#1769 Top Dog

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1769: Top Dog (February 12, 2026)
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Kathleen (Computer Scientist, Dog Trainer, Longtime Diabetes Blogger)

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Overview

In this candid, wide-ranging episode, Kathleen shares her journey living with type 2 diabetes managed with insulin and technology, her deep roots in both dog training and early diabetes blogging, and her experience with alert dogs versus CGMs. The conversation flows from personal history and clinical management to the unique value—and costs—of diabetes alert dogs, as well as the impact of online diabetes community, self-advocacy, and technical curiosity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Kathleen’s Diabetes Timeline & Management (02:35–13:00)

• Diagnosis & Family History:

  • Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2002 at age 42—the same age her father was diagnosed; father died at 48 from diabetes complications.
  • Heavy family history: both paternal grandparents and mother had type 2.

• Initial Treatment:

  • Started with metformin, which caused intolerable GI side effects as a high school teacher.
  • Switched to insulin at her cousin, a teaching pharmacist’s, suggestion (“That’s the gold standard.” – 05:49).

• Insulin Journey:

  • Began with Lilly’s 70/30 premixed insulin—problematic for her lifestyle (“You have to time your meals around it and it just doesn't work well.” – 05:50).
  • Transitioned to insulin pumps:
    • Animus pump improved management and quality of life
    • Used Medtronic when insurance required
    • Currently: Omnipod 5 and Dexcom G7 CGM.

• Type 2, Not Type 1 Confirmed:

  • Despite high insulin needs (80–100 units/day), C-peptide tests confirmed type 2 (09:11).

• Adjuvant Medications:

  • Metformin intolerant, uses Farsiga now.
  • Byetta, Victoza (helped with low awareness), Ozempic (gained weight, couldn’t get higher doses due to shortages), now on Manjaro (highest dose, 12.5 mg).

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Weight and Lifestyle, Struggles and Successes (15:51–24:45)

• Weight Journey:

  • Highest: 320 lbs (“And I was running three dogs in agility, and that's about 40,000 steps a day.” – 19:09)
  • Lap-band surgery 12 years ago dropped her to 260, but weight plateaued
  • Manjaro catalyzed further loss: now under 220 lbs

• Lifestyle:

  • Lifelong gymgoer and dog agility competitor/practitioner
  • Sleep apnea (due to an old jaw injury–25:05), binge eating, and teaching stress contribute to metabolic challenges

• Exercise:

  • Follows Arnold Schwarzenegger's Pump Club routine (six days a week, 113 weeks and counting)

“I'm athletic. It's just a lot of me. And I've been doing Arnold Schwarzenegger's pump club for 113 weeks.” – Kathleen, 22:26

• Medical Goals:
  • A1C: 5.9
  • Aim: “I just want to live longer than my father, and I've managed to do that.” (58:50)

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Diabetes Alert Dogs vs. CGMs (11:11–13:00, 52:23–54:21)

• Alert Dogs:

  • Has trained several alert dogs (notably Dulce the beagle, “Sweet Temptation”): “She always told me way before the Dexcom did.”
  • Dogs proved early warning, including during gym visits (“Don’t you ever come to this gym again without the dog.” – 12:31).

• Major Message:

  • Dogs are expensive—vet bills, training, and upkeep add up.
  • CGMs now reliably replace much of what alert dogs offer.

“People should not get diabetes alert dogs.” – Kathleen, 52:23
“CGMs work just as well as the dogs do now.” – Kathleen, 53:01

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The Birth and Value of Diabetes Blogging (27:34–43:40)

• Early Blogger Status:

  • Claims to be “the oldest living diabetic blogger”—started in 2004 (Kweaver.org), mainly to document her technical and personal journey for herself and others.
  • “If you don’t write it down, you didn’t do it.” (32:13)

• Blog’s Impact:

  • Anonymously supported others, particularly in technology choices (“Any time I get into a problem, I document it so I can go back and don’t have to research it again.” – 28:47)
  • Collaborated and corresponded with major figures (e.g., Amy Tenderich/DiabetesMine, Scott Johnson, Scott Hanselman)

• Blog Community & Anonymity:

  • Shared stories of other medical bloggers (like “The Flea”) as cautionary tales about online disclosure.
  • “Nerds make money being nerdy. Dorks don’t.” – Kathleen, 32:43

• Blog Monetization:

  • Occasionally received advertising revenue; more for documentation and community than profit.

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Reflections on the Diabetes Online Community (41:14–51:11)

• Community Dynamics:

  • Scott reflects on feeling isolated from early diabetes blog conversations (“I just started to write. I wasn’t aware of a community or an idea.” – 40:41)
  • Kathleen and Scott reminisce about the era of diabetes blog rings, early social media outreach, and the rise of “diabetes Scots.”

• Tech Evolution & Podcasting:

  • Both note how the audience and technology have evolved (from raw technical blogging to accessible podcasts and social media).
  • Scott simplifies modern episode descriptions with AI due to the scale and feedback from listeners (51:11).

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Training & Dog Show Anecdotes (57:05–62:13)

• Dog Training Credentials:
  • Top obedience beagle trainer (8x National Specialty obedience winner)
  • Frequently asked to handle other people’s dogs at shows

“By the time the weekend was done, I had this dog showing to where it could win. And she was able to sell it at the national specialty for more money. Because I had trained her dog …” – 60:53

• No Profit Motive:
  • Despite adding value, Kathleen does not profit from training (joking exchanges on whether she should get “a taste”).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On early pump therapy:
  “Medtronic was not interested in dealing with the type 2 at all, but Animus was.” (07:12)
• On dog training:
  “Every time someone gives me a dog or beagle, they give me a worse one than the one before. She was bouncing off the wall.” (11:03)
• On CGMs vs. Alert Dogs:
  “CGMs work just as well as the dogs do now.” (53:01)
• On starting her blog:
  “Anytime we turn things in, we had to write documentation for it, and I make kids do that. … If you don’t write it down, you didn’t do it.” (32:13, 49:36)
• On the diabetes online community:
  “I knew I was first and I didn’t care.” (42:52)
• “Nerds make money being nerdy. Dorks don’t.” (32:43)
• On dealing with parents vs. children:
  “I have no patience for parents. I have plenty of patience for kids, but I have absolutely no patience for parents.” (45:35)
• On professional vs. personal motivation:
  “I’m not in it for money. I’m just a nice person.” (62:23)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:35] Kathleen’s diagnosis, family history, initial treatment
• [05:50] Metformin, switch to insulin, beginning with 70/30, early insulin pump experience
• [11:00] Diabetes alert dog stories
• [15:51] GLP-1 medications, weight and lifestyle changes
• [22:26] Exercise routine and motivation
• [27:34] Kathleen’s history as a diabetes blogger, blog’s original purpose
• [31:01] The “Flea” story and medical blog cautionary tales
• [40:41] Early diabetes online community, personal recollections
• [52:23] Core message: “People should not get diabetes alert dogs.”
• [57:05] Dog show experiences, top obedience beagle accolades
• [58:50] Medical outcomes and goals: A1C “just want to live longer than my father … and I have.”

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Takeaways & Closing Reflections

• Kathleen’s message: The value of technology (CGMs and pumps) in diabetes management has now surpassed the utility of diabetes alert dogs for most; much of what once required a trained service animal can now be accomplished, more economically and efficiently, with modern devices.
• Community and Advocacy: Documenting and sharing your own diabetes journey (through blogging, podcasting, or other means) can help you—and others—navigate the complex realities of chronic disease.
• Persistence & Resilience: Kathleen’s story is one of perseverance through changing therapies, technology, and medical understanding, underscoring the importance of individualized care and staying engaged—however “nerdy” that may be.

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For more resources from Kathleen, visit her original blog:
kweaver.org

For more on diabetes technology and experiences:
JuiceboxPodcast.com

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Transcript

[A]

Here we are back together again, friends for another episode of the Juice Box Podcast.

[B]

Okay, I'm Kathleen. I am a type 2 diabetic who has been treated as a type 1 diabetic since 2005.

[A]

I am here to tell you about Juice Cruise 2026. We will be departing from Miami on June 21, 2026 for a seven night trip going to the Caribbean. That's right. We're going to leave Miami and then stop at Coco Cay in the Bahamas. After that it's on to Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas and a beautiful cruise through the Virgin Islands. The first Juice Cruise was awesome. The second one's going to be bigger, better and bolder. This is your opportunity to relax while making lifelong friends who have type 1 diabetes. Expand your community and your knowledge on Juice Cruise 2026. Learn more right [e-mail] JuiceCruise at that link you'll also find photographs from the first cruise. 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. 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 USMED. Today's episode is also sponsored by Eversense 365. The only one year Ware CGM. That's one insertion and one CGM a year. One CGM one year, not every 10 or 14 days. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox the podcast is also sponsored today by Tandem Moby, the impressively small insulin pump. Tandem MOBI features Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Technology. It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom and improved time and range. Learn more and get started [e-mail] Juicebox okay, I'm Kathleen.

[B]

I am a type 2 diabetic who has been treated as a type 1 diabetic since 2005. I was diagnosed in 2002. Doing the type 2 thing didn't work for me and so I did the Type one. I'm a dog trainer and I have had. I have two Diabetes Alert dogs and I had a third.

[A]

Oh well Kathleen, let's go back to the beginning here. So tell me how old you are today.

[B]

66.

[A]

66. And how long ago did somebody diagnose you with diabetes?

[B]

I was diagnosed in 2002. I was 42, which is the same age that my father was diagnosed and as a type died.

[A]

Good. I'm sorry.

[B]

Okay. He died at 48.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

I was diagnosed at 42 with this thing that killed my father. And I am a computer scientist. I have taught it for over 30 years. So you know what? I initially, I didn't start using technology for two years, and I didn't go to an endocrinologist for another two. And I'm actually the oldest living diabetic blogger.

[A]

Oh, hold on a second. Kathleen, wait. There's too much to unpack here. So let's, let's start slow. Your Dad's diagnosed at 42, type 2, but died six years later from diabetes or for something else from diet?

[B]

Well, complications of diabetes. He had congestive heart failure for three years.

[A]

Okay. And then you're diagnosed at the same age many years later with type 2 diabetes as well. And do you feel like that means, oh, gosh, I'll be dead soon when that initially happens to you, or do you not think like that?

[B]

Oh, yeah, I did. My mother did. Everybody in my family thought I was going to die like my dad did.

[A]

Did you think that?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, and what did you mean by you didn't touch technology for two years? And, and also, what did you mean that you're. You're being treated like a type 1? You just mean that you went to injectable insulin?

[B]

Oh, I'm on an insulin pump. I'm on the Omnipod 5 with the Dexcom G7.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I was on loop for a while, but I kept going low and I didn't like the politics. You like the politics, which we won't go into there.

[A]

So. Okay, taking it back to your diagnosis, though. You have a type 2 diagnosis and you. Are you telling me right now you have type 2 diabetes?

[B]

Well, my endocrinologist is driving me a little bit nuts now. To start with, I'm at least 3 generation diabetes. My grand. My father's parents also died of complications of diabetes. So both his parents died of complications of diabetes. And then my mother also has diabetes, type 2. But I type 2 and they gave me metform. I was a classroom teacher at the time, high school. Fortunately, the restroom was three doors away. But you can't just leave a group of high school students to go to the restroom. And especially five or six or seven times a day. You can't do that.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And so I had to go to another method, and my cousin at the time was a Teaching pharmacist. And she worked with the va and she had a lot of people on insulin. And she said, why don't you just go on insulin? You're not going to have the side effects. So I went to my primary care physician and said, you know, this medication isn't working for me. Here's my. Who my cousin is. She's published. She wants. She suggested I go on insulin. He says, great, that's the gold standard. And he hooked me up with, oh, my God, don't do this. Lily 37D insulin. It was awful because you have to time your meals around it and it just doesn't work well. And it certainly didn't work well for me. So I'm researching stuff and I had been blogging and I still have. My blog's still out there.

[A]

Well, Kathleen, are you telling me that initially he gave you something like, similar to regular MPH or something like that?

[B]

Well, it was. They still make it. It's Lily's 30, 70 or 70?

[A]

30, 77. Okay. Because when you said seven, I didn't. So 70, 30. They started you with.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The first insulin I was on was 70 30. So I'm struggling with this, gaining weight and working out and passing out, and it's just lovely. And so I tell him all the problems I'm having, and he says, you're a technologist. Go research insulin pumps. So Medtronic was not interested in dealing with the Type 2 at all, but Animus was. So I went on the Animus pump and things went a whole lot better and was able to work out, was able to teach, was able to do everything I needed to do do on the Animus pump. And I was on it for. I was on several permutations in the Animus pump. I did go to Medtronic for a while because that's all my insurance would cover. And Medtronic still didn't like it. And they had started doing the. An automated stuff. And I lost my endocrinologist, tired, and he switched me to another endocrinologist. My insurance didn't want to cover him. It was a mess.

[A]

So.

[B]

And then I.

[A]

We make sure I'm understanding because you're going quickly and we're jumping through the metformin. A lot of pooping. Can't do that. So somebody says, try insulin, but they put you on 7030, which is that premix. It's like, you know, it's 70%, like long acting, 30% short acting. And then you've kind of got to like, time your Food around it that doesn't work. You're getting low, you're passing out, bad stuff's happening there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And this is all happening through a gp that GP says, hey, you understand technology. Why don't you look into an insulin pump? You get yourself an insulin pump, things get better. How long is that process from? I have diabetes pooping myself. I've got an insulin pump. How long does it take you to get to that pump?

[B]

Two years.

[A]

Two years. Okay. And then you're 44 at that point. Right. Okay. And do you ever get checked, like, do they ever do a C peptide on you or anything like that?

[B]

Yes. And they said I was type two.

[A]

Okay. Type two, but you're type two, but you have a pretty big insulin need, so better just to do it this way now.

[B]

Right. I was. I was doing about 80 to 100 units a day.

[A]

Okay. And that's been for a long time now. You've been. You've been managing like that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. In the last handful of years, have they given you anything else? Have they. Did they try to get you back on metformin or do anything to try to get your insulin needs lower?

[B]

Yeah. Now the endocrinologist knows that I don't tolerate metformin. And so she doesn't ask me to put. She didn't ask me to go on to that. Now I have a male endocrinologist, and he's never brought it up either. They do have me on Farsiga. I've actually been on the doctor that disappeared, my insurance wouldn't cover. He had me on Victoza, and that helped a lot because after with being on insulin for so long and on, I started getting low unawareness. And I've been on all of the CGMs from the first Dexcom, and they weren't great in the beginning, and, yeah, they weren't great. And so I've been managing all this time. And a friend of mine gave me a little beagle. And her name was Sweet Temptation. Sweet Temptation. And I called her Dulce because we had some Dulce in my class. And this dog was. Every time someone gives me a dog or beagle, they give me a worse one than the one before. She was bouncing off the wall. So one day I said, dulce, you need a job. And it just hit me that I'd been training dogs forever and I had trained drug dogs. Why couldn't I train a dog to recognize my looks? So I researched it and I did it. And my endocrinologist at the time, this is the one that retired. He fell in love with her and he liked corgis and so he wrote a letter and she started going to school with me. You know, it's so ironic that she had a sweet face and the breeder named her Sweet Temptation and I named her Dulce. You know, logically, she should be a diabetes alert dog. And she was really good at it. She always told me way before the Dexcom did. I've always been on Dexcoms and she went everywhere with me. And she was tiny, she was 15 pounds, beagle, and she was perfect. In fact, one night I went to the gym without her, and the next day they said, don't you ever come to this gym again without the dog.

[A]

Did they miss the dog or they were afraid you're going to get low?

[B]

I think I went low because I have a friend who is a dog trainer and we would go to the dog show where she lives and we go out to dinner with her and she would go low and she would deny that she'd ever go low. She did not remember that she had gone low. So that makes you wonder when you see somebody else do that. How many times have you gone low and you didn't know it happens to you.

[A]

Maybe the Victoza. Are you still on that?

[B]

No, I'm on Nanjaro now. That's a whole fun story, too, in itself.

[A]

Well, yeah, I mean, it just makes a ton of sense for me, you to be on that. So how long did they leave you on the Victoza for? When did you switch over to the GLP with Manjaro? Let's talk about the Tandem Moby insulin pump from today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. Their newest algorithm, Control IQ plus technology and the new Tandem Moby pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control. It's the only system with auto bolus that helps with with missed meals and preventing hyperglycemia, the only system with a dedicated sleep setting, and the only system with off or on body wear options. Tandemoby gives you more discretion, freedom and options for how to manage your diabetes. This is their best algorithm ever and they'd like you to check it [e-mail] juicebox when you get to my link, you're going to see integrations with Dexcom sensors and a ton of other information that's going to help you learn about Tandem's tiny pump that's big on control. Tandem diabetes.com juicebox the Tandem Mobi system is available for people ages 2 and up who Want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up in range and address high blood sugars with auto bolus. Diabetes comes with a lot of things to remember, so it's nice when someone takes something off of your plate. Usmed has done that for us. When it's time for ardent supplies to be refreshed, we get an email rolls up and in your inbox says, hi, Arden, this is your friendly reorder email from usmed. You open up the email, it's a big button that says click here to reorder and you're done. Finally, somebody taking away a responsibility instead of adding one. Usmed has done that. First us an email arrives, we click on a link and the next thing you know, your products are at the front door. That simple usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514. I never have to wonder if Arden has enough supplies. I click on one link, I open up a box, I put the stuff in the drawer, and we're done. UsMed carries everything from insulin pumps to and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGMs like the Libre 3 and the Dexcom G7. They accept Medicare nationwide, over 800 private insurers. And all you have to do to get started is call 888-721-1514 or go to my link usmed.com juicebox using that number or my link helps to support the production of the Juice Box podcast.

[B]

That's a long story. So I was on vectors and I don't remember exactly how long, but that gave me my low awareness back and it controlled my blood sugar, but it didn't help me lose weight.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so when Ozempic came out by a different endocrinology, this is a female only female one, she put me on Ozempic and I gained weight on Ozempic. That crazy.

[A]

Can I ask you, do you think it's diet related? Exercise? What do you.

[B]

It's two things. It's sleep apnea and I have a binge eating disorder.

[A]

Okay?

[B]

And so it's those two things because teaching high school is kind of stressful. I don't know if you've ever figured that out or anybody else has.

[A]

I was very nice to those high school teachers. I don't know what you're talking about.

[B]

I was actually really good with all the diet. I only had 2 diabetics in my 25 years of teaching public school. I only had 2 diabetics in My classroom and I was really good to them. They could keep Whatever they wanted in my room. Everybody. I had to teach computer science. I had to have room for 28 computers. I had storage. So if you wanted to store your lacrosse equipment in my room, go right ahead. If you want to store snacks and stuff. If you want to put something in my refrigerator, go right ahead. But you've got to ask me because it's locked.

[A]

Tell me something. When you go on the Ozempic, you said you gained weight. What was the dose of Ozempic they gave you?

[B]

Well, I could. I don't remember what the dosage on Ozempic is, but I could never get a therapeutic dose. The pharmacist. The pharmacy would never let me, was never able to get me a higher dose because why? Oh, there was an Ozempic shortage.

[A]

Because of the shortage. Okay.

[B]

So you were using it because of the shortage.

[A]

You were using it, but you weren't using enough.

[B]

I was not. I never could never get enough.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because they. I think I was only on the second dose they could get you. You know, you try to rate up, and I think I was only on the second dose of the exempic. And every time we tried to increase it, the pharmacy literally couldn't get it and had to give me the other dose. So that was infuriating that so many people were getting it and I couldn't. But my doctor all along had wanted me on Manjaro, but my insurance wouldn't cover it. Well, when I turned 65, it was covered. The insurance changed, and not a lot, but it changed. And everything's covered with my insurance.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Right now. I mean, literally everything. I was looking up some things today, and I can get a Medtronic pump through the pharmacy.

[A]

Awesome. Well, okay. So how long have you been on the Manjaro, then?

[B]

I've been on Manjaro for two years.

[A]

Okay. Oh, okay.

[B]

And I am at the lowest weight I've ever been, so my highest weight. And this drives me nuts. At my highest weight, I weighed 320 lbs. And. And I was running three dogs in agility, and that's about 40,000 steps a day.

[A]

320 pounds. How tall?

[B]

Five, four.

[A]

Five.

[B]

Four or five? Three.

[A]

Okay. And so, I mean. Significantly overweight.

[B]

Oh, God, yes.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Okay. You go on. Two years ago at 320. Can you tell me what you weigh now?

[B]

Well, I wasn't at 320 then. I had a lap band done about 12 years ago.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And that was. That was not. And that was not good. It. It helped. And my set point where my body Wants to be now with the lap band is 260 and oh, what do they tell you about the lap band? You'll lose £60 on it. So I've been stuck at 260 for a lot while. I'll go on Chitty Craig or I'll do. There was something called Profile, which honestly was the no food diet. It was low. No carb, low fat, low protein. I mean literally the no food diet.

[A]

Kathleen, tell me, and what's your dose of Manjaro?

[B]

12.5.

[A]

You're 12.5. And you are you. I mean, listen, are you eating through it? Like, are you able to get calories in even though you're on it? When you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life is the first thing you think about. I love that I have to change it all the time. I love the warm up period every time I have to change it. I love that when I bump into a door frame, sometimes it gets ripped off. I love that the adhesive kind of gets mushy sometimes when I sweat and falls off. No, these are not the things that you love about a cgm. Today's episode of the Juicebox podcast is sponsored by the Eversense365, the only CGM that you only have to put on once a year and the only CGM that won't give you any of those problems. The Eversense 365 is the only one year CGM designed to minimize device frustration. It has exceptional accuracy for one year with almost no false alarms from compression lows while you're sleeping. You can manage your diabetes instead of your CGM with the Eversense365. Learn more and get started today at Eversensecgm.com JuiceBox One year, one CGM.

[B]

Oh, yeah. So right now I'm at just below 220 and this is the lowest I've weighed probably since I was diabetic.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And I go to a big gym. I go to a lifetime. It's a huge gym. Everybody that works there knows my name. Everybody who goes to the. And I've been there since it opened almost two years ago. Someone on the way out that works there says, do you live here? And I said, yeah, I do. And I go to the gym six days a week. Since I've been teaching, I've gone to a gym and I have worked out. Now, there have been times that teaching got a little too busy and I missed weeks, but I've always had a gym membership. I've always worked out. I mean, I ran dog agility with three dogs, so at 320 pounds. And so I'm athletic. It's just a lot of me. And I've been doing Arnold Schwarzenegger's pump club for 113 weeks. Finished 113 yesterday.

[A]

That's amazing. But you've lost £100 in two years.

[B]

No, I started when they put me.

[A]

On from the lap band. Till now.

[B]

I lost 60 pounds from the lap band.

[A]

Okay. Then another 40 from the Manjaro.

[B]

That. I've lost another 40 on Manjaro.

[A]

And that's been two years you've been on that?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so. But tell me, in the course of a day, do you know how many calories you're taking in daily?

[B]

No. I use Arnold's fubar diet, and I never meet any of his targets. I don't eat enough protein, according to him. I don't eat enough carbs, according to him. I don't eat enough fat.

[A]

Now, listen, he had a pretty massive heart attack in his 50s.

[B]

So I'm actually doing the exact same workout he does today. And it is six days a week. Right now, I'm at five sets of 20 reps, six exercises. I get in, I get out.

[A]

Wait, but you're doing those exercises six days a week? You're on 12 and a half of Manjaro, and you tell me that seven days will go by and your weight won't change.

[B]

I'm losing a pound or two a month, according to my. Which is. Okay, I can live with that. This is what's so much fun. My endocrinologist is like, oh, this is great. You're doing great. Just keep doing what you're doing. Do you have food noise? Do you want to go up on the Montreal? And I'm like, no, have food noise. I don't eat, and all this other stuff. And then a week later, I go to my primary physician. Care physician. You're not losing enough weight. And I'm like, please. People get on the same page. And I like the endocrinologist. Well, I like the endocrinologist page better than I do my primary care physician.

[A]

Well, listen, if a year from now you're 24 pounds lighter than you are today, I think that's fantastic. I also. Why would you not move up to the 15 on the manjaro?

[B]

I don't need it. I'm not eating enough food as it is.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. So I. There was. There was a diagnosis in there. You kind of missed sleep apnea.

[A]

That hasn't gotten any better with the £100 going.

[B]

Oh, no, because of the reason I have sleep apnea, which is when I was 20, I got hit by a.

[A]

Car in the mouth.

[B]

I went through his windshield.

[A]

Oh, my God. Oh, tell me more. You Were you walking?

[B]

So. No, I was riding a bike. So. And this was. Literally. They hadn't even thought about e bikes yet, but they also hadn't done anything about helmets. So anyway, when I was in college, I lived several miles from campus, and I had a car, but gas was more expensive than it is right now, literally. And because I just paid 199 for gas the other day, and I was paying three to four dollars a gallon back then, and that car had no fuel efficiency. No car did. So I was riding a bike everywhere, and I even rode bike from Hattiesburg to Jackson and back on the weekend. I'm riding my bike home one day, and a car hits me, and I go through his windshield. I broke my jaw. But there wasn't anything at the time that they. I'm not even sure they knew I broke my jaw for another year, but there was nothing they could do to fix it. But they also didn't realize I had sleep apnea. And I wasn't diagnosed with sleep apnea until I was teaching math because I'd fall asleep while I was waiting for the kids to give me the answer.

[A]

Listen, I used to fall asleep in math class, too. So.

[B]

No, I was standing at a board.

[A]

Different. I don't know if I could have done it standing up.

[B]

I was a teacher standing at the board, writing a problem and waiting for the kids to come up with an answer. And I'd fall asleep.

[A]

No, that's a different skill. I don't know if I have that one.

[B]

Well, it's not a skill. Let me tell you. It's not something you want to do. And, I mean, I would wake up fairly quickly, but I'd also fall asleep at lights driving. So that was no fun. So I got into him. I still see that doctor, but. And he thinks I'll always have sleep apnea because of the broken jaw. And I drive Dennis crazy because of the jaw. So that's a lot of the weight problems. Is. I've been really struggling with sleep lately, and I've been working hard at that. And I do see a specialist.

[A]

Kathleen, do you have adhd?

[B]

I don't think so, no.

[A]

Anything else going on, like any other thing in your life happening? Medical stuff besides this?

[B]

No.

[A]

No. Okay. All right. So you're doing the exercise. You're losing the weight. You're doing the thing. Can I pivot for a second? Before we started recording, you said, I've known about you for 20 years. What did you mean by that?

[B]

Well, I'm the first living diabetic blogger.

[A]

So you were blogging 20 years ago?

[B]

Well, no, no.

[A]

How long ago?

[B]

I was blogging in 2004.

[A]

2004. And you were writing a type two blog?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's still there, is it?

[A]

What's it called?

[B]

I still post it. Well, it's Kweaver.org K W E A V E R.org okay, nice.

[A]

You knew me as a blogger.

[B]

Yeah. I've read your book.

[A]

Have you really? Thank you.

[B]

Yeah, I bought a copy of it and read it.

[A]

It's very nice of you. I appreciate that.

[B]

I think I put. I think I put it in the school library.

[A]

Oh, that's.

[B]

Anytime I read something that's kind of interesting and is appropriate for teenagers, when I get done with it, I would put it in the school library.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Here's your blog. Look at that. I'm looking at your blog.

[B]

Cool. There's some other blogs that I kind of. I have a technology blog link to it, and I see. Anytime I get into a problem, I document it so I can go back and don't have to research it again. And then I do some dog training stuff every once in a while.

[A]

Nice. Oh, that's really cool. Wow. So you've been blogging forever. What made you start doing that? I mean, type 2 blogging was not common.

[B]

Well, it never was. When I was researching diabetes, I ran across a doctor. Who? Cantor. Robert Cantor. I ran across his blog when I was researching insulin pumps, and I started. When I was researching insulin pumps, I kind of dived into the medical blogging world. There was a pediatric pediatrician over in Fort Worth that was blogging. And then. Did you know the story of the Flea?

[A]

The Flea?

[B]

Yeah, he was a pediatrician.

[A]

Oh, I thought he was a guy.

[B]

No, he. He was a pediatrician, and he blocked as the Flea, and his practice got sued because they killed a diabetic child.

[A]

His practice got sued? Oh, jeez. I thought you meant the guitar player from Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[B]

No, no, this was before Red Hot Chili Peppers, I think.

[A]

Really? That's crazy.

[B]

So there was a guy, There was a pediatrician that blogged as the Flea, and his practice got sued because one of their patients was an undiagnosed diabetic. And he is in court. And the defense attorney asked him if he was the flea, and he said he had to say yes, he couldn't lie. And they immediately won the course. And what the case. And the problem was is this fancy pediatrician clinic had all seen these kids labs and nobody ran a blood sugar.

[A]

I'm trying to find anything about this online. Hold on a second. So the flea. The Flea was a. I don't know, a diabetologist? It was an endo.

[B]

No, he was a pediatrician. It was a pediatrician practice that missed this type 1 diagnosis and the kid died.

[A]

I don't think you can sue people for that, can you?

[B]

Well, they did and they won because he had been blogging about the court case.

[A]

Oh, crazy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The mid-20s, a Boston pediatrician, Robert Lindman, logged under the pseudonym Flea. He wrote candidly online about medical topics, eventually about his own medical malpractice trial involving the death of a diabetic child. During the trial, opposing counsel exposed him as the flea.

[B]

And that's when they lost the case.

[A]

How about that? The story of the flea is often mentioned in legal and blogging circles as a cautionary tale about physicians blogging and anonymity. How about that? Oh, that's interesting. But why did you tell me about that? I'm sorry. I got lost in what it was and forgot.

[B]

Because all of those medical blogs is what got me thinking about it. Blogging about type 2 diabetes.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And if you go back, I mean, there's posts from 2005. Because I'm a computer scientist, anytime I do research, I sit down and write it down. And it was really handy to put it in a blog. So like I said, I mean, that's part of being a computer scientist. I have a bachelor's degree in computer science and have a master's degree on how to teach it. And that's part of being a computer scientist is that you write down. I mean, you write down what you did. If you don't write it down, you didn't do it.

[A]

Do you think the blog helped you? Do you know how many readers it had? Or was it something that was more like a. I don't know, just a journal for yourself?

[B]

Well, it was mostly a journal for myself. And I figured that, you know, if anybody found it, they wouldn't have to go down the same rabbit holes I did. And so I was blogging anonymously. My name wasn't in my. I don't remember. Well, I use TypePad.

[A]

Are you blogged like a dork, Kathleen? You're just over there coding it yourself.

[B]

Excuse me, I'M not a dork. I'm a nerd. Nerds make money being nerdy. Dorks don't. That was what I always told my students. I am a nerd. In fact, the government knows I'm a nerd because my ham radio plate is AE5TN teaches nerds.

[A]

Well, I looked a little bit Here it says Kweaver.org Host post from Kathleen Weaver. It's. And one of her entries discusses how she developed type 2 diabetes after under undiagnosed sleep apnea from a head injury. Her writing is personal reflective rather than dedicated advice. It's part memoir diary style content. Does that seem.

[B]

Is that what I told you?

[A]

That's what I told me about you. Okay, that's not bad. Do you agree with AI?

[B]

Yeah, that's pretty close to it. But yeah.

[A]

Weird to hear yourself synopsized like that.

[B]

I was outed by. It was an online newspaper for. Oh, what's the radio service that probably Trump shut down that we use to propagandize Europe and all.

[A]

I mean, that's a lot of political stuff I'm not sure about, but do you mean npr?

[B]

No, no, it's different than npr.

[A]

I don't know. But you were.

[B]

NPR is left. And what I'm thinking about is government and one of the. To save money, somebody shut it down and probably Elon.

[A]

I have no idea. What are you saying to me though? How can you be outed? Were you. Listen, in fairness, you're writing a blog. Not a lot of people are reading, right? So like how do you.

[B]

Well, apparently somebody did because there was an article. I got a phone call at school. They left a message and you know, because that's how you call teachers is you leave a message with the front office. And even though we had cell phones, he didn't know my cell phone number. We had cell phones real easy early because it was easier to give us cheap cell phones. So that's a whole fun story. It was easier to give us cheap cell phones than it was to put landlines in a room. And most of the. The I'm in North Texas and most of the school districts did that for people that it was easier to give us a cell phone than it was to put a landline in our room. There's this radio service, it's like in Europe and all that says nice things about America. And they found my blog and they wrote an article about it and they called me up at school to find out, well, Weaver's a pretty common last name.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And I just had. I'VE never referred to myself and by my name. But anyway, they found me and they wrote an article about me. So I've gotten some publicity. I've gotten some money for the blog every few years. I haven't in a while. Yeah, but you know, how did you.

[A]

Get paid to blog? I don't think I ever made a Nickel blogging.

[B]

AstraZeneca put an ad on there.

[A]

Really? Bastards. Nobody called me.

[B]

Well, they didn't call me, they emailed me. Did you read all your emails?

[A]

Tell me there's a treasure trove of 15 year old emails in there that.

[B]

I haven't found apparently, because that's how I got mine is they emailed me. Yeah, I would get ads every once in a while. I never, you know, pursued it because, you know, the, the technology blog is existing too and no one ever wanted to advertise on it. But you know, like I said, anytime I research something, I put it there. So if somebody does a search, they'll find it.

[A]

Have you ever heard from people that read your blog or.

[B]

Oh yeah, yeah. Diabetes. Mine and I corresponded in Email Corporation quite a bit. I was several years before her and I gave her some advice and I told her how some of the technology worked.

[A]

That's Amy, right?

[B]

Yeah, Amy.

[A]

She sold that, I think to Healthline.

[B]

Yes, she did, she did. No one wanted to buy my blog. I just want to put ads on.

[A]

I had somebody offer to buy my podcast once.

[B]

Yeah, I'd heard that on your podcast.

[A]

I think I did the right thing.

[B]

Saying, yeah, you're one of the diabetes. Scott. So like Scott Johnson and Scott. Oh, he's on LinkedIn all the time and does politics.

[A]

Yeah, he's been on the show.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

Yeah. Scott Johnson works for Blue Circle Health now.

[B]

Right, yeah. And then. Yeah, and see, I knew them. I was blogging before any of them and I knew them when, you know, when they started their blogs, I linked to them.

[A]

That's crazy, cuz Scott started pretty early. Johnson.

[B]

Well, I. Right, he did, but I, I was blogging before he was. I've met him in person and he met Dol. Say.

[A]

No kidding. Yeah. I mean the way I always thought of the beginning was Curry Sparling, whose husband, that's before her, whose husband wrote the Greenland and Greenland 2 movie and.

[B]

But George, he's written a bunch, he's.

[A]

Done more than that. But there's the ones people I think would know and then George Simmons, who wrote about type 2 diabetes. You must know George.

[B]

I've met George, yeah.

[A]

George is lovely and not that they're all not lovely, but because now every.

[B]

One of them is lovely.

[A]

Now I said, George is lovely. They'll be like, he doesn't think the other two are lovely. They're all lovely, really. And. And Scott. But those three were the first three I was aware of.

[B]

Well, and I was confused this morning because I got an ad, or this week because I've gotten an ad for pump pills and apparently the guy who runs it.

[A]

I don't know about that, I barely know about me. I got a lot of stuff going on here.

[B]

They had a birthday sale and it was Scott's birthday and I thought, well, is it you? And I looked and no, it was not me.

[A]

I don't do anything. I don't do anything with pump heels. Not that I wouldn't. I did just recently finish up ads with skin Grip. That went pretty well.

[B]

Oh, good.

[A]

So had you ever been to any of those blogging conferences? Have you and I ever been in the same place?

[B]

You and I have never been in the same place, no. Okay, you would know because I would have had a beagle with me.

[A]

You had a beagle with you? Why? Listen, I appreciate that you think I would know because of that. I don't remember three days ago, so.

[B]

No, no, you would remember. Everybody who's ever met Dulce remembers her.

[A]

You don't know me very well.

[B]

She went astro. Astro Zeneca. Can't say it now. Yeah, they invited me and paid for me to come to a thing that they invited a whole bunch of social media people to.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And there's a picture of Dulce somewhere on the Internet because a lot of people like to fake service. Dog spot her.

[A]

When you think back on that time you spent doing all that, whether five people read it or 500 or 5,000, not really mattering. What do you think that the process of blogging did for you? Do you have positive takeaways from it?

[B]

Oh, yeah. I mean, it's like I said, I'm a computer scientist. You didn't do any research if you don't write it down. So I wrote it down and you have to put it somewhere where other people can find it. That's part of being the computer scientist that I am.

[A]

Do you think it benefited your health or your psychological wellness? Or is there anything you can point to and say that by writing or sharing this, I felt did experience something.

[B]

Meeting all those different people? Oh, here's another. Scott Hanselman. I've met him, he's met the dog.

[A]

That name I can picture an Avatar, but that's about it.

[B]

He works for Microsoft, and he wrote the first diabetes log for the Palm Pilot.

[A]

Oh, no kidding. Yeah. I mean, I know that name for sure.

[B]

Yeah, he's a Scott. He's another one of the diabetes Scots. And he's blogged about. He blocks. He blocks to this day as part of his job with Microsoft.

[A]

Oh, am I a diabetes Scott?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, in your mind, you. I am. How about that?

[B]

Well, the whole. That whole people and that were blogging at that time. You were one of the Scots.

[A]

So I did a thing where. Listen, I just started to write. I wasn't aware of a community or an idea. Like, I've said this before. I'm embarrassed enough to say it again, but I'm embarrassed, but I'll say it again. When I found out someone else was writing a diabetes blog, I was shocked. I thought for certain I was the only person doing it, which is such an odd thing. And I understand all that, but, like, meaning that I just started doing it. I was unaware of the rest of the world being involved in any of it. Blogging was very early on. It was not an even an easy thing to get a blog set up.

[B]

Well, I had to download the software and compile and put it on a machine and the whole bit.

[A]

Yeah, no, I mean, that's crazy. I used iWeb.

[B]

I'm a computer scientist. It was like lunch.

[A]

Well, for you. I used iWeb. I thought it was crazy. And when I finally realized someone else was writing a, like, right, doing this, I wouldn't even call myself a blogger. I didn't know I was doing that. Even when I realized that, I was like, oh, that felt so strange to me. Like, I for sure thought, like, I was, you know, like, I just landed on the new world. I'm like, I'm here first. And then everybody's like, no, there's a few of us over here already. I was like, oh, okay.

[B]

And there's Kathleen here somewhere.

[A]

Yeah, no kidding. And then so then I realized, oh, obviously more people are doing it than me. And I felt silly for a second, but whatever. Then I started seeing people arguing with each other about stealing each other's ideas and stuff like that. And I just thought, I am not going to pay a lick of attention to anybody else because I don't want anybody saying I took their idea. So I'm not going to read anything anybody writes. I don't give a crap what happens. I isolated myself in that situation. Also, it would be easy to think of it as like, A community or a club that I was meaningfully staying out of, but it didn't really exist that way in my mind. So when they were having blogging conferences, I was unaware of them. Nobody would invite me to them. I didn't. I was outside of that completely. And I think that's what helped my thing grow so well. It grew outside of the bubble that everybody else existed in because I wasn't trying to get the same thousand people that read their blog to read mine too. Mine just grew by word of mouth.

[B]

And see, I never cared. I mean, I literally. I mean, I joined some diabetes rings and I did promote other people's stuff. Like, I did promoted, you know, said things about Carrie's and I said things about Scott Johnson and. And, you know, if they asked me technical questions, I'd answer them. And. Because that's my niche. So I. I knew I was first and I didn't care.

[A]

It never really even. So I didn't even have a counter on my website. I was completely unaware.

[B]

Oh, no, I didn't have either. Yeah, I. I didn't. I literally didn't care if anybody ever read it, because what it. The whole purpose of it was is so that chat GPT later could go read my blog and give people the answers on the research that I did.

[A]

Very nice idea. Yeah. A company. Who was it? Sanofi. Until Sanofi came to me and asked me to come in for a meeting, I didn't really recognize, like, anything about it. So try to imagine, like, I got a phone call from, like, a pharma company, like, would you like to come in and talk about blogging with us? And I was like, sure. And so I thought, well, I'll take the lunch. You know what I mean? So I went to lunch, sat down. This wonderful woman named Laura sat in front of me, and she dropped what looked. It was. It felt like six reams of paper in front of me, like, you know, and she's like, you know, would it surprise you to know that you have. I might get the number wrong here, but I think she said, would it surprise you to know that you have the 36 most popular diabetes blog in the world? And I said. I laughed. And I said, that would only not surprise me if There were only 37 diabetes blogs in the whole world. And. And she goes, well, there's over 4,000. And I was like, really? And so that's when she told me they had found over 4,000 diabetes blogs and that mine was number 36, like, on the planet. And I said, that's insane. And she goes, how many downloads do you have? And I said, I don't know. I was like, how do you know that? She goes, well, there could be like a counter on your website. I was like, no, I don't have that. And that was the first time I recognized how far the thing was reaching because I would get emails from people, but it's hard to gauge from that, you know, But.

[B]

But you were different than everybody else, and you reached an audience that no one else had. You think because you had a very young child who was diagnosed with diabetes and you were helping other. And you have always helped parents with children with diabetes.

[A]

I don't even see any of it that way. It's funny because it wasn't my goal.

[B]

And it's a really good thing I get. I have no patience for parents. I have plenty of patience for kids, but I have absolutely no patience for parents.

[A]

Well, I might come to being a teacher, right?

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But those acorns don't fall far from those trees, let me tell you.

[A]

Well, you hit them with your lawnmower, they get broken up. Don't worry, it's fine.

[B]

Ah, the squirrels ate them at my house.

[A]

Well, I just. It's nice you to say and. And it was my intention to help people, but I didn't have any idea of scope or scale. I didn't. And I wasn't. I genuinely wasn't focused on it. And like, it's easy to say I didn't make any money at it. There was no way to make money at it. Like, you know, like, so people would put like a Google AdSense ad on their front page and it would make them 50 bucks a month or something like that. But I used actually what I told my wife asked me one day, are you going to do that? And I said, why put an ad on here? Just to make an amount of money that's not going to make any difference to anybody. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I just, I'm not doing that. And then I started meeting other people who blogged. There's a person that sticks on my mind. I would never say their name, but they wrote a good blog. People liked it. I asked one time about some plans they might have in the future for it, and they were like, honestly, I don't even like doing this. I just do it because it brings in like 400amonth in these, like, Google Adsense ads. And. And that, like, kind of broke my heart a little bit. Like, they were done with it already, but they just. They wanted the $400, so they kept doing it, and that didn't listen. I understood. And I have no problem with people making a living or any way they feel like they can do it, as long as it's not hurting anybody. And the blog certainly wasn't hurting anybody. It was really valuable, but it was just that the person was just like, if I had my choice, I would not do this. And I was like, oh, okay. I'm like, I like doing it.

[B]

I really like doing it, too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I just haven't had as much to say. Things haven't. I haven't had to research as, you know, like I did.

[A]

Because the way you do it.

[B]

Yeah, because of the way I do it. And it's working for me.

[A]

Well, I just found that the podcast reached people faster.

[B]

Oh, yeah?

[A]

Yeah. And it lends better to how my brain works, too, because when I have to write, like, first I have to vomit it all out, and then I have to go back and make sense of it and then put it back together in a way that people can read. And it's just. It's arduous, and people don't read much anymore to begin with. So, I mean, truth be told, now I just, you know, I. I put stuff on the blog when it, you know, when I'm like, oh, that's interesting, or somebody might want to know about that or something like that, or if.

[B]

I just think that that's what I do now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, like I said when I. I had a. I'm taking some classes at the local community college, and I was having trouble with textbook platform and I had to, like, go through back doors and stuff, so I wrote all that down because I might have to do that again.

[A]

One of my blog pages that's incredibly popular right now is just the fat and protein calculator and a description of how that works. And that thing gets pretty. Pretty crazy. Downloads. Yeah, the A1C calculator. Of all the bizarre things, like, boom. Like, I guess everybody who hears that doesn't have one on their website is going to be doing it now. But, like, I get crazy traffic from an A1C calculator, and then the podcast basically brings in the rest of the. Of the traffic. I mean, I. I do like writing. I miss it a little bit because now when I write, it's. It's done more. I mean, in. In total honesty. Like, when I write now, I sit down, I write out what I mean, you know, and then if it has something to do with a. An episode of the podcast. Then I'll. I'll just feed what I wrote and the podcast episode into chat GPT or something like that, or Gemini or whatever and say, like, look, this is what I wrote. It's referring to this. Can you put a blog post together about it? And then it just kind of hammers it together in my voice. And, you know, truth be told, people seem to like that much better than they like it when I just write, so. Which I find it's a happy coincidence because I don't have time to write like that anymore, and apparently people like it better, so.

[B]

Well, I don't work that hard at writing, but I was trained to technical write when I was in college, and. And anytime we turn things in, we had to write documentation for it, and I make kids do that. It's so funny because any of the college professors at any of the universities in Texas know my students as soon as they see their first assignment. It's like, you had waiver, didn't you? Yep.

[A]

Well, you know, Kathleen, I get. For years, people complain to me about the. The descriptions of the podcast episodes because my descriptions are like, Kathleen has type 2 diabetes. Like, that's. That's what I would write after you and I recorded together. And it's for a couple of reasons. It's A, because I sit down and do it much later after the recording, so it's kind of out of my head. But B, I'm an audio person, so I don't give the description is meaningless to me. I listen to podcasts. I've never once read the description for any of them. Like, it's just, I like the host or, you know, the vibe or whatever. Like, I'll put it on and I'll see what I think. You know, I don't need you to tell me what it's about, but also because a description can only be so long. So like is my description for you. Kathleen, diagnosed 20 years ago as a type 2, you know, manages herself now as a type, you know, with insulin and technology and GLP medications. That's not that. Dogs. Yeah, and then dogs. She's got Eagles. Dogs.

[B]

I'm. Because we haven't gotten to the main point of why I wanted to be on your podcast.

[A]

Give me one second. We'll jump right to it. And then what do I add then? Like. And she asked also, she was a blogger who knew Scott 20 years ago, and. But that's not a description. That's a synopsis. Right. I have two sentences to put a description in your thing. So, you know, people complain to complain, to complain. I get all the time, like, make a better description. I'm like, leave me alone. And then one day I was like, why am I fighting with these people? I take the transcript, I drop it in a Gemini, and I say, I need a 30 word or fewer description for a podcast. And it spits it out. And by the way, everyone loves them. And as I look at it, I think, I could have never written that. I don't know enough about the, you know, two months later, I don't know enough about the. The episode to even do that. And I can't sit and listen to it and take notes and make a description, you know, when most of you probably don't look at it anyway, except the ones who are really bothered by it. And so it's just been. It's a. I don't know, like, it's. The podcast is more popular today than it was yesterday, and it continues to just grow and get bigger and the feedback gets wider and wider from people who find it valuable. And I just. I really like doing it. Like, so I just, you know, I keep going, what made you want to come on the podcast? Let's button up with that. Like, what is the thing that got you here?

[B]

People should not get diabetes alert dogs.

[A]

Oh, I thought you were gonna say people should not get diabetes. I was like, you're goddamn right, Kathleen. You figured it out. Wait, why should they get. Because they can make their own.

[B]

Well, no, their dogs are expensive.

[A]

Okay?

[B]

I just took Obi, my male beagle, to my vet for his annual. And $360 later, and I've got to take another one tomorrow and It'll be another $360.

[A]

So you're just saying the dogs are nice, but they're really expensive.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And get a CGM. Is that your message?

[B]

Yeah, definitely. CGMs work just as well as the dogs do. Now. When I got Dulce, that was. She died two years ago at 15.

[A]

I'm sorry.

[B]

And Beagles, she lived the best life any dog could have.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

I have had told people, tell me when they die, they want to be reincarnated as one of my dogs.

[A]

Oh, that's a nice compliment.

[B]

Well, and people give me dogs. I have Lola right now, and she is not going to be trained as a diabetes alert dog. I did not train Obi as a diabetes alert dog.

[A]

Is his full name Obi Wan Kenobi, by the way?

[B]

No, let's use the force. It's a whole bunch of people's names Use the Force. His daddy is Anakin, and Anakin's one of the top beagles ever.

[A]

No kidding? How do you know that?

[B]

Well, I know Anakin, but I mean.

[A]

Is he rated on some, like, beagle list? Because I'm. Because if it's that easy, Kathleen, I'm one of the top rated podcasters ever. I just want to say that now. No, no.

[B]

You have to win the national specialty, and you have to have at least gotten award of merit at Westminster. And he shows in Europe.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

So, yeah, so Anakin is one of. And he has lots of really good puppies. And one of the measures of a top beagle or a top dog is how many champion offspring do you have? And that's where the free dogs come in. And then there's quotes around the free. Because when someone gives me a dog, I take care of all the expenses. I show them. And I've been working on Lola for a while. Obi's an interesting story, because I had my diabetes completely under control. A1C below 6.5, and he had never seen a low blood sugar. And we go drive to Boston because you don't want to really fly with a dog, especially to go to a dog show, because you have more dog luggage than you have people luggage. So we're driving to Boston, and I go to sleep in the hotel, and he wakes up, and he wakes me up and he's in a crate. So I'm like, okay, Obi needs to go out. But I'm a good diabetic, and the first thing I do is I check my blood sugar. Oh, my blood sugar's dropping. And he caught it 20 minutes before the CGM. I ate a Lifesaver. He curled up and went back to sleep. Same thing happens again the next night. Of course, my activity level is lower because I'm driving all day. I'm literally driving all day. So I have too much insulin in my system. I had to get a hold of my endocrinologist anyway, and we did some adjustments, and I'd forgotten that my Dexcom transmitter was expired. So I picked one up in Boston while I was up there. And she had to write the prescription. That's why I called her in the first place. I did not go low the rest of the trip. The dog did not wake me up in the middle of the night. And by the way, both times when I ate a Lifesaver, he curled up and went back to sleep.

[A]

Well, first of all, when someone gives you a dog, why don't you make them give you money, too. Why don't you say, hey, that's nice, but let's give Kathleen a little cash, take over the dog, okay?

[B]

There is no money in dogs.

[A]

Well, then there's no dogs in my house, then I. I can't take.

[B]

Well, that's why you don't have a dog.

[A]

Well, Listen, I have two dogs, but.

[B]

I hear you 100%. Beagle. Any one of the ones that I have right now would go if you bought a beagle. I don't know what the going price is right now. It's probably gone up. We're talking three or four thousand dollars.

[A]

For sale right now. Slap a for sale sign right on all those puppy.

[B]

Well, when you. Puppies are worth more money than adult dogs, unless they've proven themselves. There's a lady down in Florida who is leasing and placing dogs because she has to move. And I don't know how much money you have to give her, but I'm sure it's quite a bit. So Obie was not supposed to be the pick of the litter, but he's the only one in the litter who has a championship.

[A]

How about that? Hey, listen, are you Woodstock or are you Charlie in this scenario? Right?

[B]

I. Snoopy's not Beagle.

[A]

Are you the bird or the boy?

[B]

I'm neither.

[A]

Which one? Who are you in this scenario?

[B]

My kids asked me if I was the dog whisperer when I was. Because they knew. Well, one of the extra credit questions on any test was a random one of my dogs. You get five points for remembering something if you remember my. One of my. And it was specific, Doc. There was a specific thing you had to remember about that doc.

[A]

Hey, how old are your kids?

[B]

I have no children.

[A]

Oh, I thought you said Mike. Oh, you meant the kids in school. Okay. Okay.

[B]

Yeah. My oldest child who actually calls me mom is probably 50 now.

[A]

Oh, geez. You've been doing a long time.

[B]

Yeah, I've taught high school for. Well, I've taught computer science for over 30 years. I'm still listed as an instructor with Johns Hopkins. I just don't have students right now. It's Johns Hopkins University center for. For talented youth.

[A]

I should have been sent there and. Sorry, I'm just joking. I don't think I was a talented youth.

[B]

You have to pass a test to take my class.

[A]

No, I wasn't going to be doing that.

[B]

Seriously. Yeah, but I've done that the last 11 years.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

They cut my classes on my 10th anniversary for everybody. That it was coincidence.

[A]

Yeah, not just you, not just me.

[B]

But it just happened to be Kathleen.

[A]

Let me pivot you around a little bit here. So, on your health, like, what are your goals? Like, are you trying to lose more weight? Are you. I didn't ask your A1C. I would like to know what your A1C is. Like, what are you trying to accomplish here, you know, in the next handful of years?

[B]

Well, my A1C is 5.9. I just want to live longer than my father, and I've managed to do that.

[A]

Oh, you got to get a new goal then.

[B]

And then my other goal is I want to run agility again. I've got three two and a half dogs trained. Well, Lola's not really trained. I have two dogs trained to run agility trials. So I've had the top obedience beagle in the country for, like, eight years.

[A]

And you'd like to be on the train.

[B]

To be the top obedience beagle, you have to qualify a certain number of times, and they accumulate points based on that, and they give you award at the National Beagle Specialty each year. She got that eight times.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I'm a very. I'm a not only a very talented teacher, but I'm also a very talented dog trainer, and it was dog training that got me into teaching.

[A]

Wait, the dog thing is, like, don't people do that either, like, as a hobby or as a. An outlet to sell puppies? Right. Like, but you're not doing. You're not selling anything. So are you just. No, you just enjoy doing it.

[B]

It's. I enjoy the people that go there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I. I actually enjoy showing dogs. If I'm sitting at a dog show, you know, waiting for my turn, somebody will come up to me and, hey, Kathleen, I have an extra dog. Will you take it in the ring for me? And I'll take the dog in the ring. Now, I'm supposed to be wearing a huge L on my forehead when I take a dog into the ring, but that doesn't always happen. The national beagle specialty was up here in North Texas. I was down near Austin at a dog show, and she knows me pretty well. We've been at national specialties before and all this other stuff. And she handed me a brand new puppy that had never been in the ring before. And she said, kathleen, I have too many dogs. Will you take my puppy yet? This dog didn't know how to walk on a leash. And by the time the weekend was done, I had this dog showing to where it could win. And she was able to sell it at the national specialty for more money. Because I had trained her dog for. I guess it was two weekends.

[A]

I should you get a taste of that then. What's that? Where does Kathleen make her money on that situation?

[B]

There's no money in it. There are professional handlers.

[A]

You say, look, I'll walk your dog and get it straight for you, but I get to wet my beak afterwards. That's what you say, Wet my beak. And then they, they, they, they know that you're in for 10%. You know what I mean?

[B]

Well, no, no, no.

[A]

Okay, so why did that make you giggle, Kathleen? What. What happened there?

[B]

I'm not in it for money.

[A]

No, but I mean, you did the work.

[B]

Anything for money.

[A]

Oh, but, but you've chained up the dog and she sold it for more money. Fair spare.

[B]

I know, but I'm like Carrie, you know. Well, let's say I get the next dog for free.

[A]

Well, yeah, but that dog just costs you more money.

[B]

So I don't have to pay. No, that dog didn't cost me any more.

[A]

It will. You gotta feed to the doctor.

[B]

Well, yeah, the dog that lives at my house, I, I spend money on. So all three dogs in my house I co. Own. Dulce, I did give him her money, but it was just so her. No, her, her name went. No, her name was not on the paper. I didn't want her. I mean, she's on the papers for as a breeder. But Dulce I was doing agility with, but she had issues.

[A]

I'm not okay with this. The next person hands you a dog better also be handing you some money. That's what I want. No, no, Kathleen, I'm gonna stick up for it. You call me, you call me next time. I'll do the talking. Don't worry.

[B]

Get you well. Give me a dog. I don't have to spend two years training before I can get it in a ring.

[A]

Sounds like that other one. Two weeks. You put up their price in two weeks.

[B]

I know.

[A]

I want Kathleen enjoying profit sharing on that. That's all I'm saying. Kathleen, now there's.

[B]

There aren't people who make money and dogs are the professional handlers. And I don't want to be one of those people.

[A]

No, you don't have to have a whole business. I'm just saying if somebody hands you a dog that doesn't look like it's ever seen a leash before and two weeks later they're selling it at a profit, you should get a little bit of that money. You giggled again. Why are you so delightful. Why did you giggle again?

[B]

Well, that's just because I'm a nice person.

[A]

No, I want that.

[B]

I want you because I'm a nice person. But the funny thing is, it's when they needed somebody to get kids to settle down, they go, get me.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. And you walk those kids around on a leash till they calm down too. And then someone else, and then someone else. And then someone else takes them in their class and teaches them for something. I don't. 10, Kathleen. 10. I don't touch a dog.

[B]

Yeah, 10 of nothing is nothing. She didn't make any money. She, first of all should make any money off that puppy. She had to import the. I think that one was one of her important.

[A]

I don't care. She would have made less if it wasn't for you. What do you think of that?

[B]

Well, that's true, but I don't care. You're a lovely person, being known as a nice person.

[A]

All right, listen. I do a lot of things for free, too. I. I don't. I don't not understand what you're saying.

[B]

But back to the dog thing. They're very expensive. CGMs are a lot cheaper. And now it's 20, 26. I have a 5.9 A1C, and I run an Omnipod and Dexcom G7. And I never calibrate.

[A]

Yeah, and tell them that Dexcom's never on your floor once.

[B]

Right, Exactly.

[A]

Let's leave it at that.

[B]

They've never thrown up.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Never.

[A]

Once everyone's lifted its leg on your sofa.

[B]

No, Obi lifts his leg on me. He gets very upset when. I know you'll love this. He gets very bothered when I'm at a dog show talking to another male human. Or I think male dogs do it, too. And while I'm talking to a male human, he'll just calmly lift his leg and pee on me.

[A]

Oh, my God. I'm laughing the whole time. That's ridiculous. I was gonna. Kathleen, I have to go because I have a life and I gotta work. But this has been really nice catching up with you. I'm sorry we didn't know each other back in the day when we were writing blogs, but it has been really nice to get to know you now.

[B]

You just didn't know who I was and I didn't care.

[A]

Oh, Kathy. Again, the same beautiful attitude. I very busy sitting here in my underwear writing a blog. And by the way, if you read that old blog, just remember I was in my underwear while I was writing it. Usually it Was like late at night and I was like, oh, let me.

[B]

Just get this book too.

[A]

The book I. The book I treated as a job, I got up every morning and I wrote all day long. When I wrote the book, I did it for six months.

[B]

So that might be what I need to do to write a book.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, the truth be told, like, I made the money that they paid me to write it and never a dollar after that. And, you know, if you're talking about like, you know, the juice and the squeeze, then there's, there's none there. I made, you know, I made 2 cents an hour, you know, to write the book. Once it's written, you're not famous, so it's not actually going to sell. And then you have to publish, publicize it yourself because then the publisher is not going to help you with it either. The one thing I learned long after I wrote the book was that when it was offered to me, it was offered to me because the publishing house needed another book that fit that category and they didn't have one lined up for the season. And they met me because I wrote a sidebar for Leanne Callante's book. And there's a name I would never use except with you, because you probably know that name. And so I wrote a sidebar for her book. The publisher came to me and said they liked the sidebar and would I like to write my own book about diabetes. I said, no, but I would like to write a book. Book about being a stay at home dad. And then that's how that happened. And what I realized later is that when it got done, they were pleasantly surprised that it was any good and that they didn't really care in the interim if it was good or not. They needed the book. And so for a low price, they got a first time author to write for them. Then they had the book. When it got done, the publisher came to me and they were like, hey, bonus. This thing's actually good. Thank you. And that was the. They were like pleasantly surprised. But still, they didn't put any effort into public anything you saw me doing back then, whether like from blog talk radio show to the Katie Couric show. And I was on NPR in Philly. Like, I did a lot of stuff to publicize the book, but I made all of that stuff happen myself. They didn't help with that at all. It's the hardest $5,000 I've ever made in my life. And it definitely was not worth monetarily not worth the effort that was Put into it because it was. I mean, honestly, six months, you know, to write $5,000. I probably could have, like, made French fries.

[B]

Yeah, you lost money.

[A]

Yeah, I could have made. I could have done the fries at McDonald's.

[B]

Even as a teacher, I make more money in six months.

[A]

And you're like. And that's terrible. And then on top of all that, then the publicity of it went on for another 612 months. Getting yourself to Philly to be on the radio or, you know, being at some location to get interviewed or that kind of for a, you know, a newspaper article or whatever. But I will tell you. You know, I don't know if I ever said this out loud, but one of the nicest things that came from writing the book is that on Father's Day, my mom got to open a section of her local newspaper in Philadelphia, and I was on the front page of it.

[B]

Oh, that's cool.

[A]

And I remember how excited she was to, like, flip through the paper that day and then. And see me there. So it might have all been worth that. I'm not sure.

[B]

Anyway, one of my dogs was in the Dallas Morning Dance.

[A]

Are you comparing me to your dogs? Is that what's happening right now?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Damn it, Kathleen. This interview's over. Seriously, I really do appreciate.

[B]

These are a lot cuter than you are.

[A]

Hey. Hey. You haven't seen a recent photo? You don't know. I've been on the glp, too.

[B]

Yeah, I know. I've. I've listened to that. I've listened to quite a bit of your podcast. Insulin. Well, the Omnipod series. I'm always posting for people, and that really helped me a lot.

[A]

Yeah, no, I'm glad. I'm glad It. It. It. It's been. I think that series has been valuable, too. I mean, you have no idea. Hundreds and hundreds. I'm not saying hundreds of thousands. Like, it was 100, 1000. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have listened to that Omnipod 5 series. Pretty cool. How many people have been. Been able to. To get something out of it?

[B]

Well, it's amazing the number of people that don't know how it works.

[A]

Yeah. Well, hopefully it's gonna start working a little differently, too, because they're in the middle of updating the algorithm right now, so be cool if it even jumped up a little bit, you know, and in its value for people. But, Kathleen, I do actually have to go. I'm sorry. I'm gonna cut you off.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

This is gonna be.

[B]

Enjoyed it.

[A]

Thank you. This is going to be out in about two months. Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

All right. Awesome.

[B]

Thanks.

[A]

Thank you. Take care.

[B]

You too. Bye.

[A]

Bye. Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? Give the Eversense 365 a try. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox beautiful silicone that they use. It changes every day, keeps it from fresh. Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. So I mean, that's better. Head now to tandomdiabetes.com juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. I think you're going to find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the Tandem Mobi system. The conversation you just enjoyed was brought to you by USD Med usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514. Get started today and get your supplies from US Med. Okay, well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me. Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app. Go to YouTube and follow me. Or Instagram TikTok. Oh gosh, here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't want to miss, please. Do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active, talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know. There's a conversation happening in there right now and I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. If you're new to type 1 diabetes, begin with the Bold Beginnings series from the podcast. Don't take my word for it. Listen to what reviewers have said. Bold Beginnings is the best first step. I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. This is when everything finally clicked. People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. It's straightforward, practical and easy to listen to. Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. If you'd like to hear about diabetes management in easy to take in bits, check out the Small Sips. That's the series on The Juice Box podcast that listeners are talking about like it's a cheat code. These are perfect little bursts of clarity. One person said, I finally understood things I've heard a hundred times. Short, simple, and somehow exactly what I needed. People say small sips feels like someone pulling up a chair, sliding a cup across the table, and giving you one clean idea at a time. Nothing overwhelming, no fire hose of information, just steady, helpful nudges that actually stick. People listen in their car, on walks, or while they're actually bolusing anytime that they need a quick shot of perspective. And the reviews, they all say the same thing. Small sips makes diabetes make sense. Search for the Juice Box Podcast, Small sips wherever you get audio. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from wrong way recording Listen. Truth be told, I'm like 20% smarter. When Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time. And when I go and stuff like that, and it just. I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired [e-mail].