot of lists there.

[B]

Sure, I will check all of those out.

[A]

Yeah, I think you're going to. You might see some stuff that'll really help you. So thank you so much for doing this with me. I really do appreciate it. Hold on one second for me, okay?

[B]

Okay.

[A]

This episode of the Juicebox podcast is sponsored by Omnipod5. Omnipod5 is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve A1C and time and range for people with type 1 diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. Learn more and click get started today@ omnipod.com juicebox@ my link you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found@ omnipod.com juicebox A huge thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode of the Juice box podcast. Don't forget usmed.com juicebox this is where we get our diabetes supplies from. You can as well use the Link or call 888-721-1514. Use the link or call the number get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from usmed. 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 podcast contains so many different series and collections of information that it can be difficult to find them in your traditional podcast app sometimes. That's why they're also [e-mail] Go up to the top. There's a menu right there. Click on Series Defining Diabetes Bold Beginnings the Pro Tip Series Small Sips Omnipod 5 Ask Scott and Jenny Mental Wellness, Fat and Protein Defining Thyroid After Dark Diabetes Variables Grand Rounds, Cold wind, pregnancy, type 2 diabetes, GLP meds, the math Behind Diabetes, Diabetes Myths, and so much more. You have to go check it out. It's all there waiting for you and it's absolutely free. Juiceboxpodcast.com if you're looking for community around type 1 diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast. Private Facebook Group juice box podcast type 1 diabetes but everybody is welcome. Type 1 type 2 gestational loved ones it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juice Box podcast type 1 diabetes on Facebook. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording wrongwayrecording.com.