#1907 Come On Over, Valerie

Summary

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Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1907: "Come On Over, Valerie"

Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Valerie, mother to a 12-year-old newly diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes
Date: July 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on Valerie, a mother navigating the first challenging year after her 12-year-old daughter’s diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes. Valerie candidly shares the emotional journey through diagnosis, hospital trauma, learning to manage with technology, negotiating physician relationships, and gaining confidence by seeking peer support—including the pivotal role of the Juicebox Podcast community. The discussion features practical insights about autonomous diabetes management, overcoming fear of insulin, the messy realities of adapting pump settings, and how information from other parents and even ChatGPT changed Valerie’s approach for the better.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Pre-Diagnosis Confusion & Diagnostic Journey

• Valerie recounts a "normal" family trip to Mexico, after which her daughter grew increasingly tired, emotionally taxed, and physically unwell.

  • Signs included unexplained fatigue, stomach pains, headaches, declining school performance, and significant weight loss—often misattributed to family stressors.
    • “I was just chopping that all up to...our family is going through a stressful time...maybe she just got overrun that day and feeling a little off.” (05:01)

• Crisis hits after a horse show—her daughter is exhausted, unable to hold urine, visibly emaciated, and ultimately collapses at home:

  • Valerie’s friend, a nursing student, suggests checking blood sugar; the glucometer fails, prompting a trip to the ER.
  • The hospital reveals a shockingly high blood sugar (860), and DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis):
    • “All it read was high on the hospital one and their faces turned white. Nurses started running.” (09:11)
    • Daughter is stabilized and transferred to a pediatric hospital ICU.

2. Hospital Trauma and Learning Curve

• ICU Stay:
  • Valerie describes the terror, exhaustion, and overwhelming education crash-course:
    • “I did not sleep for 42 hours. Talk about trauma.” (09:52)
• Information Overload:
  • “ER doctor had to take me out and just sit me down and explain little by little...it’s taken me a long time to really digest it.” (13:31)
  • The transition home feels like caring for a newborn—fearful of lows, tentatively managing highs.

3. Initial Management and Mental Health

• Conservative doctor approach—slow to introduce pump, caution around lows, and general preference for letting kids “run higher.”
  • Valerie admits early on, “I felt comfortable with her being at 200 and above...the hospital, they are talking about lows and all of that, not really the highs as much.” (15:22)
• Emotional burden: Valerie becomes the primary manager; her daughter is resilient, returns quickly to normal life and sports, but remains emotionally "detached" from her own care.

4. Pivot Points: Seeking More Information

• Discovering Juicebox Podcast & Other Resources

  • Valerie credits the podcast—and its “Pro Tip Series”—for empowering her to take bolder and more informed actions, outpacing her healthcare team's advice:
    • “I’m learning from you, Scott...her doctor would love for us to take it super slow and not do what I’m doing.” (14:33)
  • She highlights the role of social media and podcasts as vital when clinical care felt insufficient.

• Peer support and parent-to-parent networking: Valerie recounts pursuing another T1D parent at a horse show, chasing down a mom because she saw a Dexcom on the kid's arm (31:14).

5. Taking Charge: Technology, Adjustments, and Frustration

• Practical Struggles with Pump Settings:

  • Valerie is advised “not to touch the pump” early on, but as she grows more knowledgeable through podcast episodes and research, she realizes key settings are suboptimally configured.
  • A pivotal moment comes from hearing a discussion about correction factors (especially with pump technology like Tandem Mobi):
    • “I was cleaning toilets in my house, listening to your podcast...and she was saying that the correction factor is going to be the key to the pump. And I’m like, what the hell is a correction factor?” (25:28)
  • Valerie uses ChatGPT and crowd-sourced advice to tweak her daughter's settings bit by bit:
    • “I did look into it, and I did put her weight, I put her age...they did give me a little bit of a guide...I did tweak it...and we’re definitely getting there.” (29:25–30:09)

• Autonomy and Confidence:

  • Valerie describes the personal liberation—and frustration—of realizing tools are imperfect until tailored:
    • “It did feel very frustrating to have to find a key point to all of this in a very way.” (28:31)
    • Her willingness to make adjustments herself leads to substantial improvement in her daughter's time-in-range (90%+ some weeks).
  • Scott’s validation: “One of the biggest predictors of somebody who's going to be successful...is someone who feels autonomously able to make changes to their settings in a meaningful way.” (36:49)

6. Navigating Doctor Relationships, Assertiveness, and Small-Town Limitations

• Valerie meets resistance from her endo for independently altering settings.
  • The doctor offers: “Would you like to see another doctor?” (44:00)
  • Valerie asserts herself, choosing to stay and collaborate, despite the implied scolding:
    • “I do appreciate, you know, you. But I am going to do what's best for my daughter.” (43:39)
    • Scott’s commentary: “What that means is, why don't you know that? That would be like, when you were 8 years old, if you didn't listen to your mom and she said, would you prefer to live somewhere else?” (44:12)
• Pragmatism over Perfection:
  • Valerie reflects calmly on letting go of the need to “fix” people and focusing her energy on what she can control:
    • “Your reactions—even though you want to change people, it’s not going to change them at all.” (46:11)

7. Peer Empowerment, Bumping & Nudging, and Boldness

• Key philosophy: “Be bold with insulin.”
  • Valerie and Scott emphasize the importance of not fearing insulin when used thoughtfully, and the real-life concept of “bump and nudge” (small, proactive adjustments):
    • “Bump and nudge—yeah, I think that should be a slogan for type 1 diabetes, because that is exactly what it is. You’re bumping and nudging constantly.” (42:38)
  • Valerie encourages parents to “not be afraid,” find support, and challenge unsatisfactory advice—they are the ultimate advocates for their children.

8. The Learning Ecosystem & Information Gaps

• Systemic issues: Clinical care is lagging behind fast-evolving tech and community knowledge.
  • Scott: “If you have a doctor who really is in the know...you’ve got a gem...but moreover, that’s probably not who you’re going to get.” (52:45)
• Role of the Juicebox Community:
  • Scott and Valerie reflect on the podcast’s community as an ecosystem that magnetizes listeners, helping them collect valuable “meteorites” of advice until they feel complete enough to move forward on their own:
    • “It’s almost like I magnetized you and then spun you around in an ecosystem—eventually enough stuck to you that you were like, ‘I’m a whole person now. I have what I need.’” (55:49)

9. Unspoken Lessons & The Never-Ending Journey

• Fat, protein, and food complexity:
  • Valerie notes her clinic never educated them on the impact of fats/proteins on blood sugar:
    • “The doctors never taught us about fats and proteins...my brain hasn’t quite wrapped its claws around it yet. That is huge.” (56:51)
• Co-morbidities:
  • Daughter also has Hashimoto’s, reminding listeners that autoimmune issues often travel together (60:42).
• Sustaining long-term mental and practical health:
  • Burnout and “drift” are inevitable. Mastering the management side can build resilience for the inevitable emotional strain.

10. Why Long-Form, Unfiltered Conversations Matter

• Valerie and Scott reaffirm the value in sharing imperfect, unprepared stories—real-life messiness, doubt, and small wins—over “pre-packaged” or performative content:
  • “I don’t want to hear from people who have it all together...I just want to hear from regular people.” (67:44)
  • “If you’ve got the tenacity to listen through for an hour, then you deserve what you get out of it...this is the way I think is best.” (70:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Valerie’s Tipping Point:
  • “Why do I have to be, you know, listening to find this information out. Why?” (26:51)
• Scott on Autonomy:
  • “If you listen to them [doctors], welcome to a lifetime of a problem...you need to feel autonomous and in an educated way.” (36:50)
• On Doctor Pushback:
  • “Would you like to see another doctor?” (44:00, Valerie’s endo)
  • “What a sh*tty thing. What is wrong with all of you?” (44:12)
• On Boldness:
  • “You can't play afraid...it's okay to lose, but it's not okay to lose because you didn't try.” (37:57)
• On Finding Community:
  • “Just find anyone. It doesn’t matter who, who may be in your same situation.” (40:46)
• On “Bump and Nudge”:
  • “That should be a slogan for type 1 diabetes, because that is exactly what it is.” (42:39)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------| | 02:34 | Valerie's Family & Daughter's Diagnosis Timeline | | 03:52–07:48 | Pre-diagnosis symptoms and the day of crisis | | 09:11 | Blood sugar revealed: 860, DKA, ICU transfer | | 13:31 | Trauma & info overload in hospital | | 15:22 | Early, fearful management, "newborn" analogy | | 16:07 | Daughter's resilience; parent-child caretaking | | 22:15 | How Valerie found the podcast/community | | 25:28–26:51| Discovering correction factors through Juicebox and making pump changes | | 29:25 | Using ChatGPT and peer advice to adjust settings | | 33:48 | Achieving high Time-in-Range with self-tweaked settings | | 36:49 | Scott's autonomy advice; importance of tweaking | | 42:38 | Valerie: "bump and nudge" philosophy | | 44:00–46:11| Doctor pushback, Valerie’s assertion | | 52:45 | Clinical care lags behind tech and the web | | 55:49 | Scott: Podcast as a gravitational “ecosystem” | | 56:51 | Fat/protein education gap | | 60:42 | Co-morbidities—Hashimoto’s, family background | | 62:05 | Preparing for burnout, why management matters | | 67:44 | Importance of sharing flawed, real-life stories | | 70:49 | Rationale for the podcast’s long-form conversational format |

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Practical Takeaways

• Don’t fear insulin: Small, proactive “bumps and nudges” are fundamental; fear often comes from lack of information.
• Be the advocate: Parents often must claim the right to adjust and optimize technology for their child’s needs, even when doctors advise caution.
• Build a community: Support is everywhere—podcasts, social media, chance meetings. Seek out others; knowledge and encouragement are often found outside of clinics.
• Push beyond the info you’re given: Clinical care may lay groundwork, but wisdom from lived experience (and a little internet sleuthing) shortens the learning curve.
• Awareness is ongoing: Acceptance—for both child and parent—takes time, and emotional/mental health needs change throughout the journey.
• Tech is only as effective as its configuration: Learning about settings (especially correction factors), understanding carbohydrate/fat/protein impact, and refusing to blindly trust preset baselines are key.

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Closing Reflection

Valerie’s journey exemplifies how parents—armed with grit, peer wisdom, and incremental learning—can transform confusion and fear into confident diabetes management. The episode is a testament to the power of long-form, real-life storytelling in demystifying the everyday “marathon” of life with Type 1, and underlines that being bold, persistent, and curious is every bit as essential as following medical orders.

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Episode title origin: The title "Come On Over, Valerie" is a playful nod to the Amy Winehouse song, ending the episode with both humor and warmth after Valerie’s openhearted sharing.

Transcript

[A]

Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box Podcast. Welcome. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juice Box Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. Are you an adult living with type 1 or the caregiver of someone who is and a US resident? If you are, I'd love it if you would go to T1D exchange.org juicebox and take the survey. When you complete that survey, your answers are used to move type 1 diabetes research of all kinds. So if you'd like to help with type 1 research but don't have time to go to a doctor or an investigation and you want to do something right there from your sofa, this is the way. T1D exchange.org it should not take you more than about 10 minutes. Have you tried the Small Sip series? They're curated takeaways from the Juice Box Podcast, voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes. These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Dive deep, take a sip and discover what what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on Small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com, click on the Word series in the menu. 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 [e-mail] 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 this episode is sponsored by the Tandem MOBI system which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Technology. Tandemoby 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 Today's episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by the Eversense365. You can experience the Eversense 365 CGM system for as low as $199 for a full year. Visit eversensecgm.com juicebox for more details and eligibility.

[B]

Hi, I am Valerie and I'm a mother to a type 1 diabetic daughter who is 12 and going straight through puberty.

[A]

Fun times. Is she your only child?

[B]

No, I have a nine year old son.

[A]

Okay. 12 year old daughter. Nine year old son. 12 year old daughter has type one. How long has she had it?

[B]

She was diagnosed March 1, 2025.

[A]

Oh, wow. March, April, May. Just a year and a couple of months there.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Okay. Pretty new to the whole thing. How old are you?

[B]

Absolutely. I am 42.

[A]

42 and married?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Married, married. Okay. 42, married, two kids, diabetes. What brings you here today? Like what made you say I should add my voice to this whole thing

[B]

because of the complete unawareness of it all. I would like to maybe start with her diagnosis because that is what is so strong with me. And the fact that even sitting in a hospital telling me, them telling me that she has type 1 diabetes, I had no idea what they were talking about.

[A]

So what gets you to the hospital? What did you see? Was she ill? Did somebody say something to you? How did that whole work go through that part?

[B]

Absolutely. Okay, I start with Mexico. We went to Mexico in January. Everything was fine, normal. When we got back, she was acting very tired. My stomach hurts here and there. I have a headache here and there. She has always been very bright with school and no problem with homework. Towards the closer to the diagnosis, I was seeing her crying over like math homework, which she loves, any type of thing like that. And I was like, I am so confused. And we. I didn't have my husband in my life at the time because we were separated and it was just me and I was chopping that all up to. To our family is going through a stressful time. These are just normal kid things that happen. Maybe she just got overrun that day and feeling a little off.

[A]

Of all the things that threw you off about or I guess shown a light on her, the stomach pain, the not being able to deal with things that she's usually good at. Was there one thing that like hit you harder than the rest as something that really made you worry?

[B]

Yeah. So that went on for like a month, two months. And then she went. She. She had. She's rode horses since she was 5. She went to a horse show early in the morning, rode all day long. I was at my son's baseball game, working the snack shack. I had a friend drop her off and prior to that my friends had kind of said, oh, look at her little pants, they're so big on her. And I remember looking like, oh, that's weird because I don't remember that. But again, your mind plays trips with you when you see Your kid every day. You don't notice the weight loss.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So she came to me, and she was very embarrassed because she couldn't. At that time. She was having trouble holding her. Her pee, you know, she had to go pee all the time. I did not notice a lot of water. I. I know in a lot of episodes, I hear that they were just drinking, you know, eight glasses or more, but I didn't. It was just the norm. Um, so that day is the diagnosis day. And so she comes to the snack shack. I'm busy. I'm like, okay, here, have some French fries. Have some Sprite. Have some peach rings. Those were our favorites to share together. So then we go home, and she just kind of gets worse. And I'm like, okay, just take a shower. Maybe you're just tired from riding your horse all day. She didn't have a towel in the bathroom. And she, at that time was in a lot of pain with her stomach and just her whole body. So she was in the fetal position on the mat in the bathroom. And at that point, I came and gave her a towel. And all I saw was a skeleton and her. All her ribs. And I was like, oh, my God. I don't know what's going on. This was a Saturday. Of course, I do have a friend down the street, and she was in nursing school, and that's the only thing I could think of. Called her and I said, I don't know what's going on. Something's wrong. Yeah, but in my mind, it was like starvation. I said, what do you want to eat? She said, chipotle. I took her. We went in the drive through, when I tried to give her food, because I was like, just eat. Just eat. Her mouth was then so dry, she could not swallow, could not eat. Again, keep in mind, I know Nothing about the type 1 and what I should look for, so it's not making sense to me. So then we get home, my friend comes by, she checks her out. She does all her. Her stuff. She says she looks all right, but something's kind of off. She's kind of thinking the worst. More cancer. Like. But then she's like, can you smell her breath? And I did. It did not smell fruity. She's like, I'm gonna go home and get my glucometer. So she goes and gets it and it just didn't work. And she's like, that's weird. Maybe it's broken. Maybe my glucometer's broken. And she said, I don't wanna send you to the hospital. Cause I feel bad, and it's like, it's okay. Like, just keep my son. I will take her. I would rather go to bed knowing what was wrong or if something's going on.

[A]

And that's how worried you were. You were beyond. Like, we can't ignore this any longer.

[B]

Yeah. But still not knowing what it was and how. Knowing, like, really what a finger stick meant.

[A]

Sure, Valerie. Give me a half a second, though. Like, Mexico, which, by the way, I can't believe you brought that up. So earlier I could have called this one south of the border disorder, but it's too early. It's too early in the episode.

[B]

But.

[A]

But so. So from Mexico to this, you know, skeleton on the floor, Chipotle ride. How. How much time is there?

[B]

That was the middle of January. So, like the end of January to basically the end of February, March 1,

[A]

maybe about four or five weeks time, that whole space. Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry. So you. You leave your son with your friend and you head to the hospital?

[B]

Yes. And so we. We live where there's, like, a smaller hospital, so it's just like the General Hospital. And she said just to ask them to check her finger, and I just want to know if mine is broken. So I got in there and I told them exactly that. Like, just want to check her finger. And for some reason, there was other people in the waiting room, but they just knew. They took her back. And sure enough, I still, again, didn't know what it meant. And all it read was high on the hospital one and their faces turned white. Nurses started running, and I'm just like, I don't know what's going on. Later, come to find out. Yeah, her. Her blood sugar was 860.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Full DKA. They said we have to get her in and start her on in IVs right away. But then we had to get an ambulance and be transferred an hour down south to go to the children's hospital.

[A]

Had to go to a different hospital. So did they stabilize her at the first hospital, or did they move her right away?

[B]

They. They only started fluids. They didn't have any type of pediatric diabetes anywhere at all there. So, no, she was not. She wasn't. Insulin.

[A]

She wasn't there long at all. They got you. Got. They got you out of there fast.

[B]

Yes, she had an hour ride. They did not want to start insulin at all until she was at the pediatric hospital.

[A]

How long was she in that pediatric hospital?

[B]

She went into the icu. That was the scariest thing in my life. I did not sleep for 42 hours. Talk about trauma. And she stayed there for a week just. She actually got stable pretty quick and then we stayed in the pediatric just unit for about three days for education.

[A]

Okay. And was she. Did she come back to life? Did her. Her body fell out while when she got back on the insulin like how did you, how did you notice all that stuff?

[B]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[A]

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[B]

That first day, yeah, she was completely out of it. She did not go into a coma, but she was just obviously tired. She slept for a long time. When she woke up, she said, I want bacon.

[A]

I have that feeling when I wake up some days too.

[B]

And she's just a little girl. Like, she's always been small, but it was just so funny. And I'm like, oh, yeah, she's feeling better. She wants bacon. And she wants all this off of her right now.

[A]

Yeah. That's awesome. Well, she popped back pretty quickly. Now, at this point, somebody's told you type 1 diabetes, do you have any context for it or is it all comes from those couple days in the hospital that you're initial context?

[B]

Absolutely. It does not. Like, we've had a little bit of type 2 in the family because of lifestyle. Never had. Never thought I of being a medical parent. Nothing in my life as far as family and all that was never a thing.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So it was so far in my mind. So, yeah, this was all a shock. The ER doctor had to take me out and just sit me down and explain little by little. But at that point, it's so much information. And I was not sleeping for days. It was a lot. And it's taken me a long time to really digest it.

[A]

How do you mean?

[B]

Just all of the information that goes with it. It took me a little bit.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And I just don't. I was. I don't think I was ready for it. When you have something that changes your life in a moment, it really takes a while.

[A]

Yeah, no, sure, yeah. You're not going to just immediately be like, oh, I completely understand. I got it. Thanks a lot. But, but so we. You're. What are you now, 14, 15 months removed from this thing? Right. Are you still absorbing it? Like, would you say that it's still a learning process? And if so, where are you learning from?

[B]

That's a great question. That's what I wanted to talk about. I'm learning from you, Scott. I'm learning from you and your listeners and your. And your guests. So she does have a great doctor, but she's very conservative. We had to wait the six months for the pump, which, yes, that just confuses me. She did have a Dexcom from the hospital, which I don't know how I could have ever lived without that and just listening because, like, her doctor would love for us to take it super slow and not do what I'm doing. Like in the beginning, yes, I was that mom of like, I feel comfortable with her being at 200 and above because, you know, in the hospital, they Are talking about lows and all of that? Not really the highs as much.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So when I'm coming home, you do feel like you're coming home with a newborn of like, oh my God, I don't know what I'm doing. So that was me for a bit. And my daughter, she did not let this stop her one bit. I'm going to cry because she was just like that. She went to school the first day she could. Never stayed home, never stopped her sports, nothing. She has taken this and ran. I don't think she is fully digested it herself because I am the full caretaker of it, but she's not letting it stop her.

[A]

What do you mean? You don't think she's completely digested it?

[B]

Like if I ask her, what is your number? I don't know. I don't know.

[A]

You feel like she hasn't taken it on completely?

[B]

Yes, absolutely.

[A]

She's aware she has type one. She knows it's not going to go away, like that kind of stuff. Does she feel accepting of that part of it?

[B]

I don't know. I don't know. She is a little bit hard to talk to. I do. We do need to get her hooked up with someone. She is going to camp next month, so I'm kind of waiting for that to see what else needs to come after that. But it's odd because she wears her Dexcom. She's on the tandem Moby. She'll wear it on her arm here and there and if it's out, it's out. She's not trying to cover it, but she is just very like, no, I'm just normal. I'm just doing my thing.

[A]

Also, she's some. Would you say, how did you put it? She's sometimes hard to talk to. That describes every human being I've ever met in my entire life, including me.

[B]

So. Yes, yes, yes.

[A]

Yeah. Nobody wants to sit down and chat about all the things that are bothering them. That's not a. It's not. It just doesn't feel. I mean, not that you shouldn't, but it doesn't feel natural when someone approaches you and says, how do you feel about this? You may not know how you feel about it. You may know and not want to tell somebody. I mean there's a lot to this talk about a. A marathon, you know what I mean? Like getting to the end of that. But she's. But she's taking care of herself, like, well. Right. Like she wears her gear, she's not scared to show it to somebody. But she doesn't have the level of connection to it that you want or a level connection that you have.

[B]

I think that I have. I think that I am totally okay with completely overseeing all of this. I want her to take it as it comes and as she can digest it. I think, you know, she's 12. She has plenty of time that she's gonna have to deal and live with this. And I am completely willing and wanting to do this for her at this time. So I'm not too worried about that right now.

[A]

Yeah, I wouldn't be either. I don't. I don't subscribe to the idea of, like, you know, it's their disease. Give it to them now. They need to know. Like, yeah, they need to know. And that's all true, but it doesn't have to happen all today.

[B]

Right? And she's absolutely so smart. Like, if she had to do a site change right now, she could do it herself and a dexcom, all of that. She does know. She just simply just doesn't want to have to take care of it right now.

[A]

You're proud of her.

[B]

I am so proud of her. I'm so incredibly proud of her. What she's taken on is amazing. And these type 1 diabetics are so incredibly strong.

[A]

No kidding. Okay, so you're saying you were told you're given more conservative marching orders from your doctor? Not. Not bad, necessarily, but what was it not moving quickly enough for you, or.

[B]

I didn't. I didn't know it all. I had no idea. So in the beginning, you know, she's going to school, and I'm, like, telling the nurses, no, I want her to stay at in the 2002, like, because in the beginning, she was dipping really quick. You know, her body was getting used to trying to stabilize that healthy blood sugar. So when she would see 100, it was like it was going down fast. So in those times, in those beginning, when I think back, it was like, okay, 200 made me feel safe, and the doctors never really, like, push me further. And then we got on the pump, and I had to ask for that and keep on track with it. And another thing I have my lift is the insurance. So I had to be the one to, like, make sure that I get it within that year so I could actually get it covered. You know what I mean?

[A]

Did you not have medical insurance at that point?

[B]

No, no, we do.

[A]

Oh, you do? Okay. Okay. What did you mean you had to get. You had to get what in that year? Tell me. I'm not hump oh. Oh, I see.

[B]

So, like, all of the deductibles and everything was covered. So we knew at that point everything, her prescriptions and all that were getting covered up by 100%. I see.

[A]

Okay. Actually, that's completely my fault, if I'm being honest. There's. It's going to sound ridiculous to some people, but there's a lizard in a cage that just leapt across it and it took my attention for a half a second and then said that. And I thought I just. Did I miss what she just said just there. So. Sorry.

[B]

Are you in your new office?

[A]

So close to being in my new office. No, the. The. The cruise is this month in June, and I'm going to ADA in June, so in the. I don't know how many days there are in June 30th or 31st. I know there's like a. There's supposed to be. Isn't there a hymn like, you can, like, sing to get to it? But how many days are on each month, but however many days there are In June of 2026, I'm only gonna be home for half of them. And so I'm up to the. We're waiting for the carpeting to be installed, and then I've gotta get furniture. And I think I'm gonna move my office side first and the recording side second because I have to get up the sound dampening on the wall still in the recording side.

[B]

I've been following all that.

[A]

Thank you. Yeah. I'm trying to get to. My hope is that end of the summer, by August for sure I'll be working out of there. So there's just a lot of stuff to do. Then I got to move all these guys with me to where they're going to live. And so anyway. And I'm doing it by myself, so it's. And I'm working, so it's not. It's not going quickly is what I'm saying.

[B]

Yeah, I should probably get slow.

[A]

Yeah. I think I have some people related to me looking for work. I should probably just start being like, hey, can you move a desk? Can you do this? You know, absolutely. But. But. Okay, so when you say. When you say, you know, they're. They're going slowly. And the reason I want to know about this is, you know, anybody who's ever tried to market something, you know, like when you. I don't know if you sell a widget. Right. You. How does. How does somebody in Peoria, Illinois, end up with your widget? You have no idea. Like, you'd like to think you do. Right. Like, oh, I bought an ad, or I, you know, it was in a magazine or. But in the end, you don't know how. You don't know how information travels.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's really difficult to, like, conceptualize how it does. Like, so, like, I don't know even what part of the country you're in, if you're comfortable saying that.

[B]

But yeah, I'm on the central coast of California.

[A]

Okay. Okay. How does someone in California, while their 11 year old is being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, end up finding out about a podcast made by a guy in New Jersey watching a lizard jump across the tank? And like, and, and how do you know to look for it? Like, like, what's the trigger that makes you go, what I'm being told here, it's good, but it's not enough. I need more. Where do I go look for more? How do you find out which way to go once you turn that way? It's just, it's such a web of unknown for me. I don't.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I do not remember how I found yours. I am on TikTok. I am on all the socials, you know, so I'm sure something popped up. And then I do like to listen to podcasts when doing house chores and at work, I do have a little bit of add, so, like, when things are going in the background, I tend to work better. So I, I don't remember how I found it, but it was a little while after diagnosis. It was close to her getting the pump. So I would say six months.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

After her diagnosis and you in the hospital, I didn't have any, Any outlet, any. Nothing.

[A]

Yeah. You probably didn't even think to look. I didn't think to look. I just thought whatever they're telling me is the whole thing, you know, it has to be. Right? You don't know.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So I just started listening and I started from one. I started from one, but then I started seeing. Because then I started following your page and on your page and I started seeing newer things and I'm like, oh, I should probably kind of go backwards again and see where we are now currently. But I did listen to quite a bit of, you know, Arden's very first in the beginning and just kind of all of that.

[A]

Yeah, she graduated from college the other day. That's got to freak you out if you started listening from the beginning.

[B]

Yes, yes. And that's why I just think it's amazing because you've been through it all what I'm going to go through now with all of it. So, yeah, I have questions about that, too.

[A]

Yeah. Well, I mean, and the stuff I haven't been through, somebody I've talked to probably has been.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah. That's why I like this, this format so much.

[B]

So I, Right now, I'm into the pro series, and that is so helpful.

[A]

Good.

[B]

But I want to tell you one thing about your podcast, and you're gonna laugh because I hope so. Yes. I found out in the beginning, yes, it was, you know, don't, don't be afraid of insulin. That stuck with me big. Um, so the doctors had to kind of stop me. At one point, it was the nurse and the social worker got getting on the phone with me saying, do not touch the pump in a very nice way. But I was like, whoa, what is going on? I'm touching it because it's just simply not getting her. But I understood what they were trying to say. They wanted to see the baseline, so I tried that.

[A]

Oh. So they, they set something up, and then they wanted to see a return on what they set up. But you were giving more insulin and.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And they, and they, well, couldn't they just see that as the example that maybe it wasn't using enough insulin? Like, why do you have to.

[B]

That's what I was trying to say, too.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was cleaning toilets in my house, listening to your podcast, and it was the podcast with someone from Tandem itself talking, and she was saying that the correction factor is going to be the key to the pump. And I'm like, what the hell is a correction factor

[A]

in your ear? Laura?

[B]

Laurel.

[A]

This is pretty recently. Yeah, I, you should know, I just recorded, like, five or six short episodes with her.

[B]

Oh, awesome.

[A]

I like her a lot. I, I, I really do. Okay. So she, she mentions correction factor, and you're like, what's that mean?

[B]

Yes, I'm like. And she's telling me, you know, in my ear while I'm cleaning your toilet, this is going to be the key to, to the pump. And I'm like. Because at first everyone's telling me how great the Moby is, and I'm like, yeah, but it's not getting my daughter where she needs to be. And when I find this information, I'm like, hello? So I, I look it up, I research it, and sure enough, I do make changes to her correction factor, and it worked and amazing. And so it just made me super frustrated that why do I have to be, you know, listening to find this information out. Why?

[A]

Frustrated that the doctors didn't tell you?

[B]

Yes. And. And like, maybe they told me at the pump training, but it is a lot to take in, but, yeah, I guess. Why. Why was that not being tweaked?

[A]

The thing I try to. Yeah, yeah. The thing I try to think about is that you're. You're buying an insulin pump, right? Like, I don't know what the. There's no through line here, but like, say you buy a coffee maker and you plug it in and, and you put in the four scoops and this amount of water like it says, and the coffee doesn't come out. Right. And you're like, people said, this coffee is good. It's not. It's not bad. It's not great. And then you, you learn later online that the real key to it is taking the electric cord, wrapping the electric cord once around the base, then plugging it in. And then you want to have the handle on the right and use a quarter of a scoop more per scoop than it says, and only use RO water. And then you're going to get great, you know, and then you go, oh, my God, this thing makes perfect coffee. Why would no one tell me this?

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

That's the feeling I think about the insulin pumps. Like, you're, you're. I think your understanding is I would throw CGMs in with this as well. Is that, Is that the thing does what it does and it does it perfectly. It doesn't need adjusting. And then to realize that, you know, for a pump, it's settings, carb ratio, sensitivity factor, blah, blah, blah, blah, like, all that stuff, those have to be dialed in really well or it's not going to work as well as it could. And then with the cgm, I've got to be hydrated. It's got to be in a good spot on my body, like. But, you know, all the little, like the little finicky parts of these things. No one speaks about that.

[B]

Exactly. And then here we are, so dependent on these things for our children's lives. We're tired, we are running around crazy trying to figure these things out. So, yes, it, it did feel very frustrating to have to find a key point to all of this in a very way.

[A]

Let me ask you a question also. Then you're given the thing, you're told the thing does a thing, then it doesn't, and you're left with thinking, well, it doesn't work, then.

[B]

Yes. And that's what the doctor said. She said that, you know, this pump should Be able to do it all. There are other ones that I would tell you to please, you know, interact with it and touch it more, but this is one that you shouldn't. And I'm like, okay.

[A]

And then. And then you flip on a podcast from some dipshit in New Jersey and listen to a lady from Tandem Talk, and you're like, well, the lady that works at the company doesn't seem to agree with what the doctor said. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoopsie.

[B]

Yeah. So. So I. Yeah, I. I change it. I've never been a big Chat GPT or I can never say that, but I did look into it, and I did put her weight, I put her age, and, you know, the fact that she's going through puberty, and they did give me a little bit of a guide, and I'm not. I am very in tune with her pump. I am very. I watch her stuff all. All the time. I'm very in tune with her diabetes. So it's like, I'm not going to just take exactly what Chat GPT says, but it was very close, and I did tweak it a little by little, and we're. We're definitely getting there.

[A]

So tell me, Val, when you. Is it. Do you like Val or Valerie?

[B]

Do you prefer either one? I've gotten both my whole life. It's totally up to you.

[A]

Well, because the Valerie makes me want to sing. Is there a song called Valerie?

[B]

Yes. Amy Winehouse.

[A]

That's what's in the back of my head. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So, okay, you are. You're a little lost. The doctor's like, don't touch it. But you're like, I'm gonna be touching it anyway, just in case you're wondering. Yeah, yeah. And then so. And then you're like, well, I don't know what to do. So you go to ChatGPT, and you're like, this is how much she weighs. Like, where'd you even get that idea from? Is that from me?

[B]

No. No, I don't think so. Okay. I have to tell you another part of this story, too. In this type 1 diabetes world, I am. I'm shown that it is very small. And so there was this mom at a horse show, and her little son walked by, and I saw a Dexcom. And if you get to know me, you're gonna know me. Now. I ran after this kid. My daughter's name is Reagan. I said, reagan, that kid's wearing a Dexcom.

[A]

Get him.

[B]

No, mom, don't do it. Don't.

[A]

Does she Have a lasso. Could she get him with a lot? No, I guess not, right? I'm sorry. I've been watching Dutton Ranch. Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[B]

I love that. So it was so funny. So, yeah, I totally ran after. But the mom was amazing. And so then she told me her diagnosis story, and she was like, I asked Chat beachy.

[A]

I love that. You can't say that because that trips me up sometimes. So you gotta roll. You gotta roll through it. ChatGPT like that. Do it like that.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

ChatGPT. See, she asked because the hospital had kind of, like, shunned her. Like, no, you don't know what you're talking about, lady. You know, so she actually put in there, what do I say to them to, like, have them listen to me? And so I guess that just stuck with me. So I just kind of went from there.

[A]

Yeah. So I have those. I have those estimators on my website, but I've thought, I have looked. I have the damnedest time, like, getting information like that out to people. Like, it is really. You have no idea. I'm not gonna sit here and complain about it, but, like, you know, any link I share on Facebook. Facebook doesn't want you leaving Facebook. So it kind of quells that. It doesn't show it to as many people. If I complain about something or show you a picture of my daughter's graduation, then, you know, 50,000 people say it. But if I'm like, hey, here's a. You know, here's a thing you might go use that might help you, that won't show it to five people. So, yes, it's lovely. But. So, okay, you. She mentioned chatgpt about something else. You think, hell, I'll try it. You go in there, say, hey, here's some details about my kid. This is the pump she's using. Here's the outcomes we're having. What should I do? Maybe to make this better. And it put you comfortably enough, being what it told you you felt comfortable with enough to start with, and then you adjusted off of that.

[B]

Absolutely, yes. And she. She's never been super bad like, she. Her A1C diagnosis was 11.5. And our first checkup, it was. We got it down into the sixes, but I didn't really even know, honestly, about an A1C until a couple months. You know, I got used to what it was and what it meant.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And now she is. I mean, she is. I'm still having to change things a lot. Basil rates and all of that because of her her puberty, like you just never know a day. But she is sometimes 90% in range to 88 to 85 on a bad spin.

[A]

So is it fair to say that your motivation is more about getting those, you don't want those spikes.

[B]

Yes, because, you know, what you said before too is that, you know, the sugar is coarse and it runs in their veins and that is a motivation. And that's what got you up at night. And that's what gets me up at

[A]

night, still makes me feel that way. I was talking to my neighbor the other day who's probably got pre diabetes. I, I was having that feeling for him, you know, like, I actually, I, I looked at my 70 year old neighbor and I was like, I need you to do something. I can't keep worrying about you. I was like, it's making me upset, damn it. I was like, you know, do something.

[B]

But I think if they thought of that, of it that way, they would feel maybe the same too.

[A]

Well, he's going to think of it that way now because that's what I said to him. So I said, listen to me. One day when you, when you stand up and go and fall over, I'm like, it's going to be because, you know, a high content of glucose in your blood system tore a little tiny hole in some artery or vein or something near your heart and your body patched it over one too many times and blocked it. And that's how I was like, is that what you want? I was like, come on, you know what I mean? Like, just for him, it's just a jail. He just needs a glp. He'll be fine. And, and, and he's, oh, I don't know, my wife's worried about it. I don't want to have problems in the bathroom. I'm like, you know, who doesn't have problems in the bathroom? Dead people. So like, you know. Yeah. I was like, if, you know, let's get to it anyway, so you figure out this for yourself. How long ago was this that you did this?

[B]

I think I've been really, really pushing and staying on it probably since she's got the pumps, so.

[A]

Last eight months.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And, and, and where, and did it work? I mean, are you, I realize she's prepubescent and all that, but like, for the most part you're happy with where you're at now, with all the decisions you made.

[B]

Yeah. Yes, we do love the pump. It is, you know, and I've gotten a lot of other people that I they actually come to me now and ask questions. And I had a friend just recently, her daughter was on the islet, also a teen, and just switched the. The Moby. And I said, it's going to be great. You just have to be patient with it. And once it's all tweaked and. And everything's figured out, it's going to be amazing. And she literally just text me when we were on the phone and said that her range went from 67 to 85.

[A]

Oh, isn't that awesome? With that, I'll say two things. First thing. Tandemdiabetes.com juicebox if you're interested in learning more about Tandem, please use my link. And the next thing is, I. I've been. I've been saying this for a decade. Okay. It's timing, amount settings, understanding the impacts of your food. But I'll tell you one of the biggest predictors of somebody who's going to be successful with type 1 diabetes, my opinion is someone who feels autonomously able to make changes to their settings in a meaningful way.

[B]

There you go. Yeah, I believe that, too.

[A]

Yep. Diabetes not going to be set up and forget it. You're going to have to make adjustments. And if you are in a situation like you were in the beginning, where you're like this, we're not using enough insulin, and then when you say that back to a doctor, they slap your hand and tell you, no, don't touch the pump. Well, if you listen to them, welcome to a lifetime of a problem. You know what I mean? Because. And you need to feel autonomous and in an educated way. I don't mean just like, you know, you're just like, running around Harry Carrie, just like turning knobs, being like, I wonder what this will do. But if you understand this stuff enough to make some meaningful adjustments to your settings, you are going to do much better. Much, much, much better. Yeah.

[B]

Yes. And just do the research behind it. But once you do get the idea of them. Yes. Just tweak them. I just do a couple points at a time, wait a day or two, see how it's going, keep it or, you know, adjust it back or do more.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that's where I am right now.

[A]

You play sports in school at all?

[B]

Yes, I played basketball. Yeah.

[A]

You can't play afraid. Like, it's okay to lose, but it's not okay to lose because you didn't try.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

That's kind of how I think about it. Like, I'm not saying again, you're not out there just turning knobs. And be like, I wonder what this will do. But go educate yourself a little bit. And then once you feel like you have enough, just be bold, you know, move forward. I, you know, try something, I mean,

[B]

you know, with the insulin and bold with the, the settings, for sure.

[A]

If you don't know what you're talking about, try to find somebody that does. If your doctor doesn't know, try to find a different doctor. Like, but please don't just sit still and go, well, I guess this is good enough. And then you start feeling ill, you know, and then it, it, it, Listen, I, I, I feel like I can't say the same thing over and over again. But then at the same time, there's always new people coming on. So here it is again. Health drifts away slowly such that you don't realize it's happening. So if you're living with higher blood sugars or your kid is, they don't feel well for the first couple days, the third day, the fifth day, the tenth day. But two months later, their body gets accustomed to not being in a healthy range. That doesn't mean it's healthy for them. It just means they're not running around anymore like, oh, my stomach hurts all the time or whatever. That doesn't mean that what's happening to them is okay. You know, like you, you, your body exists in an optimal range and diabetes is already messing with that. But I would tell you the same thing. If you, if your vitamin B12 is too low, if your vitamin D isn't right, like these things, the more optimized your body is, the better it works, the better you're going to feel, the better your life is going to be, the fresher your mind is going to be and all the great things that come with being, you know, in that situation. This, this insulin part is, is front and center, you know?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah, you need the amount you need,

[B]

you know, yes, they have this disease, but they, why can't we keep them at a healthy range? You know, we can with, with these devices, with these monitors. It's possible. It's not like it was before, where you did just kind of have to do what you could to keep you feeling good.

[A]

Yeah, no, you don't.

[B]

It is possible.

[A]

You have these tools and a tiny bit of understanding. I mean, listen, let's be realistic. Like, I'd love to be grandiose and tell you this podcast is awesome and blah, blah, blah. Maybe it is. But at the same time, all you did was find a podcast and then, and talk to a lady at a horse show and you know, and think to yourself, I should know more, and then get to the end of your understanding and then go to somebody else. Who. I mean, you went to chat GPT and you're like, hey, what, what is it? I don't know here. And then, you know, give yourself a little more information. You weren't. You weren't like, silly. You didn't go like, oh, you know, magic box, tell me what to do and then just blindly do it. You were still thoughtful about the way you applied it. And it took you eight months to get into a better situation. It's not a lot of effort.

[B]

Absolutely, you know, absolutely eight months. Go ahead, just find anyone. It doesn't matter who, where, who may be in your same situation. I only had one person, and I remember her son a long time ago, just asked me to get him some juice. Did not know what I was doing when I was giving him juice and I heard a beeping. But when I was sitting in the hospital, I thought, it's the first person I thought of. And she has been there for me day, night, all the time, always asking questions and answering them and so kind. And that is very important, too.

[A]

You're telling me that prior to your daughter's diagnosis, you were in a social setting where somebody asked you to get a juice for a kid, and now you realize, looking backwards, that kid had type 1 diabetes. But in that moment, how about that?

[B]

I didn't know. In that moment, I didn't know.

[A]

So what else do you want people to know? First of all, you're doing a great job on the podcast. Thank you.

[B]

Oh, thank you.

[A]

Really lovely. But, you know, you're fresh to this, but you're moving very rapidly forward. What do you think other people should know? Like, if they're stuck and they can't move, what. What do you think would help them?

[B]

I think the main thing that you need to hear first is to be bold with insulin. Because, yes, hospitals, doctors do make it sound scary. It is truly not scary if you use it. Sorry, I'm getting over being sick, so take your time. That's why I sound like this. And, and that's what you said before, too. And the, the name, juice box, and you had said before of, you know, if they need the insulin, it's going to work if they don't, grab a juice box. And that's most of the time what we are doing. And recently in the pro series, I hear the nudge and bumping nudge.

[A]

Isn't that correct?

[B]

Bumping nudge yeah. And I think that should be a slogan for type 1 diabetes, because that is exactly what it is. You're bumping and nudging constantly. And so I would tell them to just not be afraid to look for others, to reach out, to stand up in what you believe. Because, yes, the doctor, I do love her. I do know that she's smart. But she did have me at one point pull me aside, said, would you like to see another doctor? And I was like, no, no, no. I do appreciate, you know, you. But I am going to do what's best for my daughter. So we did have to kind of have that little.

[A]

Let's sit in that for a second. So your. Your doctor is giving you advice that you're not finding to be completely valuable. And you say, well, I believe this is, you know, what we need to be doing. You start doing that thing, you're not having a scary outcome. In fact, things are getting better. And your doctor's response isn't, oh, wow, this is going better. Now tell me what you do. It's. Do you want to get away from me because you don't want to listen to me. Like, she. He or she doesn't see, like, that you're having better success on your own than you did with her. She's not interested.

[B]

Yes, I know. I just think that because it was the first time after the pump, and she saw that she. I was really touching it, and she was just, you know, kind of. I felt a little bit scolding me,

[A]

and I was like, yeah, aggressive, by the way, saying, like, do you want to find another doctor? What that means is, why don't you know that? That would be like, when you were 8 years old, if you didn't listen to your mom and she said, would you prefer to live somewhere else? Like, whoa. What? That's a lot of pressure right there. Wait, you're abandoning me because of how I feel? Maybe I should shut up and stop saying what I think now if you're going to kick me out. Like, what a sh. Tty thing. What is wrong with all of you? Jesus. God in heaven. What is wrong with people? Well, look over at Valerie. Say, hey, she's having some success. Maybe be a little curious instead of it doing, oh, ew, yuck. And you still gave this person another chance. Look at you.

[B]

I do.

[A]

You're a saint.

[B]

I live in a small area.

[A]

Like, I had no choice.

[B]

And there's not many pediatric doctors.

[A]

I had no choice. Yeah, Mommy drinks a little, but, like, you know, it's this or it's this or the home.

[B]

So kind of feeling that way.

[A]

I got you. I got you. Oh, well, maybe, maybe this person will eventually let down their ego guard or whatever and say, hey, maybe I don't know all this and, and I could learn something from this person.

[B]

Yeah. So I, I was, I, I said, no, we will work together at this. We both want the best for her. And this last appointment was better. She did know I was still touching things, doing things, and she just simply said, at this time, I'm just not going to change her insulin because I can't see, you know, an actual outcome of just what the pump is doing. And I said, okay, that's fine.

[A]

Yeah, don't tell her this, but I barely got out of high school and that's an excuse. You can still figure it out. If she was proficient at what she was doing, she'd be able to figure it out. Why are you so calm? Are you. You on Xanax? No. What's good? Your mom. Was your mom a therapist? Like, why do you sound so no.

[B]

Oh, my God, no.

[A]

When you're responding to the doctor, why are you so measured? Like, I'm proud of you, but how do you get to it?

[B]

I've grown up. I will say I would not react this way at a different time in my life. I would see red. I was very hot headed. And no, I guess I've just grown up and I've realized that your reactions. And even though you want to change people, it's not going to change them at all. They're going to want to change when they want to change. And so, So I guess I just took that.

[A]

That's like one of the more adult things that's been said to me this month. You. I was like, really proud of you. Yeah. Wow.

[B]

I didn't realize. But yeah, I guess it's just that, like, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing because I know what that is. Right. And I can't convince anyone else. I guess it's got, it's got to where it's like you're so busy with this disease, you're so consumed. Like I'm going to just let other things go because I have more important things to worry about.

[A]

Yeah, you're not. You, you're like, your husband came home and he's like, I've been cheating on you. I'm going to go. And you're like, no, you're not. Stay here and cut the lawn. I'm gonna pull your together. Get out there. Do a couple things. You're not abandoning me. I'm. We're getting this done. I almost feel like that's what you did with the doctor. She's like, would you like another doctor? You're like, no, you shut up and stay. We're gonna figure this out.

[B]

And. And that is how I feel. That is how I feel.

[A]

You're not getting rid of me. Sit here.

[B]

No, we're going to do it. You're not getting away that easy enough.

[A]

I'll tell you, this summer, I. I don't have a. I got to get through this next. I got to get through this next month of work so I can really, like, think again. But my. My 30th wedding anniversary is coming up in August, and. Oh, thank you. And if I. If you ask me, what's the secret, I would say we're both too stubborn to leave. And so.

[B]

Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know what? I'm gonna tell my husband later. Like, Scott said I was so, like, calm.

[A]

He'll be like, whoa, are you lying to him the whole time? But. But no, but seriously, like, sometimes you just. You really do have to have, like, a longer view of things and. And realize that every. Every little mistake or misstep or. Or, you know, something you didn't like is not an excuse to just run away and start over again.

[B]

It's.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying if you get a terrible doctor, your life is short. You can go look for another one. But, you know, I do wonder, you know, what this is going to do. Like, I'm. I'm interested, like, five years from now with this endocrinologist that you. You allowed to stay with you, which is the way I see it. You know, will that person say one day, well, thank God that Valerie and I didn't get separated because I, you know, I dropped my. I dropped my force field, and I learned something, and I've been helping more people because of it. It reminds me very much. There's an episode of the podcast called Listen to the Doctor. And I'm so sorry, I can't remember her name now, but an endocrinologist reached out to me to come on the podcast. And, I mean, if you really want to hear an example of somebody, like, like, set their ego aside for, you know, for. For other people. The doctor said that she was listening to the podcast or somebody told her about it and they were having success or something, and she started listening, and she came to the conclusion that she was not doing as good of a job for her. Patients as she could have been. And that's a real. That's a real adult thing to say, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then she makes adjustments to what she's doing. Really applies a lot of the stuff in the Pro Tip series that I talk about, sees a massive improvement for the people she's helping. And then she goes back to the rest of the practice and says, hey, I think we should all be listening to these episodes and doing a better job. And she mainly got pushback from the other doctors whose conclusion was that I was bashing them. They're like, you've given us a podcast where this guy's Dr. Bashing, and she told them he's not. If you feel like he's bashing you, you really got to look at yourself, because he's not. He's just telling you what makes sense and what these people need and how we could help them, you know?

[B]

And I feel like the diabetes world is moving at such a fast pace that you have to, as the doctor, keep up with it.

[A]

Oh, yeah, they're gonna give up soon if this. Well, I would call this, like, an AI pace at this point. Right. Like. Like, the easiest way I can explain it to anybody listening who's not been around it this long is that there was a time in Arden's early diagnosis where if every few years, a meter company put out a new meter, you felt like you were getting something. Now, the meter didn't work better. It looked a little different. It maybe had a couple of buttons on it. I'm telling you, they just refreshed how the thing looked, and in the diabetes space, you were like, oh, gosh, finally we're getting something. Then dexcom came out, and they iterated very quickly, and they still are, by the way. And now that makes people mad. Like, it doesn't do the thing it's supposed to do, or they said it was going to do this, or I like the way the other one did it. Trust me, you much prefer this than to the. Oh, it's a new meter every three years. You know what I mean? Like. Like world. So now you're iterating faster. Then these companies come out with these algorithms. Honestly, you know, the. The DIY community was ahead of all of them, and so that forces them to want to catch up. Like, you know, think about it. You make an insulin pump, you really want to look up and find out that you. Somebody could download the algorithm to do a better job than the thing they have now with you? No. So you got to go out there and Come up with something too. They come up with something and they go, we did it. And instead of being able to rest on their laurels, which is what would have happened in the past, you know, oh, you got a meter. We'll make you another meter one day. Maybe change the color of it or something instead of that. Well, Tandem is making, you know, they start with. What did they start with? Basil? Iq, Then they went to control iq, and then they're trying to Other stuff and. Omnipod. Omnipod 5. Omnipod 5.2. I don't know if they're going to call. The next version of that's coming out soon. Medtronic was like, hey, here's another algorithm. You know, Beta Bionics is like, try this eyelet thing. Here comes Twist with a version of the loop. You gotta love this now. But. But if you're one of those doctors who already didn't understand, this is just gonna blank their brains. It's just gonna make them stare at a wall and go, I don't know. I don't know how that one works. You figure it out.

[B]

Yeah. So they send the nurses out to go to training and stuff like that.

[A]

Yeah. And then they come back and tell you three things and then you, you know, six weeks later turn on a podcast with some lady from one of the companies who says something and goes, why? How come no one told me that? You know, like, so. So when this is going to be the world from now on, you're. If you have a doctor who really is in the know and is keeping up at this breakneck speed. You've got a gem. Like I say, if I was you, I'd send a bottle of wine to the house once a month. You know, just, hey, don't forget us. We love you. But moreover, that's probably not who you're going to get.

[B]

No. And I. And I feel pretty comfortable where I am now. You know, I've heard another episodes. They're the insulin dealers, Dexcom dealers. I feel strongly that way. I feel. I feel confident. Sorry, excuse me. In myself and my daughter of how we're. We're doing this. Her last A1C, I was surprised. Is 5.9. Look at you, doing great. She runs track, she plays soccer, she plays basketball, she rides horses, barrel races, all of these things. We're doing it. We are. As long as we can have someone there to do the. The medical prescriptions, I think we're going to be okay. Yeah.

[A]

Hey, you know that. That little meme is the chubby kid Making the fist you have, you know which one he's like, in a green shirt or something. Right. And everybody uses it for, like, you can do it kind of thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's a group expert in my Facebook group, and she made a meme that says, you can do it. Juice box can help. Something like that. And listening to you talk, really? I've always thought that was nice that she did, but you're the first person to contextualize it for me, because I can get lost in the. Just listen to this series. This will help you feeling. But now I'm seeing maybe it's gotten much bigger than all that now. Maybe it really is just an ecosystem that has a chance to capture you in and. And show you itself in maybe eight or ten different ways across this new Internet. Right. And you'll bump into it one way or the other and get in there. Like, I. I used to feel like it was my job to get you and then tell you. Listen, first of all, you've got to know this and you've got to feel this way, and this is, you know, the. The perspective you're going to need, and this is the.

[B]

The.

[A]

The motivation that it'll require to get it done. You got to be bold. You have to do this. And you. It's a ridiculous notion that I am going to be able to capture a person and tell them everything I want to tell them. Now, I realize, and I've been coming to this for a long time, but really, our conversation today has really helped me kind of crystallize it a little more, is that I'm just sort of trying to catch you and maybe like, the. The gravity of the podcast and its surrounding community in the hopes that it holds you in orbit long enough that some of those, you know, floating meteor rocks that you need come stick to you, and you build up your own little cachet of knowledge. That's a lot.

[B]

And I believe that's what happened to me.

[A]

Yeah, I think so, too. It's almost like I magnetized you and then spun you around in an ecosystem and eventually enough stuck to you that you were like, I'm a whole person now. I have all the. I have what I need.

[B]

I do. I do feel like I got all the tools from here, and I'm good. I don't feel really scared much with it at all.

[A]

Yeah, I got the worst business model in the world. Every other company pulls you in and tries to keep you there. My goal is to get rid of you. I want you to feel like you feel so you go away. But then I got to go find 10 more people to make up for your downloads because you're out there watching the whole podcast, which, by the way, thank you. I appreciate it.

[B]

Yes, yes. I listen to it all the time, but there's always something new with each one, and I. You know, then I'm here sharing my experience, and things are just going to keep growing within this, so there's always going to be something new to talk about and always be something new to listen to. And one thing I wanted to bring up, too, is that the doctor before. I know. It's getting to an hour.

[A]

You're fine.

[B]

The doctors never taught us about fats and proteins, and that's what I'm really. My brain hasn't quite wrapped its claws around it yet. That is huge.

[A]

Yeah. Just think of it this way. The fat slows digestion, and it stretches out the timeline of how the food is impacting the blood sugar. So much so that you have to adjust how the insulin is hitting the timeline so you can overlap with its impacts. Does that make sense?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I'm listening to those, and I'm chat. Gpting and all of that. Like, she had a pretzel, a soft pretzel at baseball game. I thought I was doing so good. She was this perfect 80s, you know, kind of dipping a little bit. I said, oh, right, I got it. Oh, no. Hours later, you know, really just throwing it on it in the 200s, trying to keep her under the 200s. Just.

[A]

Yeah, listen, I. Here's my real hope. I. I mean this, like, sincerely. I'm old. Like, in the next six to 10 years. You guys got to figure this out, because Scotty gonna get tired at some point, so. But I think the algorithms will eventually get you to a point where you. Maybe you don't have to announce a meal, or at the very least, you can announce a meal, and it'll handle the. The ebbs and flows that come afterwards. I think. I think we can get there with all this.

[B]

I do, too.

[A]

Technology that exists now. But in the meantime, I don't want people living like that. And I really feel like your conversation's really been helpful for me, Valerie, because there are times where I can feel like, is there anything left for me to do? You know what I mean? But what I realized talking today is I just need to continue doing this conversational part of it. We got to keep bringing people in, some from companies, some from people, some from users, some from doctors, blah, blah, blah, and let people keep talking to Keep throwing more of those little meteorites into the, into the, you know, the atmosphere so that when people come in, hopefully they'll intersect one of those conversations in a way that'll help them.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I, that is definitely my marching orders for myself moving forward. Like, I just, I need to keep filling the space with the conversation, because most people, by the way, for every person who might go to a large language model and ask a question, there's 10 people that just heard that, that thought, I'm not letting that thing tell me what to do with my insulin. Trust me. Like, I've. And I don't know that you should or you shouldn't. I'm certainly not making, you know, a proclamation one way or the other. I'm just saying most people aren't willing to try new stuff and, or to go out on a limb or to break free of what the doctor told them. I mean, I would suggest that they listen to your story and try to come to grips with where you'd be if you didn't question what was told to you. But fair enough, that's not going to happen for everybody. So maybe they'll bump into enough ideas that it'll change their mind or get them thinking in a different direction or something. You know, like, that's really. Can be my only hope.

[B]

And I think, yeah, and my only hope would be, you know, just think about your child and that. I've heard things on here being said, too, of, you know, they're sitting in school and, you know, at 200, can they truly be their best?

[A]

Yeah. I don't think so. No.

[B]

And then at a low, can they truly be their best? No. So, as a parent, you know, we want to give our kids all of those opportunities to be their best.

[A]

Yeah. No, I mean, it just, I get lost in it all the time because there are a lot of factors, and I can imagine it's overwhelming. And then sometimes people add thyroid issues or celiac or other problems.

[B]

Oh, yes. Reagan has Hashimoto's.

[A]

Oh, when did you find that out?

[B]

With her diagnosis, but she is not having any signs and symptoms, so they are not treating it right now.

[A]

Okay, but her TSH is elevated or. No, not right now.

[B]

I don't know. Not right now. No. It just had, like, markers for it. My husband has Hashimoto's. I believe his parents have some autoimmune. My mom has alopecia.

[A]

Oh, that'd be my radio name if it was the 50s. I'd be like, it's alopecia. Coming at you like, that'd be like, wouldn't that be a great radio name in the 50s? Alopecia. That's how I would do it. But. Oh. So there's a little bit of a cocktail in the family history. How about you? What do you have? Anything?

[B]

No, nothing.

[A]

No. No anxiety. Yeah.

[B]

Well, I think that's just life. I think that's life. I think that's with.

[A]

I'm at a low level of.

[B]

Yeah, no, definitely anxiety. Definitely. Yeah, just hyper fixation on, on things. And I think, and I will say for doctors, I will give them this, that, you know, they are worried about getting overwhelmed with it all. And I believe that there are a lot of people out there that will and will just get tired and the burnout.

[A]

Yeah. Val, our conversation stayed a lot with management today, but the truth is, and I don't want to scare you all, but once you get through this part of it, then the mental health and the life stuff comes because you're right, there's no reason with all this technology and knowledge available everywhere that you can't have a, a lower stable, a 1C and, and, and, and low variability and have great outcomes. You absolutely can. But you're still a person and at some point that, you know, that feeling of burnout is going to hit. Some people overwhelm and call it whatever you want to call it, like, you know, like at some point it just, you don't want to get up and think about this stuff all the time. Or you just, you get so background that you forget to. Or it drifts away again. Everything kind of drifts slowly. So slowly you can't tell, you know, like, oh, the shoreline's disappearing an eighth of an inch a year. And everybody's like, that's no big deal. Well, come back and find me. In 2000 years, you're going to think it's a big deal then, you know, like, so, you know, same kinds of ideas, right? Things happen so slowly we can't see them, so we don't react to them, we don't think they're important, we don't prioritize them, etc. Mental health is it. So my, my best advice is to get this management side, you know, buttoned up as best you can so that it can hopefully alleviate a lot of that mental health stuff and maybe give you a bigger buffer between where you are now and, ah, I can't handle this anymore. And so that maybe, yes, you'll vacillate, you know, a little closer to that line, a little Farther away from that line. But hopefully you won't fall on the other side of it too frequently where you really can't handle it. You're not paying attention to things. Your health is slipping quickly, you know, but you can't ignore that part. I. You know, it's. It's a. It's a valid conversation. I would think that, you know, an adult living with type 1 diabetes for 40 years would probably listen to you and be like, oh, she doesn't even know the half of it. Wait till she sees.

[B]

You know, I can agree with that.

[A]

Yeah. You know, for sure. Right. But I would just say to them, you don't know the part she knows, which is if you know you're doing a good job of understanding insulin and timing and the impacts of the food and the fat and the. The protein and those things that maybe the mental health side of it's not as impactful in that situation, and go put some effort back in that side. That's why the first episode of the Pro Tip series is called Newly Diagnosed or Starting Over.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah, that's on purpose, you know, so, anyway. All right. Well, you were really awesome. What am I not talking about with you? What were you not brought up? I don't want to miss anything.

[B]

No, I think I just had written down pretty much what we had covered. Awareness.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Finding out the correction factor. I mean, there's insurance stuff, but that was a whole nother hour of talk. That is so frustrating.

[A]

Just go run your head through a different brick wall. Yeah, yeah, no, for sure, for sure. Well, I really appreciate you doing this with me. This was fantastic. How did I find. Did you reach out or did I find you or how did we get.

[B]

I reached out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't. Again, I don't remember how. I was like. I think just listening to your podcast, it said, you know, if you want to be on, go on to Juice Box podcast, go to the Link or whatever. And I did. And I sent. And I did not expect anything back, and I did.

[A]

Well, listen, here's the truth. Can I tell one of my secrets?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think people believe that there's, like, this vetting process and there's no way I'm going to make it through and blah, blah, blah. I don't turn anybody away, really. Like, I know.

[B]

And that's what's great about it, because people learn from other people's experiences.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's how we learn 100%.

[A]

Even when I get an email and I read it and I think, oh, this person's out of their mind. I still want to have you on the podcast because you know what, there's other people out there, they're out of their mind too. And then they would, and they would like to hear your story and I would like to hear it like, you know what I mean? Or maybe people are so overwhelmed you think, well, what could they possibly add to it? How about just the knowledge that other people are overwhelmed, you know, you know, like, so I've had, I've had people tell me like I didn't say anything valuable. I said the struggle you're having hearing it is valuable. And, and I said, and I said a couple things to you today that might help you. So it was valuable to you. It'll be valuable to somebody else because nobody has to feel like they need to be perfect. Nobody has to feel like, oh, that, well, sure, sure, they're doing well. They have it all together. That's how I feel every time I interview a professional athlete who tells me that they have like a nutritionist that's helping them. And then you ask them about their, their management, they don't know the first thing about it. Like, yeah, well it's easy for you because that guy's helping you or because you know, this company that's, you know, that's called a team, has a 40 million dollar investment either not gonna anything bad happen to you, you're an investment. You know, like I don't have that. Your daughter doesn't have that. Like I don't have somebody running around after me going, well, Valerie's kids gotta be okay. Like we gotta make sure. Obviously, obviously you don't have that. So I don't like hearing from people who have, I, I just want to hear from regular people, you know, like that's where the good, that's where this good stuff comes out. And yeah, you got to have a long form conversation to get it out because you're not a practiced, you know, interviewee, you're not going to jump on with your six bullet points. Like I listen. I like some podcasts that are like pre set up. I mentioned one recently that I've been, I've been listening to. Guy does a great job, but he clearly has a production staff. Every questions researched out till the end, they know exactly what order they're going to ask them. And so it builds, you know, a storyline while they're talking and the person he's interviewing knows what's going to be asked and has probably answered that question 35,000 times already. So it seems so like natural when they say it, yeah, we don't have that here, but I don't know how valuable that is.

[B]

No, I don't either. And it was so funny because last night my husband was like, you haven't gotten something with, like, what. How it's going to go and how it's going to run? I was like, no, that's not.

[A]

That's not how this works. It's set up like that on purpose. I also think when I turn this on, like, every. I'll tell you, about four times a year, I come on and the person's just not there. And I think, good. It wasn't meant to be that, like, I want it to be hard for you to get on the podcast. Like, easy for you to get the link and the. And the. And the. The offer, but then hard for you to get to the day because if you're here, you really have something you want to share.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You had to fight a little bit to get to this spot to get your voice recorded. And I think that's sort of part of how I come up with this stuff. And I'm not saying to you, I couldn't. Boy, I'll tell you, I could put together 15 rock solid questions and make one of those, like, shiny YouTube podcasts in two seconds. I just don't know how valuable it would be to people.

[B]

No, I find this very valuable, and I think there's many others that do, too. It's just. It's just people going through the same thing in life, having conversations and that we can relate to and find things in that, you know, we need 100%.

[A]

No, I agree. I also think that everybody's repetitive. Like, I don't pay a lot of attention to people who compete with me. I don't know that I have a direct competitor. Like, you know what I mean? But people who do do a similar thing. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to step on you while you're saying something nice to me. You don't think I have a direct competitor?

[B]

No, I don't.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Thanks. I just. I just like that when you said that out loud. And so. But. But I see people out there doing a good job, doing a. A pre. What I would consider, like, a prepackaged job. To me, I find that stuff boring. Like, you sound like a, you know, you sound like a local newscaster. You sound like, you know, you know what I mean? Like, hey, the weather today. I'm like, okay. Or I see people out there doing that. Like, I'm going To lean really hard into the technology cure thing and yell into the camera. Like, I can't stand that yelling into the camera thing. Like, I don't have anything against the people. It's the format that makes me. Makes me nauseous, you know, like today we're here to talk. I'm like, oh my God, shut up. Just. Just like. And I get it. Like, I get how tick tock works and that, you know, even YouTube videos, nobody's watching a 35 minute YouTube video about like, you know, the new. How do you put your dexcom on? Like, nobody's. You know what I mean? Like, you know, like. But I get that they scream to get your attention, so you stop. So the algorithm thinks that they watched it. And then hopefully you'll scrub through it enough that YouTube will believe that you're a viewer and give them a view. Like, I. I know the game. Like, I. I get all that. But for me, long conversation. Let the stuff come out where it comes out, with regular people sharing regular stories, not pre programmed content. And if you've got the tenacity to listen through for an hour, then you deserve what you get out of it. And if you don't.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Then maybe it's not for you, or maybe you'll have to come back another time. But this is the only way I know how to deliver it, so. And it's the way I think is the best. Well, thank you. And I think I. I think my. My experience tells me this is the way to do it. So anyway, Valerie, you were fantastic. What are some of the lines from that song? Any of it going to work for a title for us? Is it one of her sad I'm drinking myself to death songs, or is it an upbeat song?

[B]

No, Valerie, come on over. What are those lyrics? Yeah, she basically just wants to hang out and come on over.

[A]

Is it? Well, that's what we did. We hung out. Hold on a second. Amy Winehouse Valerie lyrics. Well, sometimes I go out by myself.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I look across the water and I think of all the things that you're doing in my head and I paint a picture. Come on, Valerie, get to the thing. But by the way, what a sad life.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Poor girl. I miss your ginger hair. This is getting sexual. Hold on a second. Put your house up for sale. Did you get a good lawyer? I hope you catch a tanner. This the words to the song?

[B]

I guess so.

[A]

Since I. Since I've come on home. All right, I'm just gonna call it Come on home, Valerie. Let's not read too far into the rest of this song or we're gonna have trouble.

[B]

I think it just says, come on Over, Valerie.

[A]

Wait, does it say come on? Sometimes I go out by myself and I look across the water? Since I've come on home While my body's been a mess And I've missed your ginger. Yeah, this is. We're gonna get HR Involved if I keep reading this. Hold on a second. All right. Come on. You think it's. Come on. No, it's. Since I've come on home, Valerie, why don't you come on over? You're right. All right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, let's just. We're gonna call this one Come on Over, Valerie.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

All right. Because we can't call it south of the Border disorder, no matter how much I would have loved that. All right, hold on one second. Valerie, really do appreciate you spending the time with me.

[B]

Okay. Foreign

[A]

the conversation you just heard was sponsored by Touched by Type 1. Check them out, [e-mail] on Instagram and Facebook. You're gonna love them. I love them. They're helping so many [e-mail] Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? Give the Every Eversense 365 a try. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox beautiful silicone that they use. It changes every day. It keeps it fresh. Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. So, I mean, that's better. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by the new Tandem MOBI system and Control IQ Technology. Learn more and get started today at Tandem Diabetes Juicebox. Check it out. My Grand Rounds series was designed by listeners to tell doctors what they need, and it also helps you to understand what to ask for. There's a mental wellness series that addresses the emotional side of diabetes and practical ways to stay balanced. And when we talk about GLP medications, well, we'll break down what they are, how they may help you, and if they fit into your diabetes management plan. What do these three things have in common? They're all [e-mail] up in the menu. I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for [e-mail]. The podcast contains so many different series and collections of information that it can be difficult to find them in your traditional podcast app sometimes. That's why they're also [e-mail] Go up to the top. There's a menu right there. Click on Series Defining Diabetes Bold Beginnings, the Pro Tip Series Small Sips, Omnipod 5 Ask Scott and Jenny Mental Wellness, Fat and Protein Defining Thyroid After Dark Diabetes Variables Grand Rounds, Cold win pregnancy, type 2 diabetes, GLP meds, the math Behind Diabetes, Diabetes Myths, and so much more. You have to go check it out. It's all there waiting for you, and it's absolutely free. Juiceboxpodcast.com.