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- [00:00]
A
Welcome back friends to another episode of the Juice Box Podcast.
- [00:14]
B
My name is Anais and I am the mom of a type one diabetic child. I have two daughters, seven and four and a half. And so my diabetic daughter is the one that just turned seven today. It's her birthday.
- [00:27]
A
This is part two of a two part episode. Go look at the title. If you don't recognize it, you haven't heard part one yet. It's probably the episode right before this in your podcast player. 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, every day that you'll enjoy. Want to learn more about your diabetes management? Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for Bold Beginnings, 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 health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. Today's podcast episode is sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the mini med 780G system and their new sensor options which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott. Would you like to unleash the full potential of the mini med 780G system? You can do that at my link medtronicdiabetes.com Juicebox the podcast is also sponsored today by the Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter. Learn more and get started today@contour next.com juicebox.
- [02:06]
B
I mean you have to be a little bit brave. I mean I don't know if I'm, if I'm there yet. I mean I guess I'm on the podcast but you're getting there.
- [02:13]
A
That's pretty good stuff.
- [02:16]
B
But I think there is, you know, work is, there is stuff that should stay private obviously. But I think it's good that they, they trying to improve mental health because that's super important for sure nice people.
- [02:27]
A
A lot of people working hard in a new world where some of them are like working out of their house and never see each other and you know, and some of them are getting drug into a building and, and there's no one there. So they're basically working by themselves in an office. You know, it's And. And like. And like we said earlier, they all also have bills and problems of their own and spouses and children. And, you know, like, every day somebody asks me, how. How are you? And I'm like, I have two kids and I'm married. I don't know. Like, okay.
- [02:58]
B
Depends. Depends on the day. Is it Monday? Is it Tuesday? Who knows?
- [03:03]
A
Some days everybody's happy, and some days people I love are yelling at me. I don't know what's happening. I. I can't follow this. Oh, also, you know, try being me sometime. Like, I mean, this, like, from an outside perspective, not as a. Like, I'm not celebrating myself, but I am a person who a lot of people would come to about diabetes stuff, whose daughter doesn't see him that way. Right? Like, I'm. To me, I'm the. I'm the guy in the house. Like, you don't listen to me. Like, you don't send. Like, listen, here's a great piece of advice for everybody. I've said this a million times. Yeah. You shouldn't coach your kid in baseball. And if you do and he's pitching, you're definitely not the one that goes out to the mound to talk to him when he's struggling. Right? Like, that's just. Trust me, that's great advice. And it's the same thing with this. Like, I spent three hours on the phone with a friend of Arden's the other day, and she was. We got to the end, and she's like, thank you so much. She's like, I just learned more about myself than I've learned in 10 years. Like, because her friend has type one, and if I turned to Arden, I was like, hey, there's, like, five key things I'd like to see be, like, get away from me.
- [04:03]
B
Yeah. I mean, yeah, but you. You're. You're her dad, right? So it's. Yeah, totally.
- [04:07]
A
I can. To her differently. Like, you know what I mean? Like. But, like, still, it's. I mean, that's a thing that I deal with. Like, you know, and I'm saying people. People are dealing with all kinds of little things that, you know. I mean, that's the thing that makes me upset. Like, I'm just. To be honest with everybody, I wish that my daughter cared to sit down and listen to the pro tip Series, you know, because not.
- [04:32]
B
She hasn't. She hasn't done that.
- [04:34]
A
No, she knows most of it from my, like, incessant talking about it with her. But, like, at the same time, like, I didn't Want to be the one to say it to her. It's a weird mix to be. You don't trust me, you won't know till you're there.
- [04:46]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [04:47]
A
But you'll be there at some point, you know, so good luck, by the way. It ain't great.
- [04:52]
B
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I am. You know, it's. It's funny because, I mean, obviously my daughter is seven, so we do most of the management, and she's. She gets involved and she's much better now with changing her device and all that good stuff. I can see how as she evolve and become a teenager, there will be, you know, moments that are tough and she's going to take over the management. I'm going to have to let go. I'm a type A person as well, so it's going to be really hard for me to let her do her thing. But I think at the end of the day, it's probably what she needs to do. But, yeah, I can see how that's super challenging. We're not there yet. I feel like I have a few more years to.
- [05:28]
A
You have plenty of time. But just. I'm just. I'm here to tell you, it's just not going to go the way you think.
- [05:32]
B
Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
- [05:34]
A
And I've never been more certain of this. People want what they don't have. Like, you know, I'm talking to her friend and her friends. Like, nobody ever helped me when I was growing up. This is awesome to have somebody here helping me. And I'm sure what my daughter thinks is, oh, my God, you've been helping me so much. Leave me alone. Like, Right. Like, everybody wants the opposite of what they get handed. And so I think that you're not wrong. And it's a. It's a lifelong thing of the passing of the information in such a way that in real time, they're healthy and safe and learning. But at some point, it's gonna just sound like, oh, I can't believe that these people, this is all they talk about. Which, by the way, and this will be hard for you to believe because you listen to my podcast about this, but I don't talk about this stuff much at all in my personal life, but the people around me think I talk about it all the time. Yeah. And it's because they don't want to hear it from me. It's a. It's not about this. It's not about the podcast, not about diabetes. It's. It's anything like you. All right, now are thinking about something. Everyone listening is like, oh, my God, my mom always talks about knitting, or my dad's always talking about the jets, or like, you know, like that kind of thing. It's not true. That's not what people are always talking about. It's just the thing that you hear. I guess I'm not fully able to explain this whole thing yet. I think a fair amount of the podcast over the next couple years is going to be me, like, continuing to figure all this out. But I've been letting go for years, and I've been, you know, staying out of it for years. And still, if you talk to her about it, she thinks I'm. She thinks that's all I'm talking about. It's really interesting.
- [07:13]
B
That's so funny. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting time.
- [07:19]
A
Well, also, good point. Everyone's different. Your kid might just be like, I don't know, they helped me a lot. It was awesome. And then that'd be it, you know, like, who knows how people take it? Don't, don't panic yet. There's plenty of time.
- [07:30]
B
I just realized there's plenty of episode I can listen to where you talk about that. So that's good. I have some resources.
- [07:36]
A
Maybe you can catch up for there. And so at her age, though, like, so is she making decisions? Does she count carbs? Like, where are you at with that part?
- [07:46]
B
She's not well. She understands the concept of carbs and I think the concept of giving insulin pre bolusing. She's very good about that. I think she helps more with device changes because at first it was super hard for her to do an omnipod change. We had to. We watch pretty much all of the Simon Biles routine on YouTube. Every time we were changing a pod so she would be distracted and it was just so hard. But now she's like. She takes the omnipot off. She helps with the adhesive and all that stuff. So she's much better with that. But she's not doing the management. Sometime if I say, hey, can you put in nine carbs in the controller? She knows how to do it and she will do it properly, but she is not really managing her disease. She's pretty smart about it. If she goes play outside, she would be like, hey, what's my number? And I'm like, well, you're fine. You can just go play. Or I'm like, well, you need a schedule or two to kind of get you up before you go running like crazy. So she's aware, and I think she generally pretty vocal. If she feels low or if she doesn't feel right, like, she will tell us. Yeah, she's not really involved in a lot of the carbs, cunting, and all that good stuff.
- [08:59]
A
Yeah, I wouldn't. I would imagine it happens slowly. It's also, you know, you're still figuring it out. It's hard to teach somebody something you're not sure of.
- [09:06]
B
Exactly. Yeah, for sure. No, I was just saying I think we're getting better because we didn't totally screw up pizza the other day. So I felt like that was our, you know, big win to climb. And I think we. We stayed under 180. The, like, that was the maximum she went to after pizza. And I was like, I think we did pretty well this time. Hopefully we do that again.
- [09:28]
A
You have that moment, like, quietly over the table where you pick up the CGM screen and you show it to your husband and nod at each other like, oh, my God, we did it.
- [09:35]
B
Like, yeah, yeah. We have, like, we strategize. Like, we still talk about diabetes a lot at meal time, and it's like, well, what did we do yesterday? Like, what do you think we should do? Is it 50% now? Like, so, yeah, eventually it will become easier, hopefully in less work. But we're still pretty involved in.
- [09:56]
A
I mean, I'm personally, me. I'm at the spot where I don't really need to talk about it to make it work. And that's. That's awesome. But it's funny because, you know, because Arden went off to college and she, you know, took over for herself. She didn't obviously start at scratch, like, from scratch, but she started, you know, behind where. Where I was. And it's been interesting watching her figure it out. Like, and she's doing it, I want to say, especially if she hears this, she's doing an awesome job. Like, she's keeping her A1C in the sixes.
- [10:26]
B
Oh, that's awesome.
- [10:26]
A
Yeah. Like, you know, she's going to college at the same time she, you know, she has a boyfriend. She goes out. Like, she does. She accomplishes a lot of things. And with an A1C in the 6, I think that's just astounding. Like, I. I mean, it's such a. I don't know, such a thing to be celebrated, really. You know, especially after interviewing so many people who are like, oh, my God, in college, I don't even know what my blood sugar was or I Only gave myself basal insulin for four years in college. Like, I hear that stuff all the time.
- [10:53]
B
Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. That's crazy. That's amazing that she's doing so well. Yeah.
- [10:59]
A
It's just hard that when you. I don't think she feels it that way. And I do believe she. It's because to some degree, she knows it's not as good as it has been or that it could be. And yet she's taking a. Having a lot of pride, taking it on for herself, too. So it's a real interesting journey.
- [11:18]
B
Yes. I was going to say, like, it's hard because we have a very tight control and, you know, I mean, RA1C, I think our last one was five. And she. She's. She's doing great, but I know that the amount of effort we're putting in it probably is too much. Right. So eventually, I think it's like, where do you want to be and live your life and not worry about it all the time? And so I think this is something that I haven't figured out quite yet.
- [11:47]
A
Like, you know, you have a lot of time.
- [11:49]
B
Don't worry. But it's like we are constantly working at it.
- [11:54]
A
So I'll tell you right now, from my perspective, there's two things that thwart adults. Right. And I understand completely why it would. It's about attention and it not making you mental. Right. And about you trying to live the rest of your life. But the two things where people struggle the most as adults, and I've seen it talking to them, and I'm watching it with Arden pre bolusing long enough before a meal and readdressing a high blood sugar before it gets over, like 180.
- [12:24]
B
Yeah.
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A
Those are the two things that. Because they're trying to live their lives, I think that they're trying to be sane. You know what I mean? That they're not focused on all the time. Those two things. Like, if Arden came to me right now and said, fine, I'll listen. What am I doing wrong? And I would say, first of all, you're not doing anything wrong, but just focus on these two things a little more. I think that would change things for. Dramatically.
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B
Yeah.
- [12:46]
A
Yeah.
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B
So maybe I should take that advice as well. Yeah.
- [12:50]
A
As minimally as you can. Like, once she knows what she's doing, you just want. I actually think that the. The reason, like, the Pro Tip series works is because it really is distilled down into just these ideas. And they are the core. They're the core ideas that will keep you in a six, right? And. And once you have a lot of them set up, you don't really have to think about them as much anymore. And then from there I so I really think it's that. I think it's don't let a blood sugar go over 180 and pre bolus and those two things will keep you the rest of the way in it now. Maybe technology will take care of that in the coming years. I have no idea. The Contour Next Gen Blood Glucose Meter is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast and it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link contour next.com juicebox you're going to find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger and Meijer. You could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips and meter than you would pay through my link for the Contour Next Gen and Contour Next Test strips in cash. What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you're paying right now, even with your insurance. And I don't know what meter you have right now. I can't say that. But what I can say for sure is that the Contour Next Gen meter is accurate, it is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years. Contornext.com juicebox and if you already have a Contour meter and you're buying test strips, doing so through the Juicebox Podcast link will help to support the show. Unlike other systems that will wait until your blood sugar is 180 before delivering corrections, the MiniMed 780G system is the only system with meal detection technology that automatically detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help keep your sugar levels in range even if you're not a perfect carb counter. Today's episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes and their MiniMed 780G system, which gives you real choices because the MiniMed 780G system works with the Instinct sensor made by Abbott as well as the Simplera Sync and Guardian 4 sensors, giving you options. The Instinct Sensor is the longest wear Sensor yet, lasting 15 days and designed exclusively for the MiniMed 780G. And don't forget Medtronic Diabetes makes technology accessible for you with comprehensive insurance support programs to help you with your out of pocket costs we're switching from other pump and CGM systems. Learn more and get started today with my link medtronicdiabetes.com juicebox yeah, well, the.
- [15:52]
B
The, the bump and nudge one too, I thought was super helpful because, like, it's like, okay, like, what do I do if I see this hour going up? Like, do I wait a little bit? Like, you know, being aware of, like, is she going to go outside and running like that, that type of things that maybe in the future technology would take care of. But right now, I saw that thinking about where the harrow is going, what the trend is, I thought that was helpful also to keep in mind, to stay within a certain range.
- [16:20]
A
I think in my mind, the bump and nudge is an expansion of. It's not stacking if you need it. Like, that's true, right? Like, once you get the idea of, like, oh, God, I'm only supposed to bolus once every three hours. Once you get that out of your head and then you realize that it's. I don't know how to put this exactly. I think that initially bolusing for food is taught to you as a thing that only happens once every three hours. Right. So the segments are farther apart. And then when somebody tells you, well, no, like, if you eat now and then eat again an hour from now, you are going to want to bullish for both of those things. You go, okay, the segments come closer together, but it's not until you, like, go in on them in a micro fashion and start looking at them as not like things that happen every three hours, not things that happen every hour, but things that are happening every minute. Like, once you see it like that, it's almost like shrinking down and going inside of it for a second. Like, once you can see it from that perspective, then you realize it's about timing and amount. But that always changes. Now, you don't have to watch it down to the millisecond, but if you watch it a little closer than that, then all of a sudden you're ahead of the blood sugar.
- [17:34]
B
Yeah. And I think the pump really allows you to do those microdose and bolus for the food, even though it's been less than three hours. So it gives you a lot more flexibility. I think that if you have to inject yourself all the time, I think that makes it challenging for sure.
- [17:50]
A
Yeah. I've met people who do it, but, I mean, I don't know. It's. It's a, It's a. To me, it's. I don't Know how you go after a seven year old and be like, look, we're gonna, we're gonna give you a 1.5 now. And then once you start eating, we'll give you two more. And then if this goes up 45 minutes, like, I mean, that's, you know.
- [18:07]
B
Yeah, you, I, I think that would be super hard or her for sure.
- [18:11]
A
You know, for some people know. And for the ones it is hard for, I understand why they're not doing it. So once. And again, I'm happy to say this over and over again, it isn't really I understood it all, but I really understood it once I had Night Scout on my phone for Loop. Like, because once I watched Loop work in the moment and I was able to say to myself, oh, that's what I've been doing. I've been doing, like, because, you know, when Arden was in school, I'd be like, temp basil off 10 minutes. Like, you know, I'd send her a text or let's do temp basil increase 150% for an hour. Like, I was acting like an algorithm like that. And I was really good at it. Like, you know, and, you know, bolus again. Here, do another unit, do a half. Like, blah, blah, blah. And it wasn't constant. Like, don't get me. I, I don't want anybody to think I was texting her every five minutes in school. But like, you know, a few times throughout the day, like in this drill down idea, like, we went from three hours and I was kind of down to like more like every hour. And then most hours you didn't need to do anything, but then you saw something move and you could kind of get ahead of it a bit because it started to move. And then I saw the algorithm doing it constantly. I saw that loop doing it over and over and over again. And I was like, oh, that's how this works so well. And that is what I was doing. It's just more micro now. Like it's, it's, it's finer.
- [19:30]
B
Yeah.
- [19:31]
A
Once you understand it, then you can kind of back, back out again and then control it in bigger segments, if that makes sense or not.
- [19:38]
B
But yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess the pump takes a little bit of that work away from you and then you have to figure out.
- [19:44]
A
Right. And that's where we are right now in the, in the zeitgeist with all this, which is the people of now. I, I watched it happen online the other day. I did not have the energy to jump into it where people are like, the thing doesn't work. It's not doing what it's supposed to do. And I'm like, you are not doing the things it needs you to do. And. And like, like, right, so like, you're acting like, I put it on, I turned it on. Why is my blood sugar not 95 all day long?
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B
Yeah, that doesn't work that way.
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A
And I'm like, well, you didn't pre bolus. I know that, I can see that. Right?
- [20:14]
B
Yeah.
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A
You didn't do this. You watched this thing go up for an hour and a half. You didn't do anything about it. Well, they're sitting there thinking it's been going up. Why won't the thing stop it? Because the settings and the situation don't match up. It believes through settings that it's doing the right thing and this shouldn't be happening. And so, you know, when people don't understand how it works and they want it to just be magical, that becomes a different problem again. Yeah, I think a lot of people are going to need to learn that lesson in this time period with these devices. So.
- [20:46]
B
Yeah, I mean, maybe one day, but not now. That's for sure. Yeah, that's for sure. You still have to put on some work into that.
- [20:52]
A
Exactly.
- [20:53]
B
But yeah. Yeah, So I guess. I don't know. I mean, I know we're over time, so I don't.
- [20:57]
A
You're fine. Listen, I mean, you can keep talking. I can keep talking. I just make a podcast, so I'm good.
- [21:02]
B
Oh, right. No, but you say something about the school management, and I think that's something also that the first year, you know, we rely on a school nurse and she's a wonderful person, but I think she has a very different way of managing that we do. And she also has. There is four type, one kids at the school and one nurse. And so she has to make sure that they all stay alive all day. Right. And they all do recess and they all do pee. And so, you know, at first, like, she was running. I mean, I'm sure she ran the other kids pretty high, but, like, she was running my daughter pretty high. And so there is a lot of back and forth that goes in, like, hey, texting the nurse and being like, hey, she's going up, up. Like, it's been a while. It would be nice if you could just do a little bullets here, because we're not comfortable with her being like, at 200, you know, and. And so that has been a lot of adjustment. And I think most of the time she she does a good job and honestly I would lose my mind If I had 14 type 1 kids to manage. But it's true that you. It's. It's sometimes frustrating when someone has a very different approach and like the pre bolus is a little short and the correctional a little bit aggressive when you know there is a low because she wants to sure the kids are safe and so that has been a challenge. And I think when my daughter is able to manage on her own a little bit more. I think you had mentioned in several episodes that you were just texting with Arden and she was doing a lot of management that way. So I'm really looking forward that stage because I think it will be a.
- [22:36]
A
Little bit easier to manage that you're going to loop her into this as soon as possible and take the nurse out of the moment to moment.
- [22:47]
B
I think she's not ready for that but I think when she is it probably be a little bit more straightforward to manage with my daughter. I mean I don't know when she will be ready to do that but I think I know that some kids in fifth grade are already kind of taking care of bullying and all that stuff texting with her parents. So I feel like that's probably the age where we'll try to transition to her managing a little bit more. But yeah, I think it's challenging like the day to day and the schedule at school is really not very well suited for a kid with type one for sure.
- [23:23]
A
No, no. I think you'll find out. I don't know if there's a certain age I think you'll see where it works for her. You know what I mean? Like you'll see where she's ready for it. But I agree that you make a great point. The nurse is doing an awesome job. Right. And it's a tough one at that. But at the same time taking out the gaps and you know the time it takes to accomplish something, you know, hey, can you please bolus? Because this is happening when you knew 20 minutes ago you wanted to use insulin.
- [23:52]
B
Yeah.
- [23:52]
A
If it would be just as easy as like hey sweetie, like let's just do a half a unit right here and. And she could pick up a phone, push two buttons and be done with it again. Then you save that 45 minutes that you know that you never go up to 200. You never end up having to do more later getting low because of that. Like it's a great. Texting is as far as I'm concerned, diabetes parenting. Texting is maybe One of the most important tools for management.
- [24:21]
B
Yeah, I can see that. So I think eventually that's where we'll go. But yeah, it's just difficult when there's a lot of different people managing your kids diabetes. Everybody's different. Everybody has a slightly different level of comfort with lows and highs. And I'm like an anti high person. I would. If I could have her always under 140, I'll be like, so happy. But that's not realistic. And I'm more comfortable, like, I don't like when she goes lows, and she almost never goes low because we always try to avoid when we see a dawn arrow, which is microdose skittles. But if she goes low, I know that have a lot of different tools that I can reach for before it gets too low. So I know this arrow is going down very quickly. She's been running. This is a gel situation, but maybe this situation is a gummy. And so I feel like you have a lot of different doses that you can reach for and vehicle to get sugar into her that I'm more comfortable with that. Then when it's high, it takes forever to get her down. So that drives me crazy.
- [25:26]
A
Yeah. No. And perfectly honest. But this is a thing I find myself saying all the time. But diabetes takes the effort. It takes. You're putting in a lot of effort, whether you're doing it and keeping the blood sugar from spiking or letting it spike and then bringing it back down again. I think it's less effort to keep it from spiking than it is to fight with it after it has spiked. Right. So I always think, like, people are just putting their effort sometimes in the wrong place on the clock, you know?
- [25:53]
B
Oh, for sure.
- [25:54]
A
Yeah, for sure.
- [25:55]
B
I mean, when you're high, it's. Yeah. It's a journey to get down.
- [25:59]
A
Do you want to spend two minutes with it here at 9:00am or do you want to spend two hours with it at 11:00am yeah, that's the way I think about it. And I just. I think being proactive. Listen, being proactive in life in general is. Is valuable, but like, you know, doing it in diabetes, I think it just saves you a lot of. A lot of time and a lot of a mental focus that you can be on something else, you know, for sure.
- [26:23]
B
Also a lesson that we learned in the first year.
- [26:25]
A
Good, good, good, good. I'm glad. Listen, earlier, did I mishear you or did you say that your daughter watches Simone Biles videos while you're changing her stuff? Okay. I wasn't sure if, like, because of, like. Because your accent's not, like, not. I mean, you speak very clearly. Like, but I. It went by so quickly. I'm like, did she say Simone Biles?
- [26:46]
B
Yes, I did. She. She does gymnastic, and she's a huge fan of sim. And she was. I mean, she was so scared of the pump. Like, the Omnipod, you know, when it gets in, like, the cannula gets in. And she was crying so much, and I was like, okay, like, let's watch a YouTube video. And for some reason, I was like, oh, you love gymnastics. So I put on gymnastics on YouTube. And, you know, Simone Biles routine comes in, and she's, like, mesmerized, obviously, because Simone Biles is awesome. And so we've spent probably, like, the first three months on the pump watching in, like, reruns and of Simon Biles routine during pump change. So she's seen, like, the floor routine at the Olympic, like, probably a million times.
- [27:30]
A
Right.
- [27:31]
B
But it's. It's pretty cool.
- [27:33]
A
So let me give you a little something that you can do. So Charlotte Drury, who is an Olympic trampolineist, is. Trampoline is the word. She's been on the podcast, but she has type 1 diabetes.
- [27:44]
B
Ooh. Okay.
- [27:45]
A
So if you ever want to watch her bounce for that. And as a bonus, her girlfriend is Lori Hernandez.
- [27:51]
B
Oh, no way.
- [27:52]
A
Yeah.
- [27:53]
B
That's awesome. Okay. Yes. We definitely need to check that out.
- [27:55]
A
That'll be.
- [27:56]
B
She's gonna be super excited about this.
- [27:58]
A
I thought that might help a little bit. Yeah. Yeah.
- [28:00]
B
So thank you.
- [28:00]
A
Yeah. Charlotte's awesome. Charlotte's been on the podcast. I don't know if Lori jumped on at the end or not, or if it was a conversation we had privately, but she was delightful, too. But, yeah. Yeah. So if you want, you know, Charlotte has type one, so you can show her some of her trampoline routines.
- [28:15]
B
Oh, yeah, that would be great. Because she Sometimes she's a little bit embarrassed, like, at gymnastic, because she has her devices hanging out. And people are usually pretty nice. You just say, I'm tired to. To answer questions. Everybody always asks me the same question, why do I have a device? And I have to explain to them that have diabetes? And I'm like, I'm sorry. I think it's going to be for the rest of your life, honey. But so it's nice to see other people that have devices as well.
- [28:38]
A
Well, yeah. And let me say this. And this is something. You're obviously her mom. You'll do what you want, but she doesn't have to explain it to them if she doesn't want to.
- [28:45]
B
Yeah, that's true.
- [28:46]
A
Yeah. So, I mean, she needs to. It's tough to learn at 7 years old, but forced is the wrong word. But I don't think she should feel forced by other people to make them comfortable if it makes her uncomfortable, you know?
- [28:58]
B
Yeah.
- [28:58]
A
So, yeah, Charlotte is on episode 682 of the podcast, by the way.
- [29:03]
B
682. Okay, I'll check that out.
- [29:05]
A
Thank you. Okay, absolutely. What else you got? I feel like I talked a lot in the beginning and I might have kept you off of things you wanted to say. For example, in your note, you said life in general, grief and lack of awareness. What did you mean by grief?
- [29:20]
B
Oh, grief. I think for me, grief was, like, I was saying at the beginning, maybe being pretty stoic through the diagnosis, but then being very hangry afterwards. And I think is sometimes regretting a little bit how easy it was before diabetes. Like, we could just go out. We didn't have to think about, do I have low snacks, do I have my insulin, do I have everything? And I think we haven't stopped doing the stuff that we love doing. So we went camping, we've traveled, all that good stuff. But it just takes a little bit of extra efforts. And there is moments where I'm like, everything's fine. And you're like, oh, well, this really sucks. And I think that never necessarily leaves you. So that's the grief part. And the second piece is the long term consequences of diabetes. I know that, you know, she's going to live all her life with it, and sometimes it seems very daunting. You know, it's great to see that there's a lot of people that have it and that are great role models. They've done so many things with their life. So that. That's very encouraging. But you always have those moments where you're like, oh, well, this really sucks and it's not going to go away. I think that's something that I realized through the past year that you have to kind of process through.
- [30:35]
A
Yeah. You know, I found myself telling somebody the other day that I just, I. I do wonder sometimes, like, what was Arden's life going to be like without all this? And what was. What was ours going to be like and without all this happening? And, I mean, obviously we'll never know, but I do and I do think about it sometimes. Like, you know, like, there's days where I'm like, I don't want to be doing this.
- [30:57]
B
Yeah.
- [30:57]
A
You know, she and I are, you know, in the middle of something where she's like, oh, he's. You know, I don't want my dad involved in this, which is something I've been ready for my whole life. Like, I didn't not know it was coming. You know what I mean? And I. And then there I go. I go, that's cool. I don't need to be involved. And it still. It's not a smooth transition still.
- [31:15]
B
Yeah.
- [31:15]
A
There's a thing like this is shaping our relationship. Like, I want to be completely clear. It's going to be okay. Like, we're going to make our way through it. This is a thing like, you have to go through, because this is the situation, but would have been cool if this wasn't the situation.
- [31:30]
B
Yeah, exactly. And I think that's. Yeah. You know, I think you can always wonder, like, what it would have been like. So I think, generally speaking, that's what I meant. And I think grief is very different from different people. But for me, it was more like kind of a little bit of regrets, like, how our life could be. But at the same time, I think we have gained a lot of things through the experience. I think I'm a better person. We. We are. Have a stronger marriage, and we've met so many incredible people. So the silver linings is, you know, exist. It's just sometimes, you know, the grift strikes. You're like, oh, this sucks.
- [32:09]
A
Well, the rest of that thought for me is that I have to. I can't sit here and tell you I. I see other people, and it seems like everybody wants what they don't have or the opposite of what they get, and then I can't do the same thing. So when I'm having that feeling, I try to go to what you just said. Like, there's also a lot of it that's come out of it that's been positive. And, you know, and so I. You try to pay attention to that. Would you trade it? Of course you would trade it. Like, you know, anything positive that comes out of type 1 diabetes, I'd be happy to give away right now if it meant it didn't exist, you know, but since that's not the reality of it, I'm. I'm trying not to lose sight of the things that have come from it that have been good. So.
- [32:51]
B
Yeah, totally.
- [32:52]
A
And continue to be.
- [32:54]
B
Yep. Go ahead.
- [32:54]
A
No, it. And these things continue to happen.
- [32:57]
B
Yeah, Right. Yeah.
- [32:58]
A
So.
- [32:59]
B
Yeah, for sure.
- [32:59]
A
Yeah. And they. They. It's not just because I have this podcast or I get to go talk to people and, you know, tell them, like, do a better job and maybe that'll actually help somebody, stuff like that. I mean, just like, personally, you know, like I really. Talking to Arden's friend last week on the phone, like, I felt really awesome. When I was done, I was like, wow. Like, there's one person I'm used to talking to a lot of people, but I don't really get a lot of opportunities when I'm not being recorded to talk to somebody and say, like, you know, tell me where you're, you know, where are your problems? Let me see if I can help you get through them and then have them at the end go, wow, thank you, that was awesome. Like, I'm, I'm going to be better off now because of this. I was like, you know, that's a good thing. It's come.
- [33:38]
B
Yeah, it feels good. It feels good.
- [33:40]
A
Really does.
- [33:41]
B
And then you said lack of awareness. I think that one is. I mean, we all are confronted to this. I think people have, that have had diabetes for years and newly diagnosed people. But I think there is a general lack of awareness in the world about diabetes. What that means, what that means for parents, what I mean, for someone that has diabetes. Like you were saying at the very beginning of the episode, the example you gave about the insurance company, we all have lives, we all are sleep deprived because maybe the CGM went off at 3am and people just don't get it unless they have lived through it. And so. And you always constantly have to educate about like diabetes. And no, she didn't eat too much sugar when she was a baby. You know, it's just, it's like silly stuff like that that keeps coming up and you're like, come on, people, it's not that hard. But I guess it is maybe hard to understand when you're not living in it. And. Right. But you're even.
- [34:37]
A
You're a bright person. You know that everybody doesn't know everything about everything. Right. So what.
- [34:42]
B
And even me, like the injection example that you gave, I think, yeah, being confronted to this makes me more aware, but it's just very frustrating sometimes to have to educate. And you're like, come on, just go on the Internet and Google it. You know, like Ask ChatGPT. I don't know, do you really want.
- [34:58]
A
Them to understand or you just want them to not ask you about it?
- [35:02]
B
That's a good question. I think in some situation not ask about it is probably the more, the more appropriate move for some people. I think people just don't realize that they are a bit intrusive. But I think I want them to ask about it because if they are educated, hopefully they have a little bit more understanding what's going on for other people in other encounters. And so it's, I'm, I'm, I'm of both ways. I think in some situation I would rather not have to deal with it. But in, at the end of the day, I think the more productive approach is to try to educate. So here we are.
- [35:39]
A
I don't ask because I'm judging. I ask because I really like people have this question over and over again and I keep thinking, like, what fixes it for you? Because you're not going to like, this is an appropriate thing. It's November 19th. We're in like smack dab in the middle of Diabetes Awareness Month, which I think they changed the name of or something. But anyway. And I've watched it in this space forever. I don't even get involved in it. Like, I don't do extra different stuff or I'm doing diabetes awareness every day of my life. Like, so, like, I don't need to do it special because it's November. But at the same time I step back and watch everyone else do it. I'm like, this is just a den of noise now and there's so much of it. I care about it and it's starting to bother me. You really think a person from the outside is seeing one or two posts about this and going, oh, I really should learn more about type 1 diabetes. I'm like, because they're not. Do you see what I'm saying?
- [36:29]
B
Yeah, I totally. I agree. And I think, I do think that big initiatives are great, but it's probably more one on one that you educate more effectively.
- [36:39]
A
Yes.
- [36:39]
B
I think what's frustrating is not so much complete strangers is the people that are in a closer circle that, you know, may I say we're very lucky because most of our friends and family have been amazing and they've like tried to read and learn about it, but there is from time to time someone that you're like, okay, it's been a year. Like we've, you've seen it. Like, just go read about it. I don't want to spend extra energy explaining to you, like, if you care about us, just go educate yourself. And I think that's. Maybe I'm not being very empathetic to the other person here, but I'm also tired that I wake up at 3am I don't want to have to explain this.
- [37:20]
A
You don't have the ceiling for empathy anymore.
- [37:22]
B
I'm good. Yeah, yeah, I have to use it up all up.
- [37:26]
A
Either shut up or learn about it on your own. But like, you don't, don't come asking me for help because, yeah, I don't have an extra half a second in my brain.
- [37:35]
B
I think the best thing that a friend, like several friends actually have done is being like, hey, I went on this website and I read about this and can you tell me a little bit more about CGM or about this? How is it for lira? And I just felt so seen and so supported by those friends that they just on their own were like, hey, this is something really big. We want to help, we want to learn about it. And, and I hope people have those friends in their lives because we've been super lucky to have many of them and we love you. They probably would never listen to this.
- [38:15]
A
Well, they might also. How do we all get your friends? That's what I was wondering, like, how my. Where are you meeting people at? This is awesome.
- [38:21]
B
Yeah, yeah, we've been, yeah, we've been really lucky.
- [38:24]
A
So it really is giving to spend some time like that, you know, but it also, by the way, is indicative of the fact that their life allows them that kind of time.
- [38:32]
B
Yeah, true, true.
- [38:34]
A
And not everybody even has the, the bandwidth for it really. I think I've been, I somehow been searching for the word bandwidth like for the last half an hour and it hasn't come out of my mouth, you know, in a lot of different parts of the conversation. You know, we have much less of it and some people get more. And by the way, I've seen people be mad at those people like for having extra bandwidth. Like, you know, like. And I've had that thought sometimes, like not, not in an anger way, but you know, when people get really angry about something that you now think of as trivial, that you might have a year and a half ago been angry about. Like, I think that diabetes ups your perspective like 50 years.
- [39:14]
B
Yes.
- [39:15]
A
You're suddenly walking around with the perspective of like a 90 year old woman who's just like, you know, everything's on fire. And she's like, it'll be fine, don't worry.
- [39:22]
B
Yeah, yeah, totally. Oh y. That's.
- [39:26]
A
And that's one of the things I'm happy to have like from it. It is one. But I've also seen people be pissed that they don't, that they don't have that kind of time. And other people do. Like, Right. I've. I've heard it talked about two ways. Like, I would. You know, if you're listening, I would hope that when you see somebody else who's complaining about something that you now know is trivial, that you would just say, like, oh, lucky them. That they're not burdened by the things that. That I am. You know, that they can. That they can spend a whole day being mad about this. Like, good for them. Their lives must be free and easy. And I'm happy for them, you know?
- [40:00]
B
Yeah, I. Yeah. You know, I think we don't know what's going on in other people's life. So even if they seem to have time to complain about something trivial, maybe something else is going on. It's. Sometimes I'm trying to approach it that way, and I'm like, whatever works for you. If you're happy, you have the bandwidth. Not the bandwidth, but, yeah, you know, we all human, so sometimes we get frustrated.
- [40:23]
A
Cut everybody a break. I think just, you know, be on your way and everything. But that's a great advice. Also, we have. I have an episode in the Pro Tip series that explains type one to people on the outside. So if you ever just, like, want to throw it out, be like, look, if you really care that much, here's 45 minutes. This will explain to you what my life's like.
- [40:42]
B
Yeah.
- [40:42]
A
You know, but again, that's a weird thing to do, too.
- [40:45]
B
That's.
- [40:46]
A
Yeah, that's not a thing I would do. Isn't it funny? It's a thing I created because people ask for it, but I would. I wouldn't do it.
- [40:53]
B
Like, I. Yeah, I don't know how this will be received. You know what? That's an interesting experiment. Like, maybe with some very good friend, I'd be like, hey, but they already have done their homework, so I don't think they necessarily need it. So I don't know.
- [41:06]
A
There's plenty of stuff I do on the podcast. It's for other people that I think I'm like, I wouldn't do this, but, like, all right. Yeah. I mean, perfectly honest with you. You said something earlier made me feel good, like, you're enjoying the bolus four episodes. Those are a thing that I did that I was like, I don't really feel like we need to do this, but. And then I realized that for some people, it would be really helpful. And I thought, well, then I make it for them. Not for. It's not for me, it's for them.
- [41:34]
B
I love it. I. Because it gives you strategies, and maybe it won't work exactly the same for sure, my kid or myself. But it gives you, like, a way of thinking about it, and you're like, okay, I'm gonna try this, and then we'll see what happened, and then we can kind of tweak it. And the bread was super helpful. I don't know if you've done pasta, but if you. If you have a pasta episode, I'll. I will save it and listen to it 50 times, because we are really having problems with pasta, but we're still.
- [42:04]
A
Working on the list of things. Sadly, Jenny has a life and a job. I can't just, like, snatch her up whenever I want to. Although I stole her. I stole. Or for the. For the Thanksgiving one. Like, you'll actually. I think I left it in the beginning, where I'm just like, jenny wasn't supposed to record. I made her come do this.
- [42:18]
B
We all need it. Okay. Thanksgiving is a big deal. I think Halloween is the most hellish holiday that was invented for diabetic, but. But we made it true for the second time. So.
- [42:32]
A
Good. Good, good. Yeah, it should. Well, yeah. You had to do it the first time. Like, fresh. Like fresh. Right? Oh, boy.
- [42:37]
B
That was rough. Yeah.
- [42:39]
A
Yeah. I remember Arden diagnosed in August, and then we went to our first JDRF walk in October, and as you're approaching the walk and getting going, it's. It's outside of Philadelphia, and there's a giant table of soft pretzels.
- [42:53]
B
Oh, my gosh.
- [42:53]
A
And I was like, is this a joke?
- [42:57]
B
Like, hey, good luck. Enjoy your walk.
- [43:00]
A
I was like, is this. This is mean. Why did someone do this?
- [43:06]
B
Wow. Yeah. Well, this is for the. The. The. The supporters. It's not for the type of thing.
- [43:11]
A
Well, I don't know. I. In my. In my wildest dreams, in that moment, I was like, what? Because she saw it. She's like, pretzel. And I was like, yeah, awesome.
- [43:18]
B
Then, yeah.
- [43:19]
A
You know, now she's on, and it's cold, and she's got a jacket on. And now I'm, like, in the weeds with a needle giving her an injection in the back of her arms so she can have her pretzel.
- [43:28]
B
Oh, my God.
- [43:28]
A
And I totally get the pretzel wrong. And her blood sugar gets high, but we don't have a cgm, so I don't know that. And, like, you know, then you. You look at her a half an hour later, she looks like a zombie. And you're like, what's happening? You test your blood sugar. It's super high. And you're like, oh, my God. Like, that was literally, like, maybe that was the pretzel. It was like six weeks after she was diagnosed.
- [43:47]
B
Ah, this is so hard. Yeah. We did Halloween. What? It was. Well, we get out. Got out of the hospital, and it was Halloween the next day, and she wanted to go trick or treating, and so we did it. And I don't even remember, honestly. I was in such a daze for the first few weeks that I remember a mom saying to her kid, and she was just, like, walking by, and she's like, oh, don't eat too much sugar. You're gonna get diabetes. And I'm sure I said it at some point in my life like an idiot. But it hit differently when your kid just got out of the hospital with a T1D diagnosis. I was like, ooh, this one hurts.
- [44:23]
A
The cops got called because there's a French lady beating somebody up in a bush.
- [44:26]
B
Yeah, no, yeah. No, see, I was just like. I know. I just pretended I did. I ignored it, but ye. That was bad.
- [44:35]
A
Did you look inward in that? Did you think, oh, I probably said that in the past?
- [44:39]
B
I did. Yeah. I was like, oh, gosh, that's terrible. You know, I probably said that, but I probably say a million stupid things that, in retrospect, probably were hurtful. And sometimes when you reflect and you're like, oh, what an idiot. I should have never said that or done that. But it's too late. And so you can just try to learn from it.
- [44:59]
A
I don't want to freeze everybody, but imagine all the other things you don't understand that you're saying all day long.
- [45:04]
B
Oh, gosh. Yeah, I'm sure. Sure. But that one was like, yeah.
- [45:09]
A
I have this odd thought exercise that I do sometimes where I wonder just you do something and you realize, like, oh, I was misunderstood in this situation, or that's not what I meant. And it's just in your. It's in your house, it's with your husband or your kids, you're like, oh, they're misunderstanding me. Do you ever wonder, like, if they're being misunderstood too?
- [45:28]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [45:29]
A
And then you look back and you go, are any of us communicating how we actually feel to each other or hearing it like. Like, I don't know, Are we all just five steps off of. Of really understanding what's happening around us? Right.
- [45:42]
B
Maybe.
- [45:42]
A
Oh, I think about that all the time.
- [45:44]
B
Yeah. I think some people are very good at communicating their thoughts and their needs, and we're trying to teach that to our kids because at 4, we have a lot of big emotion that we try to rationalize somehow. But, yeah, it's tough. I'm sure we sometimes miss on what the other person is trying to say. For sure.
- [46:06]
A
All I know is, is that there's a way I know I am, and then there's a way I know I'm perceived. And then I think, well, then when I'm perceiving my son or my daughter or my wife, that they don't feel exactly the way I'm perceiving them either. And it's. It's just. I don't know, like, when you really stop and think about it, it'll make your brain explode. Yeah.
- [46:28]
B
I don't know if I want to do this. It's too early in the morning. I just don't.
- [46:34]
A
It just. It really. It flips me out. I', like, oh, gosh. Like, I don't know if what I think is happening is really happening sometimes.
- [46:40]
B
Yeah, you're in the matrix.
- [46:41]
A
And what if everyone's having that experience at the same time, but we're together? I don't know. Like, I don't even know how to do the calculus on it, but I know it makes me. It fries my brain a little bit. I would probably need to smoke weed and then talk about it, because I don't know that. Like, because you kind of get to an end point in the thought where you're like, ah, you know, Anyway, maybe that will help.
- [47:01]
B
Maybe that will help. I don't know.
- [47:02]
A
Yeah, good luck. Well, good luck to everybody. Like, go. Go have your own deep thoughts. I have to thank you very much for doing this. I know I kept you longer than normal, but I really thought that sharing my brother's story in the beginning there, even though it took up some time, I really did think it was. It fit here. So I appreciate you sitting through that while I was talking about it.
- [47:25]
B
Well, thanks for sharing. And also, I really hope he's doing better.
- [47:27]
A
Thank you. We should find out together. I'm gonna text him. I have two texts to send this morning. One. And I have to send one to Rob, the guy that edits the podcast, because he had a little bit of a meltdown last night, like, in text, but I was asleep.
- [47:40]
B
He's gonna have so much fun trying to figure out my accent.
- [47:45]
A
But. But he. Oh, God. What happened here? Do you ever do ever, like, you know, somebody starts texting and then they text again and again and again? You're like, oh, they're in trouble.
- [47:54]
B
Yeah. Or you're like, I'm not gonna. I'm not. Or sometimes I'm like, ignore until I feel ready to deal with like 10 texts.
- [48:00]
A
Well, Rob, Rob, just so you know, I. I was asleep last night when you texted this stuff, so I'm sorry, but I'll get back to you right now. And my other text is to my brother. Actually, I'm going to do it right now. I'm going to say. I'm going to say. Here's what I'm going to say. I'm going to say, anissa and I.
- [48:18]
B
Want to know if you're doing better.
- [48:19]
A
Are wondering if you're feeling better. Hopefully he doesn't see that. I think it says anal. All right, here we go. Hold on a second. You were great. Thank you so much.
- [48:29]
B
Thank you so much.
- [48:37]
A
I'd like to remind you again about the MiniMed 780G automated insulin delivery system, which, of course anticipates, adjusts and corrects every five minutes 24 7. It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. The Juicebox community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, Visit my link medtronicdiabetes.com Juicebox I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries, the Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter. Learn more and get started today@contornext.com juicebox. And don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the Contour Next gen in cash. There are links in the show, notes of the audio app you're listening in right now and links@juiceboxpodcast.com to contour and all of the sponsors. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box Podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend. And if you leave a five star review, ooh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card? If you've ever heard a diabetes term and thought, okay, but what does that actually mean? You need the Defining Diabetes series from the Juice Box Podcast. Defining Diabetes takes all of those phrases and terms that you don't understand and makes them clear, quick and easy episodes. Find out what bolus means, basal insulin sensitivity, and all of the rest. There has to be over 60 episodes of defining diabetes. Check it out now in your audio player, or go to juiceboxpodcast.com and go up into the menu. 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 juicebox podcast type 1 diabetes on Facebook. Have a podcast? Want it to sound fantastic? Wrongwayrecording.com.