#1848 Boggs Family

Summary

Juicebox Podcast #1848 — The Boggs Family (May 11, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this engaging and heartfelt episode, host Scott Benner sits down with Shannon Boggs, mom of three and prominent Type 1 diabetes advocate, to discuss her family's journey after her oldest daughter's diagnosis. Together, they dive into the chaos of diagnosis, battles with the medical system, technology access, social media advocacy, and the realities—both gritty and joyful—of raising a child with Type 1 diabetes today. This episode delivers personal perspectives, practical advice, and a thought-provoking look at the use of online platforms to build community and spread awareness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Family & Diagnosis Journey

• Shannon’s introduction: Mom to three kids: Raelyn (11), plus younger siblings (9, 6) ([02:48]).
• The family’s only prior knowledge of Type 1 diabetes was a distant relative; autoimmune diseases became more prominent post-diagnosis, including Raelyn’s Hashimoto’s diagnosis ([03:09], [04:08]).
• Story of Raelyn’s diagnosis:
  • "She woke up on Wednesday doing double backflips...on Thursday she was tired...by Friday, she lost eight pounds and went into DKA." ([09:09]–[13:34])
  • The family’s harrowing drive to the hospital during a nor’easter, struggles with access to care, and the emotional shock of learning about DKA for the first time.

2. Navigating Healthcare & Advocacy

• Difficulty in finding responsive, knowledgeable endocrinology care. Initial doctor was dismissive about sustained high blood sugars and Hashimoto’s management ([04:40]–[06:56]).
• Fighting the system to switch endocrinologists for better care ([07:12]–[07:47]).
  • Notable Quote: "She just seemed very not worried about things...I would really rather have her in a little bit more tight control." – Shannon ([05:40])

3. First Steps After Diagnosis

• Massive information and emotional overload after hospital discharge, with little concrete education or tech (no CGM, no pump) ([15:43]).
• Shannon’s search for support online led her to the Juicebox Podcast and the Facebook group—emphasizing the power of peer support in diabetes management ([16:44]).
• Accessing CGM was a struggle; had to fight the health system and insurance despite clear benefits ([17:10]).

4. Adjusting and Advocating at School

• Early challenges sending Raelyn back to ordinary activities (e.g., Halloween, sports) and managing blood sugar at school without school support ([21:00]).
• Shannon’s advocacy led to legislative changes in Virginia, allowing school nurses to monitor CGM data in real-time ([21:20]–[22:06]).
  • Notable Quote: “We were able to pass a bill that now her nurses can finally follow her blood sugars...and they can go get her if she’s high or low.” – Shannon ([21:56])

5. Fostering Independence & Confidence

• Raelyn is now “very independent” in her diabetes management—treating lows herself, self-advocating, and pushing for normalization in school ([22:29]).
• Shannon describes learning to balance worry, independence, and normalcy for Raelyn as she grows ([23:03]).

6. Embracing Technology

• Raelyn uses the Tandem Mobi pump, formerly an Omnipod user; chose Mobi after demos at Friends for Life conference ([24:12]).
• Tech choice is personal: "She doesn’t wear it tubeless…she likes the long tubing and a pump clip—good old fashioned." – Shannon ([24:17])

7. Social Media and Diabetes Advocacy

• Origin of the Boggs Family’s viral TikTok/Instagram presence: started as a way to help Raelyn find friends with diabetes and process challenges together ([24:59]–[26:53]).
• Social media’s impact: facilitated connection, support, and, unexpectedly, a source of supplemental income—but never a primary goal. Includes honest discussion about the reality of “creator” life ([30:12]–[31:59]).
  • Notable Quote: "For me, I didn’t want to have a niche where my niche was all going to be diabetes…she’s a kid, she doesn’t want to have to do that all the time…we post whatever we feel led to post." – Shannon ([31:19])

8. Internet Realities: Virality, Monetization, Oversaturation

• Pros and cons of being a diabetes content creator: unpredictable income, algorithm challenges, burnout risk, and “oversaturation” of diabetes content online ([31:59]–[34:11], [36:57]–[37:09]).
• Maintaining boundaries—ensuring family life and other kids get included, keeping social media “fun,” not a stressor.

9. Parenting, Independence, and Long-Term Hopes

• Scott & Shannon reflect on letting go as kids grow—transitioning from parent-directed care, fostering independence, and trusting their children’s judgment ([65:20]).
• Honest talk about the challenge of not micromanaging as kids enter teen/young adult years ([67:25]).
  • Notable Quote: "The difficult part is just shutting your mouth." – Scott ([67:30])
• The importance of a healthy food relationship, not creating guilt or restriction associated with diabetes ([71:05]).

10. Service Dogs & Caution to Other Parents

• Raelyn has a diabetes alert dog, but Shannon emphasizes the complexities and unexpected burdens (extra care, costs, logistics).
• Cautions parents: "Please don't feel like you are less than as a parent because you don’t have a service dog…It is a commitment that everybody needs to consider." ([48:00]–[53:41])
  • Notable Quote: “Our service dog is great…But I feel like so many people…think they need a service dog. And now that we have a few years under our belt, we definitely don’t rely on her like we thought that we would.” – Shannon ([48:00])

11. Community Building & Internet Pitfalls

• Managing online communities requires strong boundaries: Scott and Shannon discuss ethical moderation and protection against scams, oversharing, and predatory behavior in diabetes groups ([54:22]–[61:47]).
• The need to keep a safe, supportive environment for idea-sharing, not fundraising or self-promotion ([55:28], [60:32]).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “She woke up...doing double backflips on Wednesday...by Friday, she lost eight pounds and went into DKA.” – Shannon ([09:09])
• “I just remember, like, we felt like we were taking a newborn home that we had never…had no idea how to take care of.” – Shannon ([15:43])
• “We had to jump through to get to a new endocrinologist…because I would have just left.” – Shannon ([07:12])
• “We were able to pass a bill that now her nurses can finally follow her blood sugars…they see it right in the office, and they can go get her.” – Shannon ([21:56])
• "For me, I didn’t want to have a niche where my niche was all going to be diabetes..." – Shannon ([31:19])
• “The difficult part is just shutting your mouth.” – Scott ([67:30])
• "Please don't feel like you are less than as a parent because you don’t have a service dog…it is a commitment that everybody needs to consider." – Shannon ([48:00])
• “You can do the same thing and eat the same thing every day and you won’t always have the same results.” – Shannon ([39:29])
• “You just have to get…You have to get used to people are gonna talk about you no matter what…their opinion is none of my business.” – Shannon ([62:54])

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Notable Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:35] — Shannon introduces herself and family
• [03:09] — Family autoimmune history; Hashimoto’s diagnosis
• [09:09]–[13:34] — Detailed diagnosis and DKA hospitalization
• [15:43] — Post-discharge chaos & lack of support
• [21:00] — Navigating Halloween and school with diabetes
• [21:56] — Advocacy leading to legislative change in Virginia
• [24:12] — Raelyn transitions to the Tandem Mobi pump
• [24:59] — The birth of the Boggs Family TikTok/Instagram advocacy
• [31:19] — Why not all diabetes content, all the time
• [39:29] — Social media metrics vs. real-world impact
• [48:00]–[53:41] — The reality and responsibility of diabetes service dogs
• [54:22]–[61:47] — Facebook group moderation and protecting communities
• [65:20] — Trusting kids as they grow, advice for parents
• [71:05] — Relationships with food, family, and diabetes

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Final Thoughts

The Boggs Family’s story weaves together the medical, emotional, and societal challenges of raising a child with Type 1 diabetes. Their openness about adversity, practical strategies, and social media impact provides relatable, hands-on wisdom. Key themes are empowerment (advocacy, independence), the critical importance of community, and ongoing adaptation. Parents will find validation for their worries, hope for better systems, and encouragement to support their kids with boldness, empathy, and flexibility.

Listen for:

• Tips for navigating an unwieldy health care system
• Advocacy examples that lead to real change
• Honest talk about technology, service dogs, and what “normal life” looks like with T1D
• Behind-the-scenes look at social media advocacy—what works, what doesn’t, and the emotional side

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For more about Shannon and the Boggs family, find them on TikTok and Instagram (@theboggsfamily), but, as she says: “We’re just here to bring smiles to people and make connections. We post whatever we feel led to post.”

For community, support, and more stories:
Visit JuiceboxPodcast.com and check out the Juicebox Podcast Facebook group.

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Summary by Juicebox Podcast Summarizer. All timestamps are MM:SS and refer to the core content. Non-content sections omitted per guidelines.

Transcript

[Scott]

Welcome back friends. You are listening to the Juice Box Podcast.

[Shannon Boggs]

My name is Shannon Boggs. I am the mom of three kids. My oldest has type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed about three years ago. Over the last three years, we've been learning to navigate the highs and lows and figure life out.

[Scott]

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 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. 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. The episode you're about to listen to was sponsored by touched by type 1. Go check them out right now on Facebook, Instagram and of course touchedbytype1.org check out that programs tab when you get to the website to see all the great things that they're doing for people living with type 1 diabetes. Touched by type1.org I'm having an On Body Vibe alert. This episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by Eversense365. The only one year wear CGM. That's one insertion and one CGM a year. One CGM one year, not every 10 or 14 days. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox Today's episode is also sponsored by the Tandem MOBI system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Technology. Tandem MOBI has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages 2 and up. Learn more and get started today at tandomdiabetes.com Juicebox My name is Shannon Boggs.

[Shannon Boggs]

I am the mom of three kids. My oldest has type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed about three years ago. Over the last three years we've been learning to navigate the highs and lows and figure life out.

[Scott]

Oh my gosh, how many you have Three kids. What are their ages?

[Shannon Boggs]

They are 11, nine and six.

[Scott]

Okay, wow. Are you a young family? Are you, like, in your 30s or 40s or.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, I'm 35.

[Scott]

Look at you. All right, nice. Any autoimmune in the family? Or was type one the first time you heard those words?

[Shannon Boggs]

So we had really not. We weren't really super familiar with Type one. My aunt hasn't. I mean, my husband has an aunt who grew up, like, 12 hours away from him who has type one. So when she. When my daughter Raelynn was diagnosed, they were immediately like, who has Type one in your family? And I didn't know of anybody. And he was like, I have an aunt that does. So that would be Raelyn's great aunt. And then we have some Celiacs on both side of our family, which so far she's negative 4, but she does have this. Last year she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's.

[Scott]

Your daughter was. Yeah, I like that you said Celiacs.

[Shannon Boggs]

Plural.

[Scott]

I wasn't sure if you were being plural or descriptive when you said celiac. Like multiple celiac or people who we refer to as Celiacs.

[Shannon Boggs]

So. Yeah, yeah, I met multiple people with celiacs.

[Scott]

You know those people? The Celiacs?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, yeah. Yep, the celiac.

[Scott]

What led you to think about the Hashimoto's? Was it just generalized testing that caught it, or did you see something?

[Shannon Boggs]

So when she was at. When she was diagnosed, they immediately told me that there's other two other autoimmune diseases that usually go hand in hand. Sometimes they'll get one or two, sometimes they'll have all three. And they tested her at diagnosis and said that she had the markers for it.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Shannon Boggs]

We checked it regularly, I think, like, every six months. And it started kind of climbing up and. And I guess maybe six months ago, it was high enough that they went ahead and put her on levothyroxine for it.

[Scott]

Do you have any idea how high her TSH was when they put her on it? And were you seeing any symptoms from it?

[Shannon Boggs]

I think it was about. I wanna say it was like a 12. And I started seeing flaky. A lot of flaky skin on her scalp that was itchy and she was tired and started kind of gaining weight a little rapidly. So that has gotten better. She's had to move up on dosing and we might have to bump her up again. We're waiting to see.

[Scott]

Well, as she grows, she's gonna need more. Yeah, Be careful of that because they'll lose sight of that sometimes. Hey, prior to the. Because 12's pretty high. So prior to that, did you see symptoms? Like, looking back, can you see other symptoms now before they treated for it?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. And you know, I wanna say when she was like at a four, they didn't medicate her yet. And I was starting to see and ask and they were like, well, I don't think we need to yet, but maybe next appointment we will. But I started kind of noticing her being a little tired.

[Scott]

Yeah, if I was your doctor, I would have given it to you at a four, if you saw symptoms.

[Shannon Boggs]

So, yeah, and you know, I really wasn't educated on it. I remember our. We had an endocrinologist that at first didn't take much very seriously. We. We had to really fight to kind of get a new one that would listen to us better. But she would say things to me like, well, if her blood Sugar goes to 400 every day after breakfast, I'm fine with that as long as it comes back down eventually. And I was like, well, I don't really like that. Like, I would really rather have her a little bit more in tight control. And she just seemed very like, not worried about things. So when I asked about the Hashimoto's and I was like, well, what. What is this? What do we need to do? Should we do some stuff with diet? She was like, oh, no, it's easy. All you do is take a pill.

[Scott]

Where'd you find this lady, in a swamp? Where did I tell.

[Shannon Boggs]

And you. It was interesting. Our first. Our first two years with her was very interesting because that's who we got at diagnosis. That's just who was there the day that we went in and she was in dka. So then they kept telling me I couldn't switch. You are. You're stuck with whoever you're with. And I was like, what? This can't be right.

[Scott]

Is she older or younger or what was.

[Shannon Boggs]

I would say she was like mid-40s, but she was pregnant with her first baby and she. Then she went out on a long maternity leave and she went out early. So I just feel like her focus wasn't really at work at the time.

[Scott]

She's like, shannon, listen, I hear you have questions, but I just bought a house, so. Yeah, I don't. I gotta go.

[Shannon Boggs]

It was crazy.

[Scott]

The four hundreds. As long as it comes back down, I mean, that's fat. Was. She was a pediatric endocrinologist.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yes, I had. When I tell you what I had to jump through to get to a new endocrinologist in the Same office. And we're very happy now. I mean, it took months and months, and I was like, you and we don't have another children's hospital within like a four hour radius of us. Because I would have just left.

[Scott]

Was the office surprised when you said it to them, or were they like, oh, no, we know, like, I wonder what that was like.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, they just, they just kept saying that they were shorthanded, nobody was taking new patients, and I had to stick it out with her. And I was like, no, this is not right. Like, I have to be able to do something else. She needs a different doctor.

[Scott]

Yeah, she shows up every day. Is not a good reason for me to put my child's care on her. Tell me again, your daughter is how old? When she was diagnosed?

[Shannon Boggs]

She was seven.

[Scott]

Seven. Okay. So, yeah, like, you know, maybe we want to help her.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Well, what kind of direction did you get about the diabetes then? If that was like, did they give you tech? Did you have to ask for it? Did they teach you how to use it?

[Shannon Boggs]

That was a mess. So we went in on a Friday. Our diagnosis story alone was kind of pretty traumatic. And we had no idea, like, diabetes was not on our radar. We just, we thought she was sick with a virus, and it escalated pretty quickly. And I just knew something wasn't right immediately. I'm just going to go through the little. The little steps of our diagnosis. So she woke up that on Wednesday she was doing double backflips in gymnastics class and she was fine. On Thursday, she was a little tired and didn't want to go to school. And I remember thinking, like, maybe we're overdoing it with these gymnastics classes maybe, because we had a long drive, we were getting home late at night, and she was like, no, I really want to go to school. Well, on Thursday, they called me by lunchtime and said that she had a sore throat. So I'm like, okay, pick her up. She looks very tired, but says she's okay. I'm taking pictures of her throat, like, sending it to the pediatrician. Do you think this is like strep throat? Do you think I should have her swabbed? And she's like, it looks viral to me. She went to bed that night and was drinking. She was drinking water and ate like a little bit of soup, but didn't eat much. And the next morning she threw up. Well, her friend that she was riding to gymnastics with had the exact same symptoms the week before. So that mom and I are chatting and she's like, oh, it Sounds like the same thing my kid had. I'm like, okay. So I let it ride. That was like 5am when she threw up. And around lunchtime, I was like, something's not right. I would go in her room to check on her. Her eyes were like, open, but she was sleeping. And she would talk to me. But it was very, like, just unnerving, like, yeah, she wasn't. I took me a lot to get her attention.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

So we live on the eastern shore of Virginia. It's like a little peninsula. We have to drive over an 18 mile long bridge to get to the children's hospital. And it's an hour and a half away.

[Scott]

Did you go to the King's Daughters? Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yes.

[Scott]

That's where Arden was diagnosed.

[Shannon Boggs]

No way. I had no idea. Oh, okay.

[Scott]

We were on vacation in Virginia beach when she was diagnosed.

[Shannon Boggs]

Oh, wow. So my husband used to work at that bridge, the one that I'm talking about. And the day that this happened, we had a nor' easter and the bridge closes for weather like that. So I was waiting for my pediatrician to call me back. I got almost to the bridge, which is an hour from my house, and they were saying that the bridge was closing. So my pediatrician was like, if this doesn't work, I want you to turn around and drive to Maryland, which would have been three hours the opposite way. We have a little local hospital, but they don't. They definitely don't have endocrinology where we're at and not for pediatrics. So she knew that they. I think she knew by that point what was going on. Because when I put Raelyn in the bath that day after she threw up, I was looking at her and I said, she looks like she lost weight. So I weighed her and I realized that she had lost eight pounds.

[Scott]

Oh, gosh.

[Shannon Boggs]

And I was like. And you know, it's gradual. Like you don't see it when you're around them every day.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

So when we. We finally got to the bridge, they let us across because they knew who my husband was. There was like water splashing over the bridge and we finally got to Norfolk. Well, when we were on the bridge, she started with the labored breathing. And I'm looking back, like, what is happening now? It's got. She was throwing up now. This is like respiratory. And I mean, we were really scared. We just didn't know. We could barely wake her up at that point. Well, the whole city of Norfolk was flooded. We could not get our car through the water. All the streets were just Flooded.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Shannon Boggs]

So I was like, what are we gonna do? And he's like, maybe I can park at this gas station. I'll put her on my shoulder. And we're just gonna run and just try to have to get there that way. He was like, hold on. I knew one more route. And he went that route. We were able to get in the parking garage. So we walked in and realized that neither one of us even had our wallets. My wallet had fallen out in my purse in the driveway. We had no insurance card. So we walk in, and I explained to them. I think the only thing I said to them was, my daughter's throwing up, and she's lost eight pounds. So they immediately take us back to triage. And when they put the Paul socks on her, I noticed that her fingernails were turning blue. And I said it to the nurse. I was like, are her fingernails blue? And she was like, yeah, I was just looking at that. So we go back to the waiting room, and it was probably 20 people in the waiting room. All of a sudden, the doors opened up. They called us back, and they were flocked around us, doctors and nurses, like. And at this point, she was over my husband's shoulders, and she was pretty much unconscious. And they were just screaming, she's in dka. She's in dka. And we're looking at each other. We were like, what is dka? And the doctor looked at. My husband was like, I'm pretty sure she's a type 1 diabetic. I'm gonna have to run some more tests. And that's when they were like, do you guys have any other diabetes in your family? So we were there on a Friday, so all of the. The staff members for endocrinology are off for the weekend. So they had the nurses on. Well, we were in ICU for a while because she had to. We had to wait for her blood sugar to come down. And that was scary because they had her on the insulin drip. And I remember them saying, like, we have to do it slow because we could. You know, it can cause brain damage if you do it too fast. And I just remember, like, she just wasn't waking up. Like, it seemed like, so long. I guess it was like a day and a half. And when she finally came to, she didn't act right. Like, she didn't act like her same self with her personality, which obviously, that's a lot to take in.

[Scott]

Yeah. But nothing cool happened. Like, she could speak another language or something like that. Right. 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 Juice Box 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 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 1 Year 1 CGM this episode is sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care and today I'm going to tell you about Tandem's newest pump and algorithm. The Tandem mobi system with control IQ+ technology features Autobolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link tandemdiabetes.com juicebox this is going to help you to get started with Tandem's smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever. Control IQ technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels 30 minutes ahead and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the tandemoby in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately. Clip it discreetly to your clothing or slip it into your pocket head now to my link tandem diabetes.com juicebox to check out your benefits and get started today.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, no. So the nurses on that floor when we went to the the second the step down unit, they taught us everything. And on Monday morning they were like okay, we've got a meeting with the diabetic educator and we're going to go ahead and release you. They were like you guys are doing great. You guys are like the poster parents of type 1 diabetes and you're going to do fine. And meanwhile we felt like we were taking a newborn home that we had never, you know, that we had no idea how to take care of. They didn't send us with a Dexcom. No talk of an insulin pump or anything like that. But a Dexcom I was really wanting. And I mean, I'm just. I just remember looking up things online as we're laying in the room that weekend at the hospital, like, for support, and that's how I found your page. And I started listening to the Juice box podcast and I joined the Facebook group and, you know, just found other moms that I was like, okay, there's other people out here that are going through this and that have done this. And I remember just looking for inspiration that, like, it was gonna be okay.

[Scott]

Yeah. Because that. That half assed bull they gave you in the hospital, if you're doing great, that wasn't taken, right?

[Shannon Boggs]

No, it wasn't. And so two weeks went by. They said, I want you to wake up every two hours overnight and check her blood sugar. And I thought I was gonna go off the deep end. I wasn't sleeping. I was worried to death. I was terrified. I had two kids younger than her that I was caring for. I remember calling my insurance.

[Scott]

Your youngest would have been like three, right?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. Okay.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yep. I remember calling my insurance company and they're like, yeah, like, we'll cover a Dexcom. I don't know why they won't let you just have a Dexcom. And I called them and I was like, guys, it's been two weeks. Can we get a Dexcom now? Like, I understand that you want us to learn things the old school way, but I feel like after two weeks we figured that out and I'm ready to be able to sleep and just feel a little bit more comfortable. So we kind of had to fight, fight to get it, but we did, and that was definitely a huge relief.

[Scott]

And you figured out that kind of stuff online, like what you needed?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Scott]

About a CGM and everything. I was just gonna say, if they didn't mention it to you, like, where else do you need.

[Shannon Boggs]

No, no, they didn't.

[Scott]

Was there any chance. Was Dr. Satin Smith there? Do you know that name?

[Shannon Boggs]

So she had just retired. I think I heard really great things. Is that who diagnosed Arden?

[Scott]

Yeah. Yeah, she was. The night we went home, they kept her for. I think they kept on like four or five days.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And then that. That night we were like, at a rental house. Like, you know, I think I tested Arden's blood sugar at like four in the morning or something, and I thought, like, I'M like, she needs insulin. But I didn't know. And it was like, yeah. And so I just. She gave me her number. She said I could. I like woke her up in the middle of the night and I was like, I just tested her blood sugar and it was this. Do you think I should give her insulin? And she was like, yeah, I think you can. And I was like, are you sure? She's like, I mean, I guess. And I was like, okay. But she was really lovely. I heard. Just retired. I wondered if you caught her or not.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, no, we didn't.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

But man, I mean, I've called numerous people in those beginning days. Parents or people living with diabetes. I had a few clients. I'm a hairstylist, so I had a few clients that had type one. And I remember just them answering my phone calls late when I was scared. And I just will never forget those people that were there for me in the beginning for sure.

[Scott]

Hey, before we move forward, I just have to know where I'm going to wander the whole time we're talking. How does your husband work on a bridge? What does that mean?

[Shannon Boggs]

So the bridge was. He doesn't work there anymore, but it's 18 miles long and it's a privately owned bridge. So he was law enforcement there.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Shannon Boggs]

But they do. Before he was law enforcement, he drove the rollback and he dealt with like, you know, broken down vehicles. They also do drive across because they're, believe it or not, there's a ton of people that are terrified to drive across. So he would drive their car across while they would talk. Talk to him in the passenger seat.

[Scott]

No kidding. Well, that's.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Oh, because. So like the bridge is almost like its own little city then.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yep. And they're, you know, they have people taking toll. So he would have to relieve the toll collectors for their, like lunch breaks. He would take toll for a little while and stuff like that.

[Scott]

Huh. That's. How long did he do that for?

[Shannon Boggs]

He was there for 13 years.

[Scott]

No kidding. That's really kind of interesting.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. It's funny how it all works because it was a really good job. It paid pretty well. They have good insurance. And it's always. It's a lot of people, once they go there, they stay until they retire. But the hours were really hard. He worked 12 hour shifts. It was an hour away from our house. So, you know, he's like a 14 hour day. Yeah. And then he would work a month straight of overnights and I'm home trying to keep these three kids quiet. So he can sleep during the day. And, you know, it was a mess. But he ended up with another job, and the new job he took in April. Raylan was diagnosed in September, has a program that covers a hundred percent of her diabetic stuff, so we don't have to pay out of pocket for anything now.

[Scott]

Oh, that's wonderful.

[Shannon Boggs]

And it was like, man, that was really a blessing that he took that job.

[Scott]

Yeah. You remind me I have to make a copay on Arden's pumps. I'm gonna write that down. Oh, I got an email today, and I've ignored it so far. You settle in. I imagine as time kind of like, goes on, you get the cgm. That was, I imagine, very valuable. What's the next step? And how do you. How do you recall, like, the first six, eight months of diabetes? Do you. Do you feel like you were like, did you have it like they told you, or did it not feel that way?

[Shannon Boggs]

I think that, you know, after about that time, we started feeling more comfortable. I remember she was diagnosed September 30, so Halloween was the next month. And I was like, what are we going to do? Do we let her have candy? Do we let her trick or treat? You know, all those little things that I stress that now seem so little because you're used to it.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

But I just remember all the first. Trying to navigate her playing sports for the first time and going to the school and, you know, we don't have a school that at the time, they didn't monitor blood sugar. I had to watch my phone all day and call if something was wrong and then get them to go get her. Since then, last year, she and I went to the Virginia assembly with the follow T1BS that help, like, put laws in place for diabetics. And we were able to pass a bill that now her nurses can finally follow her blood sugars after three years, and they see it right in the office, and they can go get her if she's high or low.

[Scott]

You had to pass a law so somebody could use follow, right?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. It wasn't a thing in Virginia until about. Maybe it was right before Christmas break when they finally were allowed to do it.

[Scott]

Yeah, I remember. Right as Arden was getting into school, our governor passed a law that kids could give themselves insulin in their classrooms, which was a big deal back then. Like, you couldn't. You had to leave the room and go to the doc, to the nurse's office. And I look back now, and I think of how much that saved us over the years. Oh, yeah, just being able to do insulin in the classrooms.

[Shannon Boggs]

I mean, even last year or the second year she was diagnosed, she got tired of wanting to go to the nurse just to treat a low blood sugar. They would make her go in there to treat a low. She'd have to walk all the way down the halls and in there, and I had to sign, like, paperworks that they weren't liable if she were to treat her own lows in the classroom because she wanted to be able to have her own snacks at her desk and just, you know, drink a juice and keep on working. And she's like. She loves to be able to do that. She's very independent now.

[Scott]

How is she doing with all this? Like, was it a big transformation for. Did she accept.

[Shannon Boggs]

She says things still. Like, I just. You know, I remember that was before I had diabetes, and she'll say things like that, but she does pretty well. We're not super restrictive with her. We're bold with insulin. Like, we learned, you know, from you guys, and she does pretty well. This. This summer was a turning point. She wanted to go to a camp. She went to diabetes camp the year before, but this year, she wanted to go to a camp that was not a diabetes camp. It was just a regular old camp. They don't even have a nurs nurse, and they don't have good cell phone service. And the year before, I wouldn't let her go. And this past summer, I was like, all right, we're gonna do it. We're gonna give it a try. And she did really well.

[Scott]

Awesome.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, she. It was. It was not very restful for us because there was a lot of times where we couldn't see her numbers at all. And I just had to hope and trust that somebody in her cabin, especially overnight, would wake up and hear it. I didn't worry about it during the day because I know, like, during the day, she can feel her lows, and she's got it. But the nighttimes were hard, but she did great. She's going to go back this year, so that was good for her.

[Scott]

What pump is she using?

[Shannon Boggs]

She's on the tandem Moby.

[Scott]

The Moby. Okay. She like in that?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, she loves it.

[Scott]

Very cool.

[Shannon Boggs]

She was an Omnipod user, and we went to Friends for life. Not this past year, but the year before. And they were doing the demos, and she tried it, and she loves it. She doesn't wear it tubeless. Like, you know how they've got the little sleeve. She doesn't wear it like that. She likes the long tubing and in like a good old fashioned little pump clip.

[Scott]

Oh, okay. Yeah, she wears it like, just like an insulin pump. Like.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, she likes it. In the summer, she'll unhook and hop in the pool. And she loves her movie.

[Scott]

Oh, that's awesome. That's great. I love it when people find stuff they like that works for them. So how did you. I mean, at this point now, I feel like we've got enough of your story here. How did you become the lady from TikTok? How does that happen?

[Shannon Boggs]

You know, it's funny, we had like a random TikTok account from, like, you know, when it was. It was like Covid days, I guess. Really? And the kids would get on there and we would do, like, learn little dances when there was nothing to do. And when all this happened, I remember a girl, one of my friends that works with me was like, you should, you know, do some videos and try to help other kids. Like, she was like, you know, maybe see what she's going through, that they're not alone. So I talked to Raelyn about it and she was like, yeah, and I would like to find some friends. Like, for the longest time, she was convinced she was the only girl with diabetes. Because where we live there is like, there was at the time, like, five little kids, but they were all boys. And she's like, I just want a friend that has diabetes that, like, I can hang out with or talk to. That's a girl that's kind of like closer to my age. So we kind of set out for doing that. And I think our first video was her doing a Dexcom change with her sister. And man, that used to take us a long time, like an hour, because she was so scared and said it hurt. And so I think we did, you know, we posted a video like that and it just blew up. But it was like, crazy. The support, the people that, you know, it locked me right into the diabetes community of all those people that are living this life with us. So she has found. We found a lot of friends online. A lot of people that we met in person. We had a family. It's a mom with type one and a daughter with type one. They came, we put a video out there, trying to find somebody for her to connect with. And they came and went camping with us. And since then we probably visit them like three to four times a year. We go up to see them in New Jersey and they come down here and it's just built a lot of friendships. It's helped her motivate other kids, especially the younger ones. But then she also loves to follow, like, the older people that she sees, like the teenagers. And actually, next week, we're going to see Riley Arnold. Do you know her? She's the one that's in Dancing with the Stars.

[Scott]

I know the name, but I don't know exactly.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I don't know her either, obviously. But for Christmas, I got Braylon tickets, and we're going to Virginia beach next week to see her dance. Cause Braylon's a dancer, and her goal. Her main goal in life is to be, like, a competitive dancer.

[Scott]

Oh, wow.

[Shannon Boggs]

So I thought that that would be cool for her to see.

[Scott]

My goal for the last two weeks has been get our radon level down in our basement. And I did it. I don't have as many fun goals as children do, apparently. I just realized I was like, what's my goal? And I was like, oh, I've reached my goal. I found that crack in the found, and I sealed it.

[Shannon Boggs]

Oh, that's good.

[Scott]

That's good. So boring. I'm aware of you, and I don't. And I don't really pay attention to social media. And.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, it's probably because I tag you and stuff all the time. People come to my videos, and I send them to your way.

[Scott]

No, that's lovely, but that's not why, like, I mean, I'm just aware of you. Otherwise, like, there's a few. There's a few people whose stuff just kind of transcends and makes its way to, like. Because I have that stuff. So when I open it up, I'm not following many people. I don't have, like, yeah, and it pops up and, like, there's. I see Marley a lot. I see you a lot. Like, when it goes from, hey, we'll make a video, and you're used to, you know, dancing, and 20 people sing it, and then it's a thousand people, and then it's 10,000, and then it's 100,000. Like. Like, what's the process that happens within your family? Right. Because now, like, I mean, I've seen some of your. Your videos. Like, your daughter has been very vulnerable in some of them. So, like, is there a moment where she thinks, like, I didn't realize all this many people were going to see it, or does that seem not like a concern for kids?

[Shannon Boggs]

Like, she is very, like, outgoing, and I don't. She's just very people. If you met her in person, she'd be your best friend in two minutes. So she's never felt like that. Now I know that, that she's a little older. We don't post quite as much of her doing this stuff because she's so busy and it's such a pain for her to do it. You know how it is, like, when they get older, you know, we're on from one sport, we're getting out of school and she's got practice in an hour. She's got to do a site change and she just wants to get it done. So I wait for her to tell me, hey, I think I want to do a video today. I wait. I like, totally follow whatever she wants to do, and sometimes it's weeks before she wants to talk about diabetes. But I can tell you, if there's one minute where I look at her and say, you want to do a dance? She's like, yeah, let's do that.

[Scott]

That kind of stuff is. Yeah, that's a gimme, right? At her age, like, tell me, how many followers do you have, like, on TikTok and Instagram and all that? Do you know?

[Shannon Boggs]

I do, I think on like TikTok, we're like 780,000. We didn't start posting on YouTube or YouTube and Instagram and all that till way later, but I think we hit like 200,000 on Instagram this year.

[Scott]

And what does that mean for a post? Like, you put up a. You put up a video on, on Tick Tock. How many people see it generally?

[Shannon Boggs]

Oh, gosh, I don't know. TikTok's kind of like, I feel like shadow banning me lately. So we don't get a lot of. We don't get a lot of stuff seen on there. We do better, like on Instagram and Facebook lately. But I would say on average, if it's, if it's a diabetes video, it does better. Because a lot of our community is from the diabetes community, right? Because we, we do a lot of lifestyle stuff too. We do travel, we do, you know, we do some stuff with our service dog. We do some stuff that's just funny, a mom and dad stuff. We try to not. Our page really isn't all about diabetes.

[Scott]

Right.

[Shannon Boggs]

But those videos always definitely do the best.

[Scott]

Is that a job? Like, do you have an income that you're just like, wow, this is. Or is it just like a little bit of money? That's like, this is nice.

[Shannon Boggs]

I'll be honest with you. It's ye. Yeah, it's not. There's been months where we have really taken off. I had no idea you could make money on social media. That was never a goal for me. I think so looking back, I've learned that when you get 10,000 followers on TikTok, you can apply for the Creators reward program. I think we had 150,000 followers and I had no clue. We were just having fun. And we still treat it like that. My husband and I work full time and then if we have a good month and we make some money on there, we'll take the kids on a trip or, you know, we're stashing money in their savings account. It's just like extra because I feel like it's something that we personally would never just rely on as an income.

[Scott]

I just want people to hear because I think that I see a lot of people who it seems to me are trying really hard to make a living at this and.

[Shannon Boggs]

Oh yeah.

[Scott]

And then, you know, a year later I don't see them anymore and it's a whole new group of people trying and I just, I don't know.

[Shannon Boggs]

I agree it's very, it's very over saturated now right now. And I, you know, I feel like you can't. Like for me, I didn't want to have a niche where my niche was all going to be diabetes. We're just going to talk about diabetes because first of all, I don't have diabetes and I don't want to rely on my kid to have to. Yeah, because she's a kid, she doesn't want to have to do that all the time. Like I said, I take it totally as it comes. When she comes to me and is like, hey, mom, I thought we could share this today or I thought something would be funny today. If we post this, then we do it. But I'm not constantly after her for every site change she does or let's talk about this today, because I still want her to have a life and just be a kid.

[Scott]

I also think you can get caught up in that thing where you make a couple bucks doing it and you think, oh, if I only had more followers or more views. And then you're like desperately making content constantly.

[Shannon Boggs]

And like, I never look at my analytics ever. People are always like, well, what time does your video do better? I don't have a clue. I've never looked at that. I really, truly don't. We post whatever we feel led to post and whatever we think is going to bring joy to people at the time when we feel like it. I don't plan things ahead. I don't have drafts ready to Go. Like, I wake up and I'm like, I think this is what I'll talk about today. Truly. That's kind of how I take it.

[Scott]

I woke up one day a couple years ago, and I was like, maybe I'll do videos every day. And then I think I was like a day and a half and it was like, oh, I'm definitely not doing this.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot editing and I don't

[Scott]

want to be involved is. But. But it's funny you use the word oversaturated. I literally just had this conversation with somebody where I kind of. Kind of was sounding like an old man, like, complaining. But I've lived through this already. I watched. I watched the diabetes blogging community get over saturated and it ruined it.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And now I think it's happening with social media now.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, I see that too. I mean, every time I turn around, there's somebody new on there, and I'm like, oh, I've never seen them before.

[Scott]

You know, I don't need to see everyone change their pump. And the other thing that I've noticed along the way, and maybe you'll tell me I'm crazier, maybe you'll notice it too, is when you try to, like, fit a niche to how social media works, you end up doing things that I find odd. Like, there's just no doubt that pretty younger people, their videos do better. There's. The more skin that an adult shows, the better the video does. Like, there's stuff that actually leans into this stuff. And I just think it's weird when you're just like, yeah, you know what I mean? Like, hey, you know, here's my. Oh, look, my cgm.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

What are we doing?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yep. Yeah, I get it.

[Scott]

And even the explainers, I like it a lot. I mean, Marley's a great example. I think what she does is really cool. But I mean, like, as a. As a. As a content thing, I don't know how long she can keep that up. And I also don't know, at what point do people just go like, oh, I get this. Like, I've seen it already.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. Yep.

[Scott]

Her as an example, if she wants to do that forever, I think that's awesome. I really think it's really valuable, but I don't know that it's a business forever.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And it does tail off. And people who keep it going for more than a year, that's really special. Like, as long as you've been going. That's amazing.

[Shannon Boggs]

Like, yeah, but I Do think that it's because we, you know, kind of converted into. We share a little bit of everything. And that's what I wanted. I don't.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

Because I have two other kids and I want to make sure I'm including them. Right. I don't ever want them to feel like their sister gets the spotlight and our page is all about her. So I try to include them, too. And I'm like, you know, we do. We do a lot of other stuff because.

[Scott]

Right.

[Shannon Boggs]

You know, just for that reason, mainly,

[Scott]

you're not going to avoid that. Like I. I've said, I've said here before, but, you know, I don't know if I could have possibly spent another waking minute with my son when he was younger. Like, he played so much baseball and I was always with him.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And they're reasonably well adjusted people as adults now. And still, I don't know, a year ago, we're having a conversation. He's like, yeah, when I was growing up, I felt like it was all about ardenin or diabetes. And I thought. I thought, I know. Oh, my God. Like, we put so much. And you start listing it as an adult. He goes, no, I hear what you're saying. It's just how I felt. And then we turned to Arden and she's like, I felt like we were always at Cole's baseball games. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. What are we trying so hard for if everyone was going to be upset no matter what, but it just is. And then you. You amplify it, and then it feels like, I know that I experienced this too. Like, to some people, I'm famous, which is ridiculous. And I. And I wonder if you haven't felt the same way.

[Shannon Boggs]

Right? Yeah. When people come up to me or I'll get a comment and they'll say, I saw you at the mall today, and I was so afraid to say hi or whatever. And I'm like, guys, I'm just a normal person. We're all just normal people. Come say hi. We are not famous. You know, it's just funny. Like, like I said, I work full time. My husband works full time. Neither one of us retire or plan on retiring early from social media. As long as we're having fun with it, I think that's great. But it's never something that we're like, we're gonna quit and just rely on this because I want it to be fun.

[Scott]

I saw this great video the other day. Had nothing to do with diabetes, but this, this person she was like, oh, my God. Like, everyone's always asking me, how much money do you make? Because I've got a couple of videos. Like, she had. I guess a video did like 30 million and a video did, like 20 million or something like that. And she's like, now that I had these videos making all these millions, like, you guys want to know how much I'm making? I'm happy to show it to you. And she's typing on her computer, and then she picks up her phone and turns around. She made like, $10. And. Yeah. And. And I was like, that's what more people need to see.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. So it's definitely not about the money. It's just really, just about having fun for us. Yeah.

[Scott]

Also, if you're a reasonable person and an adult, you, you, you can't build a business that a company outside of your control could turn a dial and change an algorithm a little bit and be like, oh, now you don't exist anymore.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, like, that's exactly.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

I mean, I've had a lot of friends that have over a million followers and they've left their creator rewards program, because once you're in there and you have, you know, I feel like they kind of put your views way, way, way, way, way down so that they don't have to pay you.

[Scott]

They don't want to, they don't want to pay you at that point.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, exactly.

[Scott]

Yeah. They'll use you for the content and then, like, the carrot and the stick that it's going to work out. Yeah, Yeah. I just see a lot of that reliable desperation of, like, like, this video has got to work. And it's just, it's a lot. I, I, I don't, I'm, you know, as I explained to the person I was talking to the other day about this, like, I'm, I'm insulated. I'm, I'm in a bubble that I created, and it's kind of my own. And, like, so I'm not at the whim of, like, what TikTok decides to do, or it doesn't matter to me if anybody follows me on Instagram. Like, that kind of stuff doesn't, like, impact me, but it's a very specific thing that I don't think exists for a lot of people. And you know what I mean? Like, I just, it would make me crazy. Like, Apple messes with their, their algorithm.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And it's upsetting. I am not gonna lie to you. Like, they made a change, like, two years ago, and I was like, I Need to get into a car and drive to Cupertino and bang on the front door, like, what are you guys doing? And then suddenly they put it back, and you're like, what was that? And then. And then it goes the other way. And then you're like, I don't know. Like, what are you doing? And, you know, this podcast sits in the top 30 of the US medicine category for, like, eight years. Like, I'm rock solid. Like, right.

[Shannon Boggs]

But, like, still, you should be so proud. You have done so well. You have brought so much good to so many people. And I'm telling you, anytime somebody comes to me, it's the first thing I tell them. Go to Juicepot Podcast.

[Scott]

Thank you. You're very, very nice. I was trying to complain about Apple for a second, but that was nice, too. Kind of trying to draw a picture for somebody. Like, it's bizarre that you could be doing the same thing today as you did yesterday, and you're reaching the same number of people, but they just change your metrics, and you're like, oh, okay. And then now what? Like, what if they don't put it back? Or what if they. Like, what if they zhuzh it up the wrong way or the right. Is any of it real? You get to the point where you just go, like, I don't care about any of this. I measure this podcast now by the people I hear who find it valuable. Yeah, that's it. If I'm hearing those voices and those stories every day, I just assume it's working.

[Shannon Boggs]

It's almost like diabetes, where you can do the same thing and eat the same thing every day and you won't always have the same results.

[Scott]

Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Apple. You're, like, having diabetes. It's super interesting, and I think from the outside, it is very easy for people to look and think, well, you know, Shannon and her family, they're famous. They must be rich from this. Or, like.

[Shannon Boggs]

But I think you're right. Yeah, I think you're right.

[Scott]

It's just really.

[Shannon Boggs]

I just always try. That's why I'm always, like, transparent. I'm like, no, we. You know, we're having fun. We're doing our thing. We're hoping to bring smiles to people. And if there's anything extra left over, like, we're. We're using our money this year. We're going back to Friends for life. I told my kids that's what our trip is this year.

[Scott]

Get to meet. I'm gonna be there.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yes.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

That's lovely.

[Scott]

I'm going down with John from Sugar Pixel. Yeah, we're gonna. We're gonna have a big. There's gonna be a big Sugar. Am I supposed to say, whatever, Sean? There's a big. John will get so mad at me. There's gonna be a big Sugar Pixel juice box podcast booth at Friends for Life this year.

[Shannon Boggs]

That is awesome. Yeah, we will be there. We'll come see you.

[Scott]

Oh, that'd be lovely.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Even when people are like, you should, you know, do something with me on my channel, I'm like, I don't. I don't. First of all, I don't have time for all that. And secondly, I know you think it's going to be valuable, but it doesn't work that way. Yeah, I'm talking to you because I think it's interesting. Like, I'm not going to get one extra download even if you and I, by the way, please do share it. But it's not going to. Like, people from Instagram aren't suddenly podcast listeners because you're on a podcast. Like, some of them will go, but it's not a. It's not a number. That is, like, shocking. It's just the same as if you, you know, vice versa. Like, you're not going to get some crazy bump from being on the podcast. Like, it just.

[Shannon Boggs]

Right.

[Scott]

The social media world doesn't work that way anymore. Yeah, it used to. I mean, getting on someone's eye, you know what I mean?

[Shannon Boggs]

I just feel like once you find your audience, they're there. They're going to be your people because they like you for who you are. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like a lot of people. Yeah, they're. They're just like, they genuinely, you know, like, one of us in the family or all of us in the family, or they look forward to seeing our. Our adventures or whatever.

[Scott]

You know, it is really an interesting. I don't know, I'm always, like, a little vexed by it. Like, I think it's interesting. I'm happy that it works. And at the same time, I feel weird when I see people just, like, they're trying so hard, and I'm like, even if you get there, wait till you get there and find out it's $124. Yeah, I know people who make videos for companies, and I finally one day was like, what do they pay you for that? And then. Yeah, and they told me, and I was like, oh, my God, really? I was like, like, that's it. It's like a. It's like a few hundred dollars.

[Shannon Boggs]

I remember talking to somebody that had 2 million followers and we were on a brand trip and she told me, don't ever rely on the platforms themselves to make you money, because brand deals is where you will actually make money and they're not always easy to get. Yeah, like, it just depends, you know, I. I've lucked out and I have certain brands that I work with that will contact me regularly and I'll work with them a few times a year. Things that I already use at home that I love, products that I love already. As far as, like the actual platforms. Plus, you know, people get hacked and banned and their pages taken down. It's just not very reliable. I feel like. For a forever income.

[Scott]

No, no, for certain. And it is. It is weird to say it because it sounds like it sounds so bullshit, but I am wearing cozy Earth sweatpants right now. It's so easy for me to do their ads because I'm just like, I really do love this stuff.

[Shannon Boggs]

I know. Yeah. That's how I am.

[Scott]

I take your point. Like, I mean, I have a lot of advertisers in the diabetes world, but I reach a lot of people, so it's sort of a. No, it's a no brainer for them, you know, to be involved with it. When I first started doing it, like, I mean, I've been doing this for. This is my 12th year.

[Shannon Boggs]

Wow.

[Scott]

I think I talked Omnipod into buying an ad when I basically, I used to write for their blog. And it wasn't. I think I wrote like six blog pieces a year. I just said, like, please don't make me write the blog anymore. Just give me the money and I'll give you ads on my podcast in exchange. And they were like, well, how many people are listening to the podcast? I'm like, well, nobody really. I was like. But I was like, I'm gonna build it up, I promise. And they were just kind enough to be supportive back then because there was no reason to.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, that's awesome.

[Scott]

And then it was one company that gave me. It wasn't even. It's not like it was enough money to like, to put in as much time as I was putting. It was enough money to, like, show to my wife, like, look, I got money for this. Like, let me do it for a while.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And let's see what happens.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yep.

[Scott]

And now 18. 21 million 1800 episodes, 21 million downloads later. Like, it's. It's this crazy thing, but it started off by me just thinking, like, I can't keep writing this blog. Like I told you, like, blogging died. They people. There were 4,000 diabetes blogs at the peak. Like, who the hell is reading? Nobody's reading all those. Yeah, I pivoted to the podcast thing, and I think I just got there first. I think that was kind of what happened. I did have this moment today where I was thinking about all the times that people tried to talk me out of this or kind of make me feel bad about it along the way. And it was like, from day one, before I even started it. A guy told me, I won't say his name. A guy told me, well, you can start a podcast about diabetes, but you're going to run out of stuff to talk about very quickly.

[Shannon Boggs]

Oh, wow.

[Scott]

And I actually thought, that doesn't sound right, but okay. But that still was in my head, like, I'm going to run out of things to talk about. Then I started it up, and four or five months later, this person reached out to me and they were like, hey, you don't know me, but I'm going to start a diabetes podcast and I need help. And I was like, okay. So I talked to that person and helped them with microphones and stuff like that. And at the end of the phone call, they said, I'm going to do it differently than you. I don't like the way you do it. And I was like, oh, cool, thanks for calling. It's like, what is. And then that vibe was. And that stuck on me for a while because the old school bloggers hated me. And they were like, he's talking about how he takes care of his daughter. He's like, sharing what they do, and you can't do that. That's really dangerous. And now, 12 years later, I have that. I have literally tens of thousands of notes here. I could show you from grateful people.

[Shannon Boggs]

I just love how you come at it with a different. You always have a different perspective because there's always different people that are coming from the diabetes space in a different way. Like, today I'm here as a mom, and tomorrow you might have somebody that's lived with it for 54 years. That's what I think is really cool about what you do.

[Scott]

I appreciate it. You just picked a funny number because I've already interviewed a woman today who is 54 years old and has had diabetes for 51 years and just got Addison's disease. And, like. And she was talking about that, you know, and, like, I don't even do what I'M doing with you very often, which is interviewing somebody who anybody's ever heard of before. Because I really like to hear people's like, un. Like, yeah, even you.

[Shannon Boggs]

Nobody knows.

[Scott]

Yeah, but even you. Like, the first 20 minutes we talked, like, I enjoyed hearing your story, but you've probably told people that a hundred times.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

You know what I mean? Like, I like people who are, like, saying it out loud for, like, the first time and listening to them, like, pick through their lives and. And because that's when they come up with kind of aha. Stuff or things that are worth sharing or they say something valuable for someone else. I don't know. I like, I like interviewing people who have never had a microphone in their face one time. I think.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, I get that.

[Scott]

Yeah, I think it's. I think it's. I mean, that other people aren't interesting, but it's just for long term for having legs. You just need to keep hearing different stories.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

[Scott]

As much as you can. So is your daughter only good on, like, the videos or, like, if she came on the podcast, she could she hold a conversation for an hour?

[Shannon Boggs]

I think she could hold a conversation. She's super. Yeah, she's not shy. She's super chatty.

[Scott]

Would she talk about her diabetes?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. If she wants to. You should tell her. I. I'd love to do it with her because. Yeah, it's interesting to hear. So I'm gonna now say the opposite thing I just said to you. You're an adult. You know, you know what you think and you, you feel like, you know, you can say things over and over again, but a kid who's articulate and willing to talk about it, she'll share stuff that other kids, you can't pry out of other kids because she's a little. She's a little media trained, so she'll do, like, she'll. She'll get talky and so, yeah, it'd be cool. There's no pressure. But if she wanted to, I think that would be really cool.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. Okay. I'll definitely ask her again.

[Scott]

It took me like, two years to get you to do this, so, like.

[Shannon Boggs]

I know, I know. I had it scheduled with you a while back, and I woke up with the stomach bug the day that we were supposed to do it. It was awful. I felt so bad to cancel. So it's funny, like, you know, you see, so we have a service dog and we apply. I literally started looking up service dogs when she was still in the hospital because I saw people talking about it, and our service dog is great. I love her. She's wonderful. Don't get me wrong. But I feel like so many people, including me, you know, we've shared videos of her. Now I feel like everybody that has a dog, kid with diabetes, thinks that they need a service dog. So I have put that out there. Like, please don't feel like you are less than as a parent because you don't have a service dog. Because now that we have a few years under our belt, we definitely don't rely on her like we thought that we would. She's great. She's a great backup. But also, I just. You know, I said this on another podcast that I was on, and they were like, oh, I didn't even think about that. Like, the dog will go to school with Raelyn, and Raelyn has to think about when is she gonna take her outside for a break, when is she gonna make sure she has water. Then she has to clean up after her. She has to find a spot that's out of the way in each class that she goes to because she's changing classes. And then she's got all the extra stuff for the dog, plus all of her diabetes stuff, plus her book bag and laptop. So it's a lot. So I always tell people, like, if you. It's just something that I want to tell parents, like, consider that. Because some days she's like, mom, it's just too much. Today I have. I have a test. I have this. We have this going on at school and after school. She's like, I don't think I'm gonna bring her to school today. And I'm like, okay, that's fine.

[Scott]

You can leave her. That is exactly. I don't know if I'm more cynical person or whatnot, but. And I've had tons of people on to talk about their dogs, and I'm happy to have the conversation with them, but you couldn't get me to get a diabetes service dog by putting a gun to my head. I'd be like, no, thank you. Yeah, I mean, I. The CGM works fine. I'm good.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And I don't. Not looking for all that. All the. The extra stuff. Like, nothing. Like, I have dogs already. Like, you know, and it's a lot

[Shannon Boggs]

that people don't think about. And she's great when. When it's summertime and she's out in the yard and we're running around without the phone, so she doesn't have a blood sugar reading on her or we're swimming or in the water. If we post a video and we go to anywhere, anywhere without the dog, people immediately in the comments are like, where Spy? And it's like, she. Even Raelyn's like, these can't. Mom. They think that she has got to go with me everywhere. Like, my goodness. And sometimes the dog needs a break. Like, she's. Maybe she went to school with her that day, then she needs to come have a break in the afternoon. And like, lord forbid we go to Walmart without her.

[Scott]

Well, you know, it's interesting, too, because you, you run the risk of telling your daughter, hey, you can't exist without this dog. And, and there are plenty of people living with type 1 diabetes. Don't. Don't even have a kitten. So, like, they're, you know, they're okay. I mean, again, if it's something somebody wants and it's valuable for them, I mean, God bless. I don't, I couldn't possibly care less. But I don't want you to, like, run around feeling like this. Like you said, like, this has to happen or I'm somehow not doing everything I'm supposed to do. I'm going to tell you, I think you could be perfectly fine your whole life and not have a diagnosis service dog.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And by the way, they are incredibly expensive most of the time, and there are a lot of companies out there that will take advantage of you and sell you a very overpriced dog that isn't going to sniff your socks. So. And then later they'll tell you, oh, whatever, sorry. Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

I, I tell everybody to do the research. I've had parents message me, say, like, you know, they feel bad not having a dog for their kids. And I'm, I've told them exactly what I just told you. Like, please do not ever feel like that, because if I had have probably given it more time and gotten used to it before we jumped into it, I don't think we would have felt like, but we have to have this dog. She is definitely a blessing in our life, and we love her to death. And she has definitely woken us up and caught Raelynn's high and low blood sugars for sure. But like you said, with the technology that we have these days, it does that, too. I mean, even people she's born in middle school, and when she gets to high school, her dog will be pretty much retired by that age. We'll have to think about, are we going to get another dog? And I don't see her wanting another dog. Because I think she's very independent, and she's not going to want the extra ca. You know, hassle.

[Scott]

Turns a fun pet into, like, a anchor, too. Like, yeah, I can just. I'm picturing you and your husband laying in bed one night, trying to go to sleep, and one of you just turns the other one and goes, why did we. We didn't need that dog.

[Shannon Boggs]

Well, and, like, also, our dog is not trained as tightly as some of the other dogs. Like, some of them are waking their. The parents up at a blood sugar of 140 because they think it's a high blood sugar. And I'm like, whoa, man, I'm glad she doesn't do that, because I think that would just drive me crazy.

[Scott]

I would prefer the algorithm just gave a little insulin at 140. That sounds, baby.

[Shannon Boggs]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Scott]

My gosh. Yeah. Again, it's no shade for anybody. Like, I. Again, if it's something you like, I. I couldn't. Again, I couldn't possibly care less. I'm happy for you if you're happy, but, my goodness. I mean.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, it's just. It's a commitment that everybody needs to consider. Like, we've had a lot of medical stuff pop up with ours that on top of what we spent to get her. I mean, she was in the ICU at a college hospital one time, something that will still never diagnosed, and we got a $13,000 bill.

[Scott]

Oh, my God. Are you serious?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yes. So I always tell people, like, make sure you consider all of the things, including the things that could pop up that you're not expecting.

[Scott]

Oh, my God. Let me give you a little insight into what would happen if that happened to me. I'd be like, kelly, this dog, you told me we had to get it. There's a bill here for $13,000 for it. It's a good. It's a good thing. And then I just would curl up into a ball and lay on the ground. Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

It was a struggle. It was bad.

[Scott]

Oh, my God. Yeah, that would have. That would have sent me into a very quiet. I would have just walked away quietly. And you would have been like, oh, Scott seems upset.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, it was a shock. It was a shock.

[Scott]

I don't know. I don't want to know how many times your husband drove back and forth that bridge for $12,000 or how many people's hair you've cut to cut to make that money or whatever.

[Shannon Boggs]

That's what I'm saying. I'm like, don't ever think because your fundraisers over that. That's the end of it. Because these dogs are still pets at the end of the day, that can.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

You know, have emergencies.

[Scott]

You know, you bring up fundraiser. I'm going to pivot a little bit to something and that I have, like, a unique perspective on. I wonder if you have an opinion about it. And so being a person who runs, like, a really large community, there's certain things we just can't do. And some of them are obvious. Like, you can't let people go on and on about their religion and preach. You can't let people talk about their politics. It just doesn't work. You can't, like, you know, you can't put up a story about somebody with diabetes who was detained by ICE and passed away and say, well, this isn't a. A political statement. Well, trust me, it's going to be in about 10 minutes. Like, you know, there's certain things you can't do. Right. One of the things you can't do is you can't let people put up links to their diabetes walks to their. I'm trying to raise money for a service dog. Yeah. I have an Instagram or I'm trying to like anything like that. Like, we just, we don't. It just turns the. It turns the group into a billboard and. And you. And you can't do it.

[Shannon Boggs]

But also, it's so many scams, you don't know what's real and what's not real.

[Scott]

Yeah, that's. The other side of it is you put that post up, you're opening up everybody who sees it into being scammed. Most people are very kind. They're not going to think twice about it when someone says, hey, you know, can you meet me in a Walmart parking lot and bring a cgm? I'm on vacation. And I would love that for the people who, by the way, who are really in that situation and the people that want to help them. They also don't realize that Facebook doesn't allow that. It brings bad attention to the group. Like, there's a lot of. There's a ton of reasons. So I end up being the person who has to be like, like, no, I'm removing your post about, like, your JDRF walk, or you're trying to raise money for your dog or, like. And then I feel like. I feel like the Internet is full of, like, it's like about a thousand people who think I'm the biggest in the world because of stuff like that, but there's just nothing. I need another voice to Tell them all that. Like, I can't.

[Shannon Boggs]

No, I agree with you. I do the same. You know, I get a lot of dms. Will you share this? So and so was in an accident. My uncle's having cancer treatments, you know, and you're. I couldn't agree more. You just can't do it. I don't know what's real. I don't want to open that up to my followers, not knowing if this is a scam that we're falling into. So I choose the same thing. Unless it's somebody that I personally know, like, in my town that has asked me for something, I might share it, like, on my story or something and explain what it is. But if it's a stranger that I don't know, I just am too scared to open that door. Just mainly because I don't want people getting taken advantage of. But you running a group, I agree. If you let one person do that, your whole page becomes it. And that's not what your page is for.

[Scott]

Yeah, it's there to help people so they can talk to each other. You know what I mean? Like, that's what it's there for. You can't. Also, the algorithm ignores that stuff to begin with. Like, Facebook's not showing anybody your JDRF walk post. It's just. It's not going to show it to anybody. And then for every person who's just like, hey, you know, hey, here's my kid's Instagram. She talks about diabetes sometimes. Like, like, cool. Like that. I'd be happy to leave that up. Except that for every person like that, you know, maybe for every 10 people like that, there's one person who really, like, maniacally is trying to start a business. They want money and they want followers. They're vicious about it. There's one in. I have one in mind right now. I would never tell anybody who it is.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

But the person came into the group, acted all like, oh, I'm just here. Like, you know, I just need help for my family and blah, blah, blah. And then was very quietly building up, like, you know, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and DMing everybody to, like, fill up their followers list and everything. And we finally figured out it was happening. You have no idea. Like, I'm such a decent person. Like, I reached out and I was like, hey, you can't do that. Like, please don't do that.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And my. My moderator was like, just ban them. And I was like. I'm like, maybe they really, you know, like. And the per. The Person apologized in circles. I'm so sorry. Blah, blah, blah. Thank you for telling me it never happened again. I don't know that they paused for hour, just right back at it again. And so we figured out that they were still doing it and we banned the account. And then they came back in through a spouse's account and just started doing it again. And then we figured that out and banned that account. And now that person is out in the world with a reasonable following.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, I would love to talk to you about this when we're off camera, because I think I know who it is. And I got a little attacked by the same person too.

[Scott]

And then. And then it's just like. It's crazy because then like, like, then they talk badly about me and I'm like, wait, what? What? Like I see what you're doing. Like, Like I'm.

[Shannon Boggs]

I mean, even. Even on me personally, on your page, I go under. I'm only following your page under my first. And it's not even my last name. So that's why when somebody tagged me

[Scott]

or something, you didn't even know one time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

I don't comment under my page that we, like, have social. We do a social media under the Boggs family.

[Scott]

Right.

[Shannon Boggs]

I don't even comment on your page on that. Like, it's just strictly under my. I have my private account that's just for my local hometown friends.

[Scott]

Right.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. I mean, I've never tagged any of my stuff on your. You know what I mean?

[Scott]

No, of course. We banned all the pages. We ban pages. And that, by the way, that makes people upset. Like, why won't you let me be. And in the end, what I've learned is. What I've learned is, is that that group is. It's so big and it's so active that when other people are out in the world just desperate to of make a business or.

[Shannon Boggs]

Or it'll never work. You have. You can't go looking for followers. They just have to find you.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

By. If it's meant to happen, you know.

[Scott]

But once they get a couple from a post, then it's like crack. Then they can't stop. Then they're like, oh, they want to do it again and again and again. Like, oh, I posted. I got 10 followers. I'm gonna do it again. I'm like, no, you're not. Like, I work with companies. And I'm like, look, I'll post for you every once in a while, but we're not doing it ad nauseam. Like, These, the way I explain it to everybody is those are people. They're not fish in a barrel. You know what I mean? Like, you don't get to go hunting in that barrel. Like, those people need to feel safe here. They need to not feel like they're being sold to constantly.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, I agree.

[Scott]

And there have been elaborate scams. There's this one. There was this one per one account. I don't even say guy or girl because God knows who you're actually talking to. Right. But there was one account that posed as an adult in like their mid to late twenties. And every time they posted they would get two responses pretty immediately, both from middle aged women. And one of the women's voices was very motherly towards him. And one of the voices was very flirty towards him.

[Shannon Boggs]

Oh, greedy.

[Scott]

It took us a while to figure out that it was the same. All three accounts were the same person. And so we banned them out and got rid of them. And I don't tell anybody, anybody's business. They just. But they were popular. And then people started saying, hey, where's this person? And I'm like, look, you know, they're not here anymore. I don't want to say because I don't want to, like, you know. You mean like, I don't want to. Yeah, whatever. I'm not trying to tell anybody's business. And so, like, I won't say. And then they're like, well, you should let them back there. I'm like, oh my God, you, this is me. I'm like, I'm getting blamed. And I'm like, I'm just trying to live my life. It's a weird position to be in because I don't, I'm not looking to be a gatekeeper on something. Yeah, yeah, but you put it very well. Like you don't know who's scamming. I don't want to open people up to that. And I don't have time for all this to begin with.

[Shannon Boggs]

And also, what you're doing already works. And you've had these rules in place for so long. Like, I wouldn't change anything just because people, if they don't get, if they get mad, go somewhere else. Don't worry about. You know what I mean? Like, that's. You don't have to be in my. On my Facebook page.

[Scott]

Yeah. I used to have a bit of like a complex about, like, well, I don't want to, like, I don't want to ban anybody because I know how valuable the space could be for them. Them and there's a moment where I was like, I can't. That can't be my problem anymore.

[Shannon Boggs]

No, you're right. You got to protect your piece for sure. That's number one.

[Scott]

Yeah. That's a good way to put it. Exactly. So anyway.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

What have I not talked to you about that way I should have brought up. Did I miss anything?

[Shannon Boggs]

I don't think so. I think we covered. Let's see. We covered.

[Scott]

I didn't even know if you didn't even put notes in, did you? I didn't even know.

[Shannon Boggs]

No, I don't know that you sent me any. I just figured we were winging it.

[Scott]

Yeah. It went very well. Yeah. I assumed you knew how to talk about diabetes.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

What's it? Can I ask you a question?

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, sure.

[Scott]

How long did it take you to hold that phone up in front of you before you stopped feeling like an. You know what I mean? Like. Like you're like, I'm dancing in front of my phone here or. Because you used it with your kids for fun. Was it already like.

[Shannon Boggs]

I think it was already. Yeah, Just kind of like so. So natural. I think you have to get. You have to get used to people are gonna talk about you no matter what. And especially people that know you in real life and then they see you, like, blow up on social media. I think it sparks a lot of, like, jealousy. But I'm still the same person that I've always been and, you know, I just had to get. Get it out of my head. Their opinion is none of my business.

[Scott]

I learned, like, such a long time ago that if you're going to do anything like this, there's a wall and you just don't care about what's on the other side of the wall.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. You just have to. I mean, once you put. Put yourself out there and your, you know, opinions, and I mean anything, even. You know how it is. If you talk about how you don't eat a low carb diet, you have certain people coming after you saying, oh, well, you shouldn't do this. Or if. If you're feeding your kids a low carb diet, then they're going after that person. So there's always going to be people that. Yeah, there are always going to be people that are. That are not pleased with what you're talking about. And it's like, well, you just have to get over it.

[Scott]

Low carbon, it's such a fun one. It used to be the people, they used to be so much aggressive. It's calm. Either it's calmed down. Or they've learned to leave me alone because I don't pay attention to. I'm not sure which one it is exactly. Yeah, but that one's interesting. Or just anything really. Like, anybody. My favorite one, my group has, like. I think we're, like, up to, like, 84,000 people. Right. The activity is insane every day. And the other day, somebody comes on and goes, you know, you shouldn't be asking people on the Internet for their advice. And I was like, you're in a community for type 1 diabetes. Like, look at all the posts. They're all that, like, do you not know what the Internet is?

[Shannon Boggs]

So it's not like you can just walk out on the street and ask your neighbors, because so many people don't have diabetes. Like, you have to branch out to find a community.

[Scott]

I. I just. I love it when somebody seems to not understand fundamentally what the Internet is. And then they're like, you. You shouldn't ask other people this. I'm like, oh, my God.

[Shannon Boggs]

No. I mean, I truly have gotten so much help by being like, hey, guys, what do you do for this? Or, you know what? What's your opinion? How do I deal with this? Because I'm still navigating so many new things. Even though we've had it for three years. I'm. We're getting ready to hit the preteen age. And I know when I go into the teenage age, we're going to go through a whole nother wave of struggles and trials that I'm going to have to figure out how to navigate. So I feel like the Internet is so important.

[Scott]

Yeah, me too. But it's going to change so many different times. You. You can't even fathom it right now. Yeah, like, it's going to pivot so many times.

[Shannon Boggs]

The hardest part for you, as far as being a dad, what age group or what moment that you're like, this is probably the hardest.

[Scott]

I think the hardest part was when she was sort of like, hey, I can do this myself. And yet she wasn't really there yet.

[Shannon Boggs]

What age was that?

[Scott]

It felt like it happened a little bit in high school where, like, you don't need to, like, you know, dad, you don't need to do this. Like, you know what I mean? Like. Or, you know, but still enough where she needed help, where that didn't last long. It just happened once in a while. Like, every once in a while, she seemed like, like, why are you. Like, I don't need your help? And then five seconds later, she needs Your help.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And then college. She was. You know, we were. She was doing great. I wasn't really very contact, you know, wasn't contacting her that much. I was more of, like. I was more of, like, diabetes. Google for her. You know what I mean? She'd be like, how do I do this? Or, what's this thing? And she'd go off and do it on her own. But now, in the last couple of years, and she's gonna be 22 this summer, like, I'm not saying I'm, like, involved, but, like, she's going. And this is where I'm personally having the most difficult is she's going through a very healthy part of her life where she's figuring out who she is and she's pushing back a little and separating from a lot of different things, which you would expect kids to do, and my son did. And you want them to do that. Except when that thing turns into, well, I don't want to change my CGM until the last possible second, or I know my pump's not working well for the last eight hours, but I'm not changing it until after dinner.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, we go through that a lot.

[Scott]

Yeah. And you're sitting there thinking, like, just change it now. It'll make the next 12 hours of your life so much easier if you just do this now. But you don't say that because you understand that she's learning about herself and diabetes in the world and her as an adult. And I do believe she'll. I do believe that it's going to be a process, that she'll come back. I don't want to make it sound like she's, like, off the. Off the reservation. Like, arden's got, like, a 6. I think a 1C is, like, 6, 7 right now. But that's completely managed on her own while she's in. While she's in college. It's fantastic, you know?

[Shannon Boggs]

Absolutely.

[Scott]

You give it back to me right now, I'll have it at a five, six in a month.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

That's not what we're doing anymore. And so the difficult part is just shutting your mouth.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. I'm having to learn that, like. Yeah, I have to. You know, we give my daughter a lot of freedom. She proves us to be that she handles it well. But when she's away at a friend's house for a weekend and we let her go overnight, like, maybe to her cousin's house and stuff, I will not hear from her. I used to hear, you know, hey, send me a picture of food. What should I bolus for? I don't hear anything. And her blood sugar is usually pretty darn good, like, in range the whole time. And I've had to learn, like, don't check up on her. Don't, you know, unless she's really low. Like, she's like, don't call me unless I'm, like, in the 60s and I've been there for a while. Like, give me a chance to, you know. So I know that as we get into high school, it's going to be more of that. Just trying to let go a little bit of the. The. Of the control and let her be her own person and make those own decisions.

[Scott]

There are plenty of people who are listening, whose kids it's not going to work out for. Like, diabetes is a lot about personality. Yeah, right. Like, the way you would handle diabetes is the way you'd handle a job or going to college or not going to college. Like, like your way people think about things. And it's going to impact diabetes, too. I think I know Arden pretty well, and I think I know where she's going to land. I think as an adult, she's going to be like a low six, a one C kind of person.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah. And that's what I would hope for for my daughter. I think that's great.

[Scott]

Yep. And there's a couple of little decisions along the way that right now don't get made timely enough that are keeping that from happening. But this is certainly not hurting her. And I do think, well, you know, Sean, just. I've interviewed so many freaking people that what I know is, is that when a kid is diagnosed younger and they go off to college, there's a chance they're just going to not pay attention at all. And the college is going to be A1C's and 10s and 11s, and there's nothing people can do about it, and et cetera. And then they graduate, become adults, and then they end up getting themselves together normally for the love of someone else. It's always like, I met a girl or I met a guy. I want to get married. I want to be healthy. I had a baby. I want to be here for them. People have those real human moments, and then they usually turn to their diabetes and fix it all up. I don't think Arden's going to go through that process, but I still know that that's a human process. And so if she's handling it this well right now, I don't want to be the one telling her no, you're taking the service dog to school. I don't care if you have a test. Like, you know what I mean?

[Shannon Boggs]

Exactly.

[Scott]

Right, right. So, like, I just say I go, okay, this is good. And if something happens, that's. I mean, I still follow her. You know, I don't look at her blood sugar very often, but if. But if something happens, not a lot. And I'm very careful about it because the way you approach her is important and the tone and it's all very important. Right. But you don't want her to feel like she's being watched or judged or that she's failing because she's trying really hard to begin with. There's a lot to consider in there. But, like, I might go to her and go, hey, look, you know. You know, you're 220 right now. You put 30 carbs in, like, I saw you eat. Like, that was 50 carbs. Like, you know, you missed. You know what I mean? You know, I think you need to bolus more. And sometimes she'll say, I got it. And sometimes she'll say, how much do you think? And every once in a while, you can tell when she's tired. She might just slide the phone towards me, like, okay, well, let's let this jack do it, because he knows what he's doing. You know what I mean? Like, and there's. And there's. And you're.

[Shannon Boggs]

You created such a healthy space for her. And I like that and appreciate it because that's a lot of how we do things. I see a lot of parents with really, really great control, with really young kids that don't know any different because they were diagnosed.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Boggs]

And if they were diagnosed at a young age, they don't have a lot of. To compare it with. And if they're not in school with other kids eating things. And my thing was, like, just want her to live as normal as she can, and I want her to have a good relationship with food. I don't want to create, like, a negative relationship with food.

[Scott]

Very important.

[Shannon Boggs]

By restricting her too much.

[Scott]

You also don't want to build a bad relationship with you.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, that too. That too.

[Scott]

And you don't want to be so lenient that you hurt her health.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yes.

[Scott]

A very fine line to walk. It's. Yeah, it is not easy, that's for sure.

[Shannon Boggs]

I know. I mean, we've definitely had our struggles, highs and lows with it, but I do feel like we're in a good spot now. You know, she's making good. She's starting to realize what spikes her and what she thinks. Like, this past month, she's like, mom, I don't think I'm gonna eat chips anymore for a while. I'm gonna try to get into good shape. And she's running a 5K. She's dancing, doing softball. And I was like, okay. And the other day she said, have you noticed how good my blood sugar's been since I stopped eating chips? I was like, yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. I didn't want to mention it, but,

[Shannon Boggs]

yeah, I loved that she made that decision on her own. But she also noticed.

[Scott]

Yep.

[Shannon Boggs]

That it's better.

[Scott]

We left Arden's appointment one time, and we just got out in the parking lot, and she was like, is there something I could do to make this easier? And about her diabetes and. And blood sugars and everything. And I said, honestly, I hate saying this to you. I was like, but could you stop eating cereal for a little while while. I figured while I. Cereal. Because I just didn't. It was a long time ago. I just didn't have it. I could bolus for cereal now. Like, it's no trouble. But, like, back then, I did not know what I was doing.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And I was like. I was like, if you could just give me a month without the cereal so I could figure the rest of it out, I think I could. Could figure the cereal out after that. And she was like, okay. I don't think she ate cereal for years after that. Yeah. She was just like, oh. And it just kind of left her. The cycle was broken with it, and it just didn't happen anymore.

[Shannon Boggs]

We still haven't quite figured out cereal, but what we have figured out is she can have it at lunch or dinner time, and it does a lot better than first thing in the morning. So she avoids it in the morning. And every now and then, she'll ask for a bowl at, like, bedtime or, you know, before dinner. And it's just so much better. It's just that morning that we really struggle for.

[Scott]

The morning's probably pretty simple. It's probably overnight. She's probably getting less insulin overnight to keep her from getting low. She wakes up, gets feet on the floor, so she gets that big kind of, like, adrenaline push. And there's already an amount of insulin that's missing from the lower overnight use. And then the sugar hits her quicker, and the milk and. And the. The carbs hold her up, and you. You lose before you start. Like, you. You'd have to bolus probably while she's in bed to replace the lost basil and then still do a good 20 minute pre bolus before she eats the cereal.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yep.

[Scott]

And you're probably. But that's a lot of timing while you're trying to go to the to school or to run out the door for something or something like that. Yeah, I take your point. Well, listen, this was really, it was nice to get to meet you and talk to you like this.

[Shannon Boggs]

Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

[Scott]

No, it's really been lovely. We'll get off here. I'll tell you about how long until it comes out and a couple other things and. All right, I'll talk to you later.

[Shannon Boggs]

Thanks.

[Scott]

This episode was sponsored by Touched by Type one. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram and give them a follow and then head to touchedbytype1.org where you're going to learn all about their programs and resources for people with type 1 diabetes. The podcast you just enjoyed with was sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. Learn more about Tandem's newest automated insulin delivery system, Tandem mobi with control IQ [e-mail] Juicebox There are links in the show notes and [e-mail] I'd like to thank the Eversense365 for sponsoring this episode of the Juicebox podcast and remind you that if you want the only sensor that gets inserted once a year and not every 14 days, you want the Eversense CGM. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox 1 Year 1 CGM 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. Talk, 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'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].