Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1689: Boomer, Cope, Six Seven
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Jamie (T1D parent)
Date: November 24, 2025

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and candid episode, Scott Benner welcomes Jamie, a mom from Buffalo, New York, whose son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) at age two. The conversation weaves through Jamie’s life story—her relationships, career, and parenting—before zeroing in on the emotional roller coaster of raising a young child with T1D. Together, Scott and Jamie discuss mental health, evolving diabetes tech, parental anxiety, generational differences, and practical day-to-day diabetes management. Their discussion is punctuated with humor, vulnerability, and widely relatable moments for anyone raising a child with diabetes.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jamie’s Journey to Motherhood

• Jamie shares her winding path to marriage, her first brief marriage—a mutual mistake brought on by grief—followed by her current relationship (“threw spaghetti at the wall, and it stuck” [06:57]), and raising two young boys as a football coach’s wife (03:03 – 11:50).
• She credits her close relationship with her mother-in-law as pivotal in her deciding to stick with her now-husband:

  “His mom really was the thing that convinced me to stick around because she’s just so wonderful.” (07:17)

2. Diabetes Diagnosis Story

• Her son's diagnosis in September 2023 came at age 2, after classic symptoms (peeing through diapers, weight loss) were flagged by a daycare worker.
• Jamie’s maternal instinct and immediate online research led her to suspect diabetes even before seeing the doctor:

  “I remember I was sitting exactly where I am right now, having a drink with my husband. And I looked at him and I said, ‘Luke has type 1 diabetes.’ ... And we went to the doctor in the morning, and they did a finger stick, and it read ‘HIGH.’” (12:56 – 13:49)

• Though her son's blood glucose exceeded 1000 mg/dL, he was not in DKA, thanks to early intervention (14:26).

3. First Steps & Tech Adoption

• Jamie’s exposure to diabetes tech came from seeing a Dexcom CGM on Peloton instructor Robin Arzón:

  “We got a Dexcom the same day… I saw it on one of the Peloton instructors.” (18:20 – 18:46)

• She quickly became the tech lead for her son’s care, exploring multiple pumps (T-Slim, Moby, Loop, and now Trio) and different insulins (Apidra, Novolog, Fiasp) (25:29 – 26:52).

4. Parental Mental Health & Adjustment

• Jamie candidly describes a year and a half of daily tears and anxiety following diagnosis, particularly when sending her son to school:

  “After that, I cried probably for a year and a half.” (20:06)
  “I was terrified to send him to school... Every time I saw the nurse, probably for two months, I would cry.” (20:45–21:07)

• She tried therapy, which felt invalidating when the therapist called her “an elitist” for struggling with accepting T1D:

  “I told him that, and he called me an elitist.” (22:44)

5. Searching for Cause & Coping with Uncertainty

• Jamie obsessively searched for a reason for the diagnosis, undergoing genetic testing and reviewing her son’s medical history, but never found answers. Scott notes the fruitlessness but the commonality in this urge:

  “If this, then that. It was always, ‘What is this?’” (23:09)

6. Partner Dynamics & Gendered Mental Load

• Jamie, the more anxious, detail-oriented (“type A”) partner, shouldered the majority of the research and daily diabetes management. She often felt frustrated by her husband’s laid-back confidence (“everything’s gonna be fine”):

  “That was frustrating for me because when he says everything’s gonna be fine, I’m like, how? Because of me... the burden is on me for it to be fine.” (24:29 – 24:50)

• She recognizes the necessity of different roles (“I needed that balance in my life, and he’s helped me with that, for sure.” [55:42]).

7. Tech, Tinkering, and Accepting ‘Good Enough’

• Jamie’s anxiety manifested in continually troubleshooting and swapping tech (over-tinkering). Over time, she has learned to trust her setups, resist constant micromanagement, and occasionally step away:

  “At the beginning with the pumps, I probably overdid it. Now I’m very happy with where we are.” (26:09 – 26:16)

8. Work-Life Balance & Caregiver Burnout

• Jamie describes reaching burnout during summer break when routine was lost:

  “We went from a spreadsheet with lunch in it to wanting to snack all day… my brain’s in overload.” (29:08)

• She took a self-imposed diabetes break, entrusting her son’s care to her mother-in-law and husband:

  “I took a week-long trip, turned all my devices off… I just said, ‘I need to go.’” (27:57)

9. Passing the Baton: Letting Go for Independence

• Both Scott and Jamie reflect on how letting go is critical for kids’ long-term well-being:

  “Your macro job is to make sure that he has a healthy view of himself, his options. Doesn’t think that this is a burden…” (58:24)

• Scott recounts moments of nearly overstepping and the importance of stepping back so his daughter can own her care (“If I kept pushing, we were going to be completely separated… she was going to choose diabetes as a way to drive a wedge between us if I kept pushing” [61:19]).

10. Generational Humor & Language

• The episode takes irreverent turns into generational differences and slang:

  “He’s like a 40-year-old boomer. He doesn’t. He’s not a tech guy…” (25:29)
  “My kids are saying ‘six, seven’ now, like it’s a joke and like, I have no idea what they’re talking about.” (49:23)

• Scott and Jamie have fun dissecting modern slang (“cope,” “six seven,” “Rizz”) and generational stereotypes (41:00+).

11. What Gets Easier? Wisdom for the Newly Diagnosed

• Jamie reassures listeners:

  “It just gets so much easier. You start to know how many carbs things are... it’s like drinking from a fire hose at the very beginning. And then it just turns into a trickle.” (52:23)

• She reflects that, while advice rarely helps in deep crisis, time is transformative:

  “Everyone says, oh, it’ll get better. And it’s just like, okay, well, hurry up and wait for that to happen. But it’s gotten better.” (53:11)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On anxiety and mental load:

  “Because of me, like, that's how it's gonna be fine is I'm going to educate myself. Like, the burden is on me for it to be fine.” (24:48, Jamie)

• On the futility of finding blame after diagnosis:

  “It was always, what is this? … And that’s something that I’ve struggled in the past is just anxiety of not, you know, not knowing what's going to happen.” (23:09, Jamie)

• Scott, on letting go as a T1D parent:

  “Your macro job is to make sure that he has a healthy view of himself, his options. Doesn't think that this is a burden. Doesn't think that you're burdened by it. Doesn't think that you're being oppressive about it. ... That's the real job.” (58:24)

• Jamie, on carrying vs. transferring the emotional burden:

  “I can't put my—the way that it affects me—on him. Especially as he gets older.” (55:57)

• On generational humor:

  “He’s like a 40-year-old boomer; he’s not a tech guy. ... My husband, he skipped right over Millennial and Gen X and went straight to Boomer.” (25:29, 44:08, Jamie)

• On how advice sounds vs. how it feels:

  “I think people said lots of things to me that should have made me feel better, but I was on such a spiral that nothing would have helped.” (53:00, Jamie)

• Scott, closing wisdom:

  “Diabetes is hard. It doesn't usually get any easier, but eventually you should be so good at it that it will feel easier.” (53:20)

Key Timestamps

| Time | Topic/Quote | |--------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:26-07:54 | Jamie’s marriage & motherhood journey; meeting her husband | | 12:27-14:26 | Son’s T1D diagnosis story | | 18:20-19:13 | Getting CGM at diagnosis; learning curve | | 20:06-21:18 | Emotional aftermath: anxiety, daily tears, school fears | | 22:44 | Therapist calls Jamie “an elitist” | | 24:29-26:16 | Parental partnership: mom as info-driven, dad as “it’ll be fine” guy | | 27:57-29:08 | Parent burnout, summer with no plan, Jamie’s solo break | | 37:52-38:31 | Two years to find balance and acceptance with T1D | | 41:00-43:09 | Generational millennial/boomer/Gen Z humor | | 52:23-53:20 | “It gets easier” perspective; practical advice | | 58:24 | Macro parental goal: healthy independence | | 61:19-63:42 | Scott on letting go for child’s diabetes independence | | 68:07-71:08 | Discussing updating DIY diabetes tech (Trio/Loop apps) |

Tone & Style

The episode is warm, relatable, and seamlessly interwoven with humor, compassionate honesty, and practical wisdom. Jamie’s candor about emotional lows and scalp-tingling anxiety is balanced by Scott’s empathy and witty asides. The conversation is equal parts confessional, therapeutic session, and friendly coffee chat—full of real-world, lived-in nuance.

Takeaways for Listeners

• Every feeling is normal. Grief, anxiety, obsessive searching, and emotional breakdowns are common post-diagnosis, even for those with no family history of diabetes.
• Time is a healer. Experience transforms panic into competence; the firehose stream slows to a trickle.
• No device is “the answer.” Mastering one’s food, insulin, and timing matters more than the latest tech upgrade.
• Balance is everything. Finding a middle path between hyper-vigilance and “It’ll be fine” is crucial—for spouses, for kids, for ourselves.
• Letting go, with love, is growth. Supporting a child’s independence in care while staying emotionally available is the hardest—and most essential—parental job.
• The community helps. Stepping back is made easier by learning from others’ stories and knowing that wisdom often follows struggle.

For Newly Diagnosed Families

Jamie’s journey underscores that every parent’s emotions—no matter how overwhelming—are valid, that no amount of early advice can rush the process, but support and self-compassion are available in this community. The unknowns will never all be answered, but it gets easier, one day and one choice at a time.