#1914 Kebab Explosion

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1914 "Kebab Explosion"
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Scotty
Date: July 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This candid, engaging episode features Scotty, a 42-year-old New Zealander living in Germany, who was diagnosed with LADA/type 1.5 diabetes in 2021. The conversation explores Scotty's diagnosis, the life changes diabetes brought, cultural and healthcare differences in managing diabetes abroad, and his journey in mental wellness. Woven throughout are humorous anecdotes, honest admissions, and relatable reflections on confronting chronic illness, all delivered in Scotty’s open, conversational style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scotty’s Background and Diagnosis

• Scotty's background: Grew up in rural New Zealand; has lived in Germany since 2011, married to a German woman, father of two boys (ages 8 and 11) [01:53–03:38]
• Diagnosis story: Began experiencing classic symptoms (weight loss, excessive thirst, frequent urination) during a stressful period managing a dive bar in Frankfurt. Misattributed symptoms to overwork and poor diet, despite his wife's warnings.
• Quote:

  "I was drinking like 2, 3 L of water a night before I go to bed and then I'm pissing like a 70-year-old man, getting up like five, six times a night." — Scotty [03:48]

• Diagnosis shock: Initially told by doctors he was healthy, but urinalysis triggered urgent hospitalization; blood sugar was over 1,000 mg/dl. [06:11]
• Memorable moment:

  "They couldn’t believe I was still up and around and moving and functioning." — Scotty [07:02]

2. Early Challenges and Hospital Experience

• Covid complications: Diagnosed with Covid upon hospital admission, resulting in isolation and limited diabetes care/training [13:53]
• Lack of support: Nurses simply handed him an insulin pen and vague instructions; meals were starchy, not diabetes-friendly [14:58]

  "She just passed [the pen] to me and said, here you go, use this. And I was like, what do I do with it?" — Scotty [14:58]

• Self-education: Turned to online resources, Reddit, and books like Think Like a Pancreas; introduced to the Juicebox Podcast during hospital isolation [17:06, 17:58]

3. Coping with Diagnosis and Mental Health

• Emotional impact: Felt his world was “crashing in”; experienced panic attacks and depression, worried he was developing mental illness like his twin brother [08:12, 09:13]

• Burnout and seeking therapy: Developed diabetes burnout within a year, resulting in depression and need for therapy—unusual for a self-described “bottle it up” Kiwi guy [25:43, 26:24]

• Supportive family: Opened up to his wife, who supported his decision to seek professional help [28:44]

  "I just didn't want to burden her...I couldn't stomach telling her what was really going on inside me." — Scotty [28:44]

• Therapy strategies: Used grounding and meditation techniques to manage emotional ups and downs [30:34]

4. Adjusting to Life with Diabetes

• Lifestyle changes:
  • Left the bar industry after brother's mental health crisis; now works in logistics for data centers in Frankfurt [32:07–32:58]
  • Cut back on drinking and processed food, only occasionally indulges in kebabs (“kebab explosion”) [43:49]
• Diabetes management:
  • Managed on MDI (NovoRapid and Toujeo); hesitant about switching to a pump
  • Finds CGM (Libre 3) a “lifesaver”; dislikes fingerpricks [40:13]
  • Navigates the nuances of German healthcare—including cost and protocols for qualifying for pumps [24:07]
  • Adapts insulin needs to activity and temperatures, e.g., dropping basal during hot spells [43:26–57:19]

5. Family, Honesty, and Parenting

• Open discussion with kids:
  • Children were supportive after diagnosis; have been taught what to do in emergencies (glucagon, where to find supplies) [49:31, 66:46]
  • Emphasizes honest conversations—doesn't sugarcoat, will tell them the whole truth about drugs or health if asked [34:51]

6. Reflections & Philosophy

• Positive outcomes:
  • Diagnosis forced Scotty to confront change and seek help, which improved his overall life outlook [31:37]
  • Diabetes is “not a death sentence”—an adjustment rather than an ending

  "I was more worried than anything for not being able to function for [my boys]...Once I read other people's experiences, I realized your life's not over." — Scotty [20:09–20:54]

• Acceptance:
  • Periods of struggle but now balances health, family, and contentment; less hyper-focused, more accepting of day-to-day variability [64:14]
• Humor & perspective:
  • Scotty’s humor and unfiltered honesty give the episode warmth and relatability.

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Notable Quotes

• On cultural attitudes:

  "I grew up in rural New Zealand…you just don’t tell anyone your problems and just get on with life." — Scotty [04:09]

• On initial hospital care:

  "They just walked in with a NovoRapid pen and said, here you go, use this. And I was like, what do I do with it?" — Scotty [14:58]

• On therapy:

  "Change forced on you taught you that change wasn't going to kill you?" — Scott [31:49]
  "Yeah, pretty much, yeah." — Scotty [31:55]

• On balancing mental and physical health:

  "I'm in a good spot at the moment." — Scotty [66:33]

• On learning diabetes isn’t the end:

  "It's not a curse. It's just an adjustment." — Scotty [20:09]

• On honest parenting:

  "I don't lie to my kids or sugarcoat things...I'll just tell them the straight truth." — Scotty [34:51]

• On living with change:

  "Every day's a science experiment. I don't know what's going on, and I'll just deal with it when it pops up." — Scotty [63:34]

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Notable and Memorable Moments

• Kebab Culture: Scotty’s description of late-night kebab shops in Frankfurt’s party district—the "Doner Mile"—adds color and humor [05:28].
• Bar Management While Managing LADA: The challenge and anecdotes of working bar shifts with diabetes, sometimes confusing lows with drunkenness [39:00–40:03].
• German Healthcare Quirks: Insight into bureaucracy and insurance—must “prove” yourself for pumps, wait years, but overall low costs [24:07–25:16].
• Family Solidarity: Stories of covert family meetings at the hospital cafe during Covid, and of teaching his children what to do in case of low episodes [49:31, 50:26–51:10, 66:46].
• Scotty's Philosophy in a Nutshell:

  "I figured out last year, the less I'm focused on it and the more blasé I am about it, the better my averages and A1C is. Whereas if I'm hovering over it and trying to concentrate more, the worse it is." [64:14]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:53–03:38 – Scotty’s background & immigration story
• 03:47–04:50 – Early diabetes symptoms and misattribution
• 06:11–07:11 – Diagnosis, ER admission, extremely high blood sugar
• 13:53–16:08 – Hospital isolation, lack of diabetes care due to Covid
• 17:06–18:28 – Self-education with online resources and discovering the podcast
• 25:43–28:44 – Diabetes burnout, depression, decision to seek therapy
• 31:49–32:05 – How forced change led to personal growth
• 39:00–41:00 – Life as a bar manager managing LADA, frequent lows, use of CGM
• 43:49–44:31 – Adjusting lifestyle, the “kebab explosion,” and changing habits
• 49:31–51:10 – Family adaptation and covert hospital reunions
• 64:08–66:20 – Letting go of hyper-focus on blood sugars yields better outcomes
• 66:46–68:45 – Kids’ involvement in diabetes safety and management

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Conclusion

This episode, full of humor, candor, and compassion, paints a vivid portrait of how diabetes can reroute lives in unexpected ways. Scotty’s journey from denial and burnout to acceptance and adaptation, coupled with Scott’s empathetic hosting, underscores the importance of community, honest communication, and self-compassion. Listeners gain not only practical strategies for living well with diabetes but also inspiration to face their own changes with openness—plus a few tips on late-night kebabs.

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Transcript

[Scott]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host]

Welcome back, my friends, to the diabetes show that never ends. Remember this 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.

[Scott]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host]

And Tandem Diabetes Care.

[Scott]

What a pair.

[Podcast Host]

I'm a poet and didn't even know it. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Tandem Moby system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ plus technology. Tandem Moby has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and and is now available for ages 2 and up. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com juicebox. You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do and I'm talking about all your favorites. Dexcom, Libre, OmniPod, Tandem, iLet. Much, much more. Go to usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514. Get your supplies the same way we do from us Med.

[Scotty]

G'. Day. My name is Scotty. I'm a 42 year old kiwi living over here in Germany from New Zealand, originally with type 1.5 diabetes.

[Scott]

You have Lada?

[Scotty]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay. How long have you been in Germany?

[Scotty]

I've been here. I first arrived in 2011 and then did two years here and went home for two years with then girlfriends and then come back again. Oh, no. We got married because I was going to get deported. So we got married and then went back home for two years, then come back in 2013 and she's been here since.

[Scott]

She's German.

[Scotty]

She's German.

[Scott]

Yes.

[Scotty]

I was going to get deported. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My visa run out, so I was close.

[Scott]

Let me ask you, how long have you been married?

[Scotty]

15 years now. Okay.

[Scott]

So it was more than just a favor.

[Scotty]

It was, it was. We would have ended up getting married at some point anyway, but the marriage was the quick, the quick and easy way for the, for the visa and to stay.

[Scott]

I will be married for 30 years this summer and we got married. We got married for car insurance. So.

[Scotty]

Hey, hey. See, there's way there works around and it works. So.

[Scott]

Yeah, every once in a while something works out.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly.

[Scott]

So when were you diagnosed? How long ago?

[Scotty]

In 2021 and February 2021.

[Scott]

Over five years.

[Scotty]

Yes. Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay. At what age?

[Scotty]

What am I now? 42. Now I would have been 37.

[Scott]

Okay. Okay.

[Podcast Host]

Surprise.

[Scott]

Did you feel it coming? Did you have like health issues that were creeping?

[Scotty]

I should have. I should have been a bit more wiser to the, to the front of it really. I just put it down to stress. At my, my previous job I dropped like 10 kilos in like eight weeks and just tired all the time, no energy, no power. Doing like night shifts to like four or five in the morning and sleeping till one and then getting up and then going back to bed at like 3 o' clock for an hour before I had to go back to work again because I just had no energy.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

And the thirst would have been the giveaway, which I thought I clicked. I was drinking like 2, 3 little L of water a night before I go to bed and then I'm pissing like a 70 year old man. Getting up like five, six times a night for a piss and then having, having to drink more water and going back to bed.

[Scott]

Just thinking, can, can you contextualize what you thought about the, the frequent urination? Did you?

[Scotty]

I didn't really click. You know, I'm kind of, I grew up in like in rural New Zealand in the middle of nowhere, you know, where you know, kind of brought up with a theory, you know, you don't tell anyone your problems and you just, just get on with life, you know. And yeah, it was a super busy period at work at that time and I was just working at home, working like six days a week and just, yeah, doing 12 hour days pretty much every day. And I just put it down to overwork and exhaustion. Really?

[Scott]

What kind of work? Yeah, office, outdoors. What do you do?

[Scotty]

Bar manager, like a dive bar.

[Scott]

Oh, okay. So you're, it's later at night, you're hustling around constantly, all that stuff.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

It should have collected. I mean I was eating like six bananas a night at work kind of thing as well because I just, I couldn't, I was just always hungry.

[Scott]

Do you have any diabetes in your family?

[Scotty]

No, no one's ever had it in the history of my family. Not even type 2.

[Scott]

Well then why would, why would you think it should have clicked with you then?

[Scotty]

Well, just with the thirst. Even my wife said, I think you might have diabetes with a thirst. And she was always giving me about my diet and stuff because it pretty back then, it was pretty average. And I finished work at 4 or 5 in the morning, pick up a couple of kebabs in the car to drive home and eat the kebabs on the way home for the half hour drive. Yeah, yeah. She was like, I think you might get diabetes if you keep eating like this. You know, I'm healthy just fine.

[Scott]

A nice 4am Kebab that's all.

[Scotty]

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's the only thing.

[Scott]

Wait, wait, where is the only thing open? Where are you buying that at 4 o' clock in the morning?

[Scotty]

We have like behind my work, where I used to work. It's like the party district in Frankfurt, Sachsenhausen. And it's literally a whole neighborhood block of just bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, right along from each other. And then we call it the Donor Mile. There's one street where there's like six or seven kebab shops, a couple of pizza shops, a couple of burger shops. Yeah, just to feed the drunks. Different. The drunks.

[Scott]

That's what I was gonna say. Yeah. It's a feed box for the drunks, right?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, that was the only choice for food at that time in the morning. So literally just walk out of the bar, grab a kebab, jump in the car and go home.

[Scott]

How about that? Okay, so when do you, when does it like crystallize to you to the point where you say something, do something?

[Scotty]

It got to the point where I was looking. I wouldn't say sickly, but I was extremely skinny for my, my body size. Like I'm not huge or anything anyway, but I'm only my 5 foot 11. And I was probably averaging around back then, probably about 84, 85 kilo with all the drinking and everything like that. And then I just started shrinking away pretty much. And okay, my, I decided to go see my specialist and they tested everything, tested my bloods, everything with me and said, no, you're perfectly healthy, but before you leave, please pee in this cup. So I peed in the cup of the specialist and then about an hour later they rung my wife and talked to her because their English wasn't so great and my, my German's pretty average, especially when it comes to like doctors and stuff. I prefer to take my wife to get the words that I don't quite understand. And they said to make sure to rush me to hospital right now. My blood sugars were over a thousand at that time of day and they, they couldn't believe I was still up and around and moving and functioning.

[Scott]

So what's the answer to that? Your, your pancreas is jumping in periodically and pushing your blood sugars back down again.

[Scotty]

Not 100. Sure. But yeah, my pancreas is still, even now, it's still slightly alive. I'm, it's on the, it's on the way out, but I'm still in my honeymoon period, like five years later.

[Scott]

All right, it's going slow.

[Scotty]

It's going very slow.

[Scott]

Did they put you on a glp?

[Scotty]

No.

[Scott]

Really? Is that. Not a thing there?

[Scotty]

Not ready for diabetes and such. I've got a few mates that are a bit large over here that are taking it for, you know, for health reasons and stuff, for their blood pressure and to try and slim down a bit. But, yeah, no, it wasn't. It wasn't a thing back then when I first got diagnosed. Diagnosed over here.

[Scott]

I'll tell you, if you could get a really low dose of it, it might stretch out that honeymoon a little longer for you.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Are you on. You're on insulin, though?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, I'm on. What am I on? I'm on Novo Rapid and Trajail.

[Scott]

Okay, so you're doing mdi, you're shooting?

[Scotty]

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. At the moment anyway. I'm. I'm in an hour and about a pump, but I'm a bit nervous about them as well, so.

[Scott]

Okay, well. Okay. So they give you the diagnosis, you go to the hospital. How was the hospital stay? Was it long?

[Scotty]

It was horrible. I ended up. I was supposed to go that night, but I said to my wife, I want one more night at home with the kids, with the boys and stuff like that. I was pretty much broke. My world, really, when I found out that I could be diabetic, type 1 diabetic, kind of. Kind of felt like my world was crashing in, if you know what I mean.

[Scott]

Yeah. You weren't worried about not going to the hospital, though? You felt. You felt okay, huh?

[Scotty]

I wouldn't say okay. Probably, like. Probably the last three weeks to a month before I got that from the doctor, I was having, like. I wouldn't call it mood swings. I had my first ever panic attack. I'd never had a panic attack in my life. I had my first ever panic attack from work, just from stress. And I was. Emotional wreck was probably the easiest way to describe it. Yeah, I get highly confused, extremely confused, and kind of all brain function would cease to exist.

[Scott]

Panic.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Breaking down and tears out of nowhere and things like that. I thought I was. I thought I was going crazy, pretty much. I got a. I got a twin brother. He's. He's got a touch of schizophrenia and bipolar. Just a touch. A nice way to put it, anyway. But, yeah, I was just. I started to get paranoid and worried that that was starting creeping on me beforehand kind of thing. Okay.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Scott]

So was. Was the diabetes. I wonder why the diabetes wasn't a. A lifting of that for you like I would have thought, oh, diabetes, at least I'm not crazy. Or did you those two things?

[Scotty]

Well, I didn't quite understand it back then either because I didn't really know any diabetics I've never really met. Never really met any before beforehand kind of thing.

[Scott]

Like, why would you think that this thing had any impact on the other thing?

[Podcast Host]

I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies and I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us though for the last few years because we began to use US Med back then and you can too. Usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514 to get your free benefits. Check US Med has served over 1 million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies. And even more than that, I'm talking about all the good ones. All your favorites, Libre 3 Dexcom G7, the pumps like Omnipod 5, Tandem and the Eyelet pump from Beta Bionics. They have even more than that. You got to go check them out because the stuff you're looking for, they have it at us med 888-721-1514 or go to usmed.com juicebox to get started now use my Slink Use my Slink Use my link to support the podcast that's usmed.com juicebox now let's talk about the Tandem Moby Insulin pump from today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. Their newest algorithm, Control IQ plus technology, and the new Tandem Moby pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control. It's the only system with Autobolus that helps with missed meals and preventing hyperglycemia, the only system with a dedicated sleep setting, and the only system with off or on body wear options. Tandemoby gives you more discretion, freedom and options for how to manage your diabetes. This is their best algorithm ever and they'd like you to check it [e-mail] juicebox when you get to my link, you're going to see integrations with Dexcom sensors and a ton of other information that's going to help you learn about Tandem's tiny pump that's big on control. Tandemdiabetes.com juicebox the Tandem mobi system is available for people ages 2 and up who want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up in range and address high blood sugars with auto bolus.

[Scotty]

No, not quite that, but I just with the Diabetes. I just thought, not that my life is over, but just that I'm gonna have to make a lot of changes and I can't. I'm gonna miss out on all the fun and all the exciting things, you know? Yeah.

[Scott]

Maybe I'll sit at the house one more day and pretend this isn't happening kind of.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just wanted one more night at home with the kids and the wife and.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Get it around my head pretty much. Yeah.

[Scott]

I appreciate you sharing that. That's a lot.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yes. Well, okay. So you get to the hospital, do you keep fighting it in your head or do you kind of.

[Scotty]

Kind of? Well, they, they. In the morning they got me to go see my house doctor here in town. I live in a little village out of Frankfurt, about 20, 25 minutes out of Frankfurt city. And they sent me to the house arts to my normal doctor just to go get a blood reading and for her to find a hospital for me to go to. So I went in in the morning and they went in about, I don't know, 7:30 in the morning. I went in and they took my blood sugars with the old finger prick. Just resting blood sugar was. And my resting blood sugar was about 360 or 370 I think. In the morning without eating anything or. Yeah, having breakfast, just a coffee before I went. And then. My house doctor is an absolute legend. She's, she's phenomenal. She managed to get me into the diabetic unit here at the Frankfurt hospital in Saxenhausen, which is actually one of the best diabetic units in all of Germany. So she managed to get me a placement into there. So I went straight from her home, packed my computer and bits and bobs and straight into the hospital. And it was during the peak of corona as well over here. So I had to take a Corona test when I got to hospital and that's when they found that I actually had Corona as well at the same time.

[Scott]

Did you really? Jesus.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was a bit of a shift fest.

[Scott]

I think it's possible those kebabs aren't good for you.

[Scotty]

They are mystery, mate. They're pretty much just lips it up. Oh really? But they do taste really good. So, yeah. So yeah, they, they ended up put me into like a separate station at the, at the time and I had to wait in there for like four or five hours so they could free up a bed in the quarantine unit for me up in the hospital there. And then they got my room Ready and said I could move upstairs. And I had to get all masked up and all that kind of stuff and put into my. My room by myself for quarantine for a week. And the nurses come in to see me and they said they can't send any d. Diabetic nurses down to sort me out because they're worried about the corona and transfer it through to the diabetic ward because there's a whole ward there in their hospital for schooling and teaching new diabetics on how to.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

To do the calculations and how to function? Pretty much. So did you.

[Scott]

Did you get a lack of care because they. The nurses wouldn't move around the building?

[Scotty]

Yes. Yeah, I would say definitely. I had the nurses my first evening in there. I got hooked up to like a drip machine to try and bring my blood sugars down. Just pumping me full of fluids and everything. And the nurse just walked in with a novo Novo rapid pen and just passed it to me and said, here you go, use this. And I was like, what do I do with it? And she was just like, oh, you just put it on a number and put it in your stomach and then off you go. And I said, well, what number do I put it on? And she's like, I don't know. Well, great. I don't know either.

[Scott]

Well, I guess if you don't know, then we'll just. Whatever.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they ended up going away. I'm coming back a wee while later and just said, okay, we'll try this number here. I can't remember. I honestly can't remember what it was. But they said, I'll try this and we'll see what happens. Okay. Okay.

[Scott]

I can't believe that. Can't fill you with confidence, though.

[Scotty]

Yeah, no, no. I was a bit shocked. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I just did it and got on with it and it kind of worked out kind of thing. But yeah, so I didn't really get any training or teaching in the first week in there. I just pretty much got the diabetic meals, which weren't very diabetic. They were very carby and starchy. Pretty much potato breads, you know.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Cans of herring, which I absolutely hate.

[Scott]

Cans of herring. Oh, God, yeah, yeah.

[Scotty]

And then. Yeah. And drinks. So I ended up having in my balcony window, I think it was. Was February, so it's still pretty cool out here. I had. I can't even think how many cans of hearing I had sitting out on the window sill because I couldn't even look at It.

[Scott]

You're painting quite a picture. A can?

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Oh, my gosh. Well, okay. So how long did they keep you there?

[Scotty]

I was in there for a week.

[Scott]

Wow. And was that because. Why. Because it was slower? Because of COVID or because they were having trouble getting you down?

[Scotty]

No, just. Just because I kept. I was still testing positive, so they had to wait. They wanted to wait two days after not testing positive.

[Podcast Host]

Ah, so you were staying there for

[Scott]

Covid reasons at that point?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't even there for the diabetic school. I was in there to separate away.

[Scott]

So do you use that time. I mean, you had. You said you had your computer with you. Do you use that time to try to figure something out?

[Scotty]

I did, actually. I'm. Usually. I'm a very highly unorganized individual, really, in life, you know, I just kind of wing through things and just do it, you know, I'm not very. That's why I got a German wife. She does all the organization and paperwork. So, yeah, I just sat down and did a lot of study online about diabetes, about type 1. I did all the learning from New Zealand and Australian websites. So I was learning all the calculations, you know, carb to insulin ratio and all that kind stuff with the New Zealand formulas.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

And everything like that. And then just learning about different food types. And then I joined a few groups on Reddit to do with diabetes and just asked them for information and things I should be reading and doing. So I downloaded the free copy of Think Like a Pancreas, I think was the first thing I ever read. And then I asked for some more information from people and they said to give the Juice Box podcast a listen.

[Scott]

Oh, wow.

[Scotty]

So, yeah, well, so I started. That was the first time I got introduced to your podcast. So I started listening to that too, in hospital because I had nothing else to do. I couldn't leave the room, I couldn't go out. I couldn't do anything. I was locked in there for a week.

[Scott]

Yeah. Was it helpful? I mean, was the podcast valuable for you?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. I quite. I. I did learn quite a few things from that as well. As I said in the email, Listen, you. I really enjoyed the After Dark episodes and things like that and the ones with Jenny, they were awesome. I was even listening to a few today at work just to get ready for today. Really?

[Scott]

Oh, really?

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

That's interesting. Well, then. Then. Then it's nice that somebody, like, suggested the podcast to you. So I would say to the other people who are talking me online, look what you would have robbed Scotty of if you would have told him not to come. Listen to me.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's a very helpful. Yeah, a very helpful tool. And it's. I don't listen as often as I used to anymore. I'm kind of. And my old age stage now. I'm listening to a lot of. I don't know what you call it in the States. Probably like NPR Radio.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Talk back.

[Scott]

I have to tell you, I. I make one of the only podcasts in the world that the goal isn't for you to listen forever. So.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

You know, I'd like you to get to a point where you feel pretty comfortable with your life and you get back to it a little bit, you know?

[Scotty]

Yeah, I just. I just jump on and read the titles and the way. Brief description to see if there's anything that I'm into, and then like, oh, yeah, that sounds all right. Yeah. I listened to the one last week. He had another dude from New Zealand on that's living in Canada.

[Scott]

Yes.

[Scotty]

I had to listen to that just to hear the accent because I don't hear it very often over here. And that was. Yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

I can't do the accent for you. I can tell you that much.

[Scotty]

Oh, no. She's a bit of a challenge. Yeah.

[Scott]

What.

[Scotty]

What.

[Scott]

What made you want to come do this and. And chat?

[Scotty]

Not much. I don't know how to explain, really. I was just. I just started January, and I was just thinking, you know, I was listening to quite a few episodes back then in January. It's like, I'd be quite interested in doing this myself. You know, I'm pretty open. Yeah. I've got nothing to hide. I've got no shame.

[Scott]

All right.

[Scotty]

So I just thought I'd send an email and see what was happening.

[Scott]

All right, well, we'll. We'll pick through your lack of shame and figure something out then. So. Yeah, tell me. You know, I guess I would like to know. You went online to learn what you need to do. You found some people that pointed you in different directions, but in the end, like, forget me or anything else, like, what are the things that you learned that put you on a good path?

[Scotty]

Things I learned was just from reading other people's stories online and things like that to say. And it's not. I wouldn't say a death sentence, but not. It's not a curse. It's not the end of life, if you know what I mean. It's. That was my biggest fear mainly at the time. My boys were only, what, were three and seven, I suppose, at that time when I got diagnosed and I was just. I was more worried than anything for not not being around or not being able to function for them, if you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So once I read a few other people's experiences and stuff and started reading interviews, a few professional sports players and things like that, just saying it's. It's just an adjustment. You don't, you know, your life's not over. You will have to make a few changes and things. Which I have done, thank God. Which.

[Scott]

Yeah. Gave you hope.

[Scotty]

Gave me hope, pretty much. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Pulled me out of my rut, really. And then it's actually probably worked out better for me actually to tell the truth, having diabetes, than not so.

[Scott]

Well, we'll figure it out in a second. But tell me why. I mean, you initially think this is it, right? Like everything, everything's destroyed. But what are the. What are the thoughts that make you feel like life is destroyed? What are your concerns?

[Scotty]

You know, I wouldn't say alienation, but just being left out of things with friends and things like that. Like, I was quite. I wouldn't say in the party scene, but, you know, I enjoyed a few. I could drink and hanging out with the boys in the weekends and things like that and just had a feeling that the alcohol is. I wouldn't say it holds friends together, but a lot of my core friend group are big drinkers, like. Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay, so you literally thought you weren't going to be able to go drinking with friends?

[Scotty]

Yeah, pretty much. And just do the things that I, I like to do kind of thing back then, you know, and kind of. I wouldn't say extreme physical activity, but. Yeah, physical activity. Things I like to do. Yeah, just.

[Scott]

Like what? Like what, what are your. What are your physical activities that you enjoy?

[Scotty]

I do a lot of bike riding. I used to play a fair bit of. I can't play contact sports anymore, but touch rugby.

[Scott]

You don't like contact sports anymore because you're old and you're going to get your ass kicked? Is that why?

[Scotty]

No, I've had. I've passed my concussion amounts for life.

[Scott]

Wait, how many concussions have you had?

[Scotty]

Should be. Should be well over 10 from just

[Scott]

messing around for fun.

[Scotty]

A mix. Rugby. Rugby. Growing up, I played rugby till I was about 22, 23.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Started when I was about 4 years old and played up to then. And then just accidents with the boys in the weekends and stuff like that, you know, play fighting and you know, tacking each other on the street, hitting each other's heads on the ground or.

[Scott]

Yeah. And knock your head around a couple times. You get into. Can you describe how long a concussion stays with you when you had one?

[Scotty]

Oh, geez, I wouldn't even tell you. I think the worst one I had was probably three or four days was the longest one I had.

[Scott]

Three, four days of just sitting still and not being able to do anything.

[Podcast Host]

Nah.

[Scotty]

But just. No, I still. Still working and still doing stuff, but just feeling a bit woozy and dizzy and not. Not quite myself.

[Scott]

Okay. Yeah, I got it. Interesting. Have you had one? You haven't had one since you've been diagnosed?

[Scotty]

No, no, no, no, no, no. I wouldn't say I take things a lot easier now, but I'm. I'm not so strenuous as I was. So.

[Scott]

How about other autoimmune issues in your family? So do you have other type ones? Do you have anything else?

[Scotty]

No one in my family's ever had diabetes. Type 1 or. Yeah. Or type 2. I'm trying to think. I think my mum's had shingles and things like that, but that's about it, really. I think, like. Yeah, few heart issues and stuff, but otherwise. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

[Scott]

A few heart issues with. With.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

How about like.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Celiac? Anybody like Hashimoto's?

[Scotty]

No.

[Scott]

No Vitilago. Skin coloration changes? No, nothing. Just you.

[Scotty]

Nothing. Just me? Yeah, just.

[Scott]

Just you. All right, well. Well, when they put you on the. On the path of mdi.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Is it because you don't want to pump? Is it because.

[Scotty]

No, over here in Germany, you always start with mdi and then you've got to prove to them you can control yourself kind of thing with your A1C and things like that. And you've usually got to wait a year to two years over here before you qualify for a pump.

[Scott]

A year or two years before you even qualify.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And then what? Are they free given to you by the government?

[Scotty]

Yeah, we. We have. Health insurance is taken out of our wages over here. Kind of think so. The company pays half the insurance and I pay the other half each month out of my pay. And, yeah, everything's pretty much covered, I think. I think the census Libra 3 census cost me every. Was it three months or six? Yeah, every three months. I pay €40 for six senses. The insulin's cheapest chips, I think for a box of Trajo and Nova rapid. I paid €20 for the two boxes.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Kind of Thing. So it's not excessively expensive over here.

[Scott]

Close to dollar for dollar, right? US to euros?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, close. Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

So it's like more like 45. $46American. €40. Okay. Well, that's very reasonable.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's not too bad. The cost doesn't. Yeah, it's not a worry for me at all. So. Yeah, that's awesome.

[Scott]

How you mean you had trouble feeling like. Like your life was going to be the same? Did you have worries about your relationship too?

[Scotty]

Parts and pieces, Yeah. I had. Probably the first year into it, I'd say I had. I ended up going to therapy for the first time in my life. I got quite severe burnout, diabetic burnout kind of thing.

[Scott]

What did that look like?

[Scotty]

I got quite depressed. I was still functioning and doing things, but I. I don't know. I just held it back. It's kind of stuff I felt uncomfortable talking to my wife about. But I admitted to her that I think I need to go and talk to somebody, which is a huge step for me. That's something we don't really do. You know, we Kiwi guys. Kiwi guys, yeah. Yeah. You know, as I said earlier, you know, we kind of just bottle it up and hold it down and let it. Let it build up for ages.

[Scott]

Well, what if that's the case? If that's how you grew up, then what pushed you to feel like, I have to do something? I need to tell her.

[Scotty]

I just. I think the change in me with the diabetes diagnosis and everything, it's just. I just decided that I can't not get it out, if you know what I mean. Like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I. I love my job. I was having good fun. But I'd come home from work at, I don't know, between like 4 and 6 in the morning, absolutely exhausted. I'll be doing like 12 hour shifts. I'm absolutely exhausted. My blood sugars would start crashing pretty much as soon as I got home from. From the bit of mix, from the extreme work and the. A few whiskeys and beers I drunk at work. So I'd have to come home and eat a shitload before I go to bed and then be wanting to go to bed and then having to sit up and wait for my sugars to climb before I could climb into bed so the alarm didn't go off and wake everybody up.

[Scott]

Did you just end up having a feeling like, I can't. I can't possibly exist like this forever?

[Scotty]

Yeah, pretty much. I just. I got to the point where I was sick of it. I wouldn't say I was suicidal, but I definitely had some dark thoughts go through my head quite often about, at that time about myself and life and if it's really worth all this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

My gosh. Hey, you don't feel like that now.

[Scotty]

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Life's perfect. I got two healthy boys.

[Scott]

Yeah, your perspective's changed. Yeah. Did the therapist help you with that?

[Scotty]

Yeah, definitely, definitely. I only went to, I only went for about, I think, five or six sessions. Quite expensive over here. They weren't covered by insurance, so I was paying about €150 for each session out of my own pocket. Yeah. And, yeah, I went about five or six times and then, yeah, she helped me a lot. Helped me process a lot of stuff. Helped me look into myself.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah. When you said to your wife, I. I think I need therapy, did she go, oh, no, you definitely do. Thank God you said it. Or was she.

[Scotty]

She was actually surprised. She was very surprised I brought it up. Yeah, she, she couldn't believe I brought it up. Actually. I just said that I needed someone to talk to and I'd like to talk to you about it, but I don't want to worry you. I don't want to pass this on to you and have you constantly worrying about me with the things that I've got going on my head and.

[Scott]

Well, that's interesting, Scotty. So you, you felt comfortable talking to your wife, but you didn't want to burden her with it?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

How did she, how did she answer that when you told her that she, she respected it.

[Scotty]

She, she agreed. I just said that, you know, I don't want, you know, it's not that I can't talk to her. I let her knew. I, I told her pretty much all the time when I was feeling down or I wasn't happy or I was feeling burnt out or things like that. But I just, I, I don't know, I couldn't stomach telling her what was really going on inside me, if you know what I mean. And the dark thoughts about the dark stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't want her to worry.

[Scott]

You don't want her to think you were undervaluing your life together?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, that's. And just that. Yeah. That I had all this burden on me kind of thing, like. Yeah. Because I'm a, I'm a very happy going guy. Very positive, very enthusiastic. The add in me keeps me going and energetic all day, every day.

[Scott]

Keeps me going.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I just. I just didn't want to burden her, really, you know?

[Scott]

Yeah, I hear you. I hear you. How did you. All that stuff you talked about before the diagnosis, the kind of outbursts of. Of emotion, things like that have. That all. Has it all stopped?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I still have the odd day every now and then when I'm fed up and absolutely pissed off and things like that, but that's just life. It's. Yeah. I've. I've learned to accept my diagnosis and what's going on and. Awesome. I think I've adjusted very, very well to it.

[Scott]

Yeah, it's awesome. When something does periodically make you angry, is it the same thing always or is it not?

[Scotty]

Nah, nah. It's little things that kind of tick me off, kind of thing. Yeah. But I don't hold on to it for long. I might be pissed off that night, and then the next day I'm back to my normal old stuff again kind of thing these days now. Yeah, my therapist taught me a few exercises and things.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I'm still. Still using them. I wouldn't say daily, but at least a few times a week.

[Scott]

Grounding exercises.

[Scotty]

Yeah, grounding. And some days when I'll get up, I just wouldn't say meditation, but I'll just sit in a quiet room by myself for five or 10 minutes and kind of do my little mantras and things like that just to get my brain and focus going for the day. Or before I jump in my truck for work. Oh, yeah. Have a couple minutes in there.

[Scott]

Yeah. A little meditation. Do you ever do the five, four, three, two, one thing?

[Scotty]

Yeah, every now and then as well. Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

That's great. It's so great that those tools helped you.

[Scotty]

Yeah. So.

[Scott]

Yeah. No, seriously. I mean, and it's. It's fantastic. Listen, you broke free of, you know, I would say, societal and probably family structure ideas about therapy. You, you know, admitted something to your wife, went to a person, listened to them, actually put the stuff into play. I mean, that's awesome, you know?

[Scotty]

Yeah. Yeah. Which is a huge step for me because usually I, as I said earlier, I just hold it in and not let anybody know what the hell's going on kind of thing, so.

[Scott]

And you don't know what changed about you that you didn't want to do that anymore?

[Scotty]

Ah, it was definitely. It was definitely the diabetes diagnosis and things like that. Just, you know, knowing that, well, I've got this now. I've had to change. I might as well keep changing going forward. You know.

[Scott]

Oh, so. A little. Oh, so change forced on you, taught you that change wasn't going to kill you?

[Scotty]

Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

That's pretty interesting, huh?

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Look at you taking the good stuff out of the bad stuff.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I know, I know, it's. It's very. Yeah, it's worked out for the best too.

[Scott]

So you still work in a bar?

[Scotty]

No, I quit. I worked the bar. I worked at. I worked for three years with one of my best mates over here in Germany. South African fella, It was his bar. So, yeah, I was helping him manage that for the last three years and then my brother took a big downturn and let me try and think 24, 25 was last year and end of 20, 20, 24, my brother had a bit of a downturn with his mental health and things like that. I had a big talk to my boss and said, I want to go to Australia. My brother lives over in Perth. So I had a big yarn to my boss and that and said, I'd like to go to Australia for a couple months minimum just to go look after my brother and get him back on his feet and things like that and that. I think I need out of the bar game. I need a change.

[Scott]

But you're. So you're back now?

[Scotty]

No, no, no, I'm in the data center industry now over here in Germany.

[Scott]

I meant you're back in German. I'm sorry, I meant you're back.

[Scotty]

Oh, no, no, I'm back in Germany. Yeah, yeah, yeah, back in. Back in Frankfurt now. Yeah. I only went. I went in 24.

[Scott]

24. Was that.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Was that visiting for your brother?

[Scotty]

It was, yeah. Yeah. He had a. Quite a severe psychotic episodes and ended up in the mental health unit there for about six, seven weeks, I think.

[Scott]

Is he out living by himself now?

[Scotty]

He's back. Back out living by himself now. He has a. He has a flatmate, like a housemate living with him and his dog. And her dog. Yeah, he's doing a lot better now. They changed his medicine, all that. He's gone from, I don't know, like 15, 20 pills a day to like an ejection every two or three weeks.

[Scott]

Oh, wow. Good for him.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Was this mental health stuff with your family at all, your parents?

[Scotty]

No, no, my parents haven't got it. I'd say me and my brother didn't have the cleanest, I'd say 18 to mid 20s lifestyle, if you know what I mean. Yeah, it's a fair bit of. A fair bit of drug use and stuff for us back then.

[Scott]

Yeah. Do you think that pushed him into something?

[Scotty]

It did for him, yeah. Which I'm quite surprised about. It didn't for me because I definitely took a lot more drugs than he did.

[Scott]

What. Would you. Would you mind telling me what kind of drugs?

[Scotty]

I wouldn't say everything but your standard stuff. Weeds, disco biscuits, ecstasy, speed acid, mushrooms. The usual. The usual mix, just a little.

[Scott]

And was this like weekly or daily?

[Scotty]

I'd say the weed was definitely daily. Uh, the ecstasy was pretty much probably every Thursday, Friday, Saturday for a while. And then mushrooms, I don't know, once or twice a month and then. Yeah, yeah. Acid, maybe once a month or whatever. Right, yeah.

[Scott]

What are you going to tell your kids about drugs?

[Scotty]

The truth? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that. Yeah. I don't know. I'm. I don't know. I wouldn't say I'm a crazy parent, but I don't lie to my kids with sugarcoat things to my kids. So they got a question about something, I'll just tell them the straight truth. Blunt answer with about everything, really.

[Scott]

Right. Scott, you sound a little far from the microphone all of a sudden.

[Scotty]

Oh, okay.

[Scott]

Sorry.

[Scotty]

Here we go. Is that better?

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, thanks. So, yeah, you. I mean, you're gonna. You. How old are your kids?

[Scotty]

My oldest is 11, coming on 12 and my youngest is 8.

[Scott]

How old were you and your brother when you started getting high?

[Scotty]

I think the first time I ever had weed I would have been like 14, 15.

[Scott]

So the pressure is going to hit you around that age where you're going to want to say something to your kids.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

You don't tell them the whole thing right away, right?

[Scotty]

No, no, no, no, no. If they got questions about stuff, I'll tell them, but otherwise. Yeah, once my son hits 14, 15, me and my wife would sit down and have the, the yarn and they talk to them.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And things like that. I think you would.

[Scott]

Do you think you would share with them that you imagine your brother's struggles come from drug use?

[Scotty]

Oh, definitely. Definitely. Yeah.

[Scott]

That's cool. That's good.

[Scotty]

Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's the. That's what I'm meant by the sugar coating. You know, I just tell them the blunt truth about everything and my experiences with things and stuff like that.

[Scott]

So your brother ever exhibit like. Is he. Do you ever talk about, I wish we didn't do those things or does he. Is he pretty clear minded?

[Scotty]

Vaguely. Well, I left. I left home at quite an early age. Not that I had a bad childhood or anything like that, but I moved out of home probably at the age of 17 to the next city away, which is probably the two hours away from home, two and a half hours away from my parents house. My brother stayed in my little hometown, which is a bit of a shithole. It's. There's not much prospects in my town where I grew up, you either finish school and work as a builder, a farmer, or in the freezing works like an abattoir.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Kind of thing. That's about your three main prospects. He got an apprenticeship as a mechanic and his flatmates at the time, which I didn't really like at all. I didn't like those guys at all. But they were, they were into the. I'm trying to think what you call it, a lot more harder stuff than what I was into. They were into the myth and things like that. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

Did you kind of move away partly to get away? Did you think you'd get sucked into it?

[Scotty]

No, no. I went to the city to go not to university but to like polytechnic. I was doing. Starting to do a tourism degree through them. Okay. Yeah, did the first year. But I got too much into the alcohol and I wouldn't say well, yeah, and weed I suppose. I ended up dropping out about six or seven months into the course and just ended up working for a couple years and the city there living the student life but on a, on a high wage. Yeah.

[Scott]

Is your wife, does she have a similar personality to you or is she more straight laced

[Scotty]

in between? Yeah, yeah, she's. I wouldn't say crazy, but she's. Yeah, she's. She's a lot more touched.

[Scott]

Scotty when she hears that. You wouldn't call her crazy. That's nice.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. Nah, she's. Yeah, no, we're a good mix. We definitely suit each other. But she's definitely the organized one and the one that sorts everything out kind of thing.

[Scott]

Right. But I mean she's gonna have a little bit of love of this or it would be hard to be with you. Right?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Okay. Now I was just trying. I was wondering if, if you guys were more of like a good blend or if you were going for the yin yang thing when you found each other.

[Scotty]

Nah, nah, she's pretty similar to me in some ways, but she's. Yeah, she's definitely a lot more organized, a bit more mature, a bit more clued on. I'm still, I probably still got the mind of an 18 year old really like when it comes down to things.

[Scott]

Yeah. What's it like. So what's it like having your like bar, you know, working in a bar lifestyle and trying to manage Lada, like, because Lotta can be really unpredictable, right?

[Scotty]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I had some very interesting situations at work and things like that. Like a lot of times where I'd be going low behind the bar. Luckily, Friday, sad lays, there was three of us behind the bar. So anytime I'd start dipping low, I'd just grab a bottle of cola or something out of the, out of the. Cool out of the fridge and then I just set up back on the stairs and have a, have a Coke, sit down for 15, 20 minutes as soon as I pop back up into the yellow, into the low 70s, straight back into work kind of thing. But I had one night where I was working by myself, it must have been about 3 in the morning, I suppose, and I had quite a few drinks while I was working, which I was trying not to do, but it's quite hard not to do as well when you're dealing with alcohol and people buying your shots and beers and stuff while you're working and just always been sticking with that kind of aspect for the last ten years behind bars. And then my phone started beeping and I thought I was drunk. And then I had a look at the numbers and there was no number to show. All it said was low on the, on the phone. So I must have been, I don't know, below 40, I suppose. And I was kind of, yeah, six ways, six ways from Sunday. I was absolutely all over the shop. Luckily, luckily there's only like three or four people in the bar, a couple of locals. So I just said to one of the boys, oh, you just watch the bar for 10 minutes, you know, I'll be back soon. Don't do anything stupid.

[Scott]

You couldn't tell at first if you were lower or drunk.

[Scotty]

Or drunk. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah, so that's kind of, that's.

[Scott]

I'm sorry, you're wearing a CGM though. Which one? Which one is it?

[Scotty]

Libra 3.

[Scott]

Libra 3, okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I would assume that. That a lifesaver for you.

[Scotty]

Ah, definitely. It's. I had the. When I come out of the hospital after my three weeks there, I had my endo at the time. She was an absolute legend. I had to wait for my insurance to accept the prescription for the Libra 3 and Libra 3 to accept the prescription for my insurance before I get my sensors. Okay. But she snuck into the storeroom at the back and sneakily gave me three or Four senses to take home just to get me through to my insurance kicked in. So yeah, it was a lifesaver because I hate doing the fingerpricks. I still squeeze, I still squirm now doing them every now and then. I don't do them very often. Maybe two or three times a month just to double check to make sure a new sense is working or whatever. Yeah, but I hate doing the finger pricks.

[Scott]

How would the other adjustments been to like adding medical stuff to your life at a later age? Has it been. Are the finger sticks not the only thing that are difficult to get get you?

[Scotty]

Nah, that's probably, that's probably the part I struggle with the worst. The injections and things like that. With the mdi, no issue, no problem. I've probably got to stop being so lazy. I don't change the needles every time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My new window gives me about it now, but I probably use them on average two or three times before I change them.

[Scott]

Say, do you need, do you need pen caps? You go, no, I got plumbing.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. So how come you got many? You should be out by now. Like I use them. You should change them every time you're gonna get an infection. It's like I haven't had one yet that's this grand. Don't worry. Don't worry. Yeah.

[Scott]

Aren't they half. They're free, right?

[Scotty]

Kinda, yeah. I think for the, for a box of pen. I think for three or four. For four boxes of tips, I pay 20, $25.

[Scott]

So you just flatly don't change them because it's just, you call it laziness.

[Scotty]

Yeah. And I don't carry them around with me, you know, I'll just take the pen. I'll take the pen off the bench in the morning with me to work or whatever. And that's my pen for the day kind of thing.

[Scott]

That's the day's pen. Yeah, I hear what you're saying.

[Scotty]

Yeah. But I don't really, I don't really take instant work either. I'm too scared to take it at work in case a crash.

[Scott]

So what are you high all day?

[Scotty]

No, no, no, I, I'm pretty steady with the old department I was in. It's with my company now. I was installing server racks at the data centers all around Frankfurt. So very physical, very hard labor job, especially in the warm rooms and stuff. But my daily graph is like a yo, yo, up, down, up, down, up, down kind of thing with all the physical work with that. But I got transferred to the logistics Department. I don't know, end of last year, December last year. So now I'm doing parts and parts and order transfers for one of the big companies over here. And the wee box van. So I'm just driving a box van around the city all day delivering components and pieces for the data centers now.

[Scott]

And that's easier on your blood sugar, not you're not. Oh, it's bouncing around.

[Scotty]

There's not much physical work to it. A little bit, but not much. But I'm usually probably hovering around between like 120 and 140 during the day.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And, and you're still as the, with the driving job now you're giving yourself more insulin or you're still concerned about it?

[Scotty]

No, I give myself my. What do you call it? The bezels increased over double. When I was doing the physical work, I was probably taking between six and eight units a night.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

And then now this job's not so physical. I take about between 14 and 16 units a night.

[Scott]

Yeah, you need more because you're moving around as much.

[Scotty]

I'm not moving around so much. Yeah. And I just adjust what my workload is going to be like for the next day. And especially the weather. If it's really hot, I can drop the bezel rate down quite a bit.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Over here.

[Scott]

Hey, you still with the kebabs? Did you give them up?

[Scotty]

I probably have one a month now. There's a, there's a bang on kebab shop just around the corner from my house here in Germany. So. Yeah, probably once a month. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chip and cheap. Oh, not so cheap these days now.

[Scott]

But bobs are probably cost more than the needle caps.

[Scotty]

Well, the, the, the kebab inflation's hit the roof over here. They're gone from. I think when I first moved here in 2011, they were €3 to 350. Now you're paying between 10 and $12.

[Scott]

Crazy because you know, it doesn't cost them any more to make it.

[Scotty]

Yeah. As I said before, it's just compressed up to us in a big role. Yeah, yeah,

[Scott]

fantastic. Would you call it a kebab explosion? What'd you say just now? Whatever you just said. I'm making the title of this episode. Whatever you just said a second ago.

[Scotty]

Okay, we got the kebab explosion.

[Scott]

Yeah, forget whatever I'm gonna, I'm talking to my editor. Whatever he said like 60 seconds ago, that's the title of the episode.

[Podcast Host]

So.

[Scott]

Okay, so you're doing that and what do they, I mean, how do they manage a lot of, like, you're an adult, you're in another country, you don't speak the language like, as well. Like, how do they. How are they managing this idea for you of this, like, slow descent of. In. Of your insulin need? Because it already. You're. It's going to pick up as time goes on, but it's happening incredibly slowly.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I. I honestly haven't had it fully explained to me yet either. I've just been told to watch out for spikes and to increase. I'm pretty much. I make all the adjustments myself, ready with the bezel and things like that. I only go to the hospital. Maybe I have to go every three months for a 1C checkup and a few bits and bobs. Once a year they test the end of my toes and things like that for feeling it's up to me to go get my stuff.

[Scott]

Then no one sat down. Has anyone ever sat down and explained a lot of. To you? Is that a thing you had to figure out on your own online?

[Scotty]

I. My first Indo was phenomenal. She was an absolute legend. She's not an Indo anymore now, though, unfortunately. So I had her for probably the first year. She was phenomenal. She explained everything to me. She was similar age to me, and she did quite well of explaining it to me and everything. But even she said, you know, you know, Scotty, you know, if you feel like eating schnitzel and chips or burgers or anything, just don't be a. That's what the insulin's for, you know, levels you out.

[Scott]

Tell me that's what your endo told you.

[Scotty]

That is what my endo told me. She told me not to be a and just eat what I want. Sorry. Because when I come out of hospital, I went like, for the first month, I went like keto friendly and low carb and all that kind of stuff. And I was miserable.

[Scott]

Yeah. But when she stopped being an endo, what's she doing now? Only fans. What's she.

[Scotty]

No, she's actually. She's working for Ebert over here in Europe now.

[Scott]

The pharma company?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

She went into industry, as they say.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I got you. She decided to make some money.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I think so. She's probably getting paid a lot more without the stress, so. Yeah.

[Scott]

I can't believe that's what she said when she said that to you. Did you think, oh, I should have married you, you're awesome.

[Scotty]

She was. She was pretty cute, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, she was. She was really good because I My language isn't fluent. Far from her I can understand they're fluent. But my speaking, still a bit broken for German. So she was my teacher for the two. Just over two and a half weeks I was in the diabetic unit. So she'd come meet me for two, three hours a day and would go through all the formulas and everything. She was teaching me the German calculations and formulas with KE and all that kind of stuff. And I couldn't get my head around it. So I just said, oh, look, you know that last week I was in the isolation station for Corona. This is the formula I learned here between Australia and New Zealand, the Oceania formulas. And showed her all the. The mass and everything behind it. And she couldn't believe how much more simple it was than the German system for doing the calculations and everything.

[Scott]

So I'll tell you while you're talking. Well, I keep thinking, how close are we to. I mean, people not even explaining anything to you anymore? Like, forget medicine. Like, someone's just going to tell you, like, go home and whatever AI thing you're using, go ask it. Like, that's. Yeah, it's going to be like that very soon because pretty much it already is to be perfect. Yeah, like. Yeah, nobody tells you, you know, like,

[Scotty]

no, yeah, no, I got a new end on now. She's not so great. She's. I'd say your. Your textbook German. She's pretty cold. Doesn't really explain anything to me much at all. I had about six months ago, my second last indoor appointment. They tested my urine and my protein count and my urine was off the charts. Like, okay, like, extremely off the charts. She was asking me when I come back in a couple weeks later, she called me into the hospital to come and talk to her just because the level was so high. She was asking. I was taking creatine and things like that. And if I was doing powerlifting and things like that, I was like, no, nothing.

[Scott]

I'm driving a van. Leave me alone.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Yeah. The most physical thing I'm doing is moving pallets and. Yeah. Lifting things all day.

[Scott]

Do you. Are they thinking there's something wrong with your kidneys or what is.

[Scotty]

Well, they did it. They tested everything and it's normal. So I. They think I might have just had a infection in my system at the time.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Not a thing you're worried about then.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I had my. My friend from France was here on the weekends. She's a doctor as well. So I gave her all the paperwork from that time and she said, yeah, Everything's normal.

[Scott]

What kind of doctor is your friend?

[Scotty]

She's just house. House arts. Okay, Just a house doctor.

[Scott]

Yeah, gotcha.

[Scotty]

Yeah, but she said all my numbers are perfect. But she said, yeah, that thing's probably more than likely just an infection in the system. What are your.

[Scott]

What are your kids. What's your kids reaction to the diabetes, like seeing you give yourself shots and things?

[Scotty]

They're used to it. They were so helpful. When I come out of hospital, they were amazing. I sat down and had a big talk to them. That was the hardest part for me to tell the truth was in the hospital, because it was Corona season, I wasn't allowed any visitors at all. Yeah, you're by yourself in the hospital. I didn't get to see my family for a long time until my legend of a specialist. There's a restaurant built into the side of the hospital where the patients can go in and get food or people from the street can go and get food, you know, and she said to me, oh, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not telling you this, but just so you know, if you happen to go get something to eat from the cafe downstairs and your family happened to be in there getting something to eat at the same time, we. We can't do anything about it. So, yeah, yeah. So I organized a few times just to see the kids and the wife and things down there.

[Scott]

How much of that Corona time do you think had to do with the sadness you felt afterwards? Do you think maybe if people would have been around you in that first week, it would have been easier?

[Scotty]

I honestly don't think it would have made a difference. I made a lot of phone calls. Yeah, I was, I was on the phone a lot. Once I got moved out of the isolation station into the diabetic unit, I was allowed outside, so I couldn't go. I couldn't leave the hospital itself, but I could walk around the grounds and do things. And my work actually was probably about 500 meters away from the hospital there. So I'd stand at the gate, send a message to the pub. Quite a few of the boys from the pub had walked down with their bears and we'd just stand in each side of the fence having yarns and stuff outside the side of the fence and things like that.

[Scott]

Hanging out with different friends.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's.

[Scott]

You have a fairly, like. It's. You feel like you have an exciting life. To me, like, I'm thinking about the rest of my day and I'm like, I don't do anything nearly as fun as Scotty does.

[Scotty]

I haven't got much on the cars and stuff. I'll throw the kids in bed and then. Yeah, I'm gonna have some couch time tonight, I think.

[Scott]

Okay. So you, this diagnosis for you really shifted your life. Like, it took.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. For the better.

[Scott]

It took you from, like, full speed ahead. I'm gonna drink, I'm gonna get high. I'm gonna stay up. I'm eat at five o' clock in the morning too. I'm gonna act like an adult. I'm taking care of myself now.

[Scotty]

Yeah, Yeah. I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say I act like an adult now, but I'm definitely taking things a lot more slower. I'm a lot more cautious with things now, especially with, when it comes to food and things like that. I don't eat nowhere as near as much. I still eat like shot, but I don't eat near as much of the processed shot that I used to and things like that. So. Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

Are you feeling a responsibility to model better behavior for your children or are you trying to stay alive?

[Scotty]

Just from, Just for myself just, it's just the adjustment with the diabetes and all that with, you know, do I eat that bag of chips? I'm gonna have to take so many units of insulin now just warrant having that bag of chips off. Okay.

[Scott]

So I'm looking too deep into it. The diabetes is just making you feel like I have to pay attention to this now. Now? Yeah. Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Yeah, got it.

[Scott]

I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out, but, like, I, I, I'm trying because you're talking about a shift and it was the diabetes. And I don't know if it's just maybe wording differences that had me thrown off or not, but, like. Okay, well, I'm glad to, I mean, I'm glad to talk about all of it, to try to figure it out, but it just made you say to yourself, my health is more of a pressing issue now. I need to pay attention to these items.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I don't, I don't have the weekly benders like I used to anymore. I might have one or two blowouts a year now on the booze with the boys, but otherwise I limit myself to maybe two or three beers. I can't. Even before diabetes, I can't. Once I get past three beers, I'm out till I hit the floor or out all night kind of thing. So I limit myself now to two or three beers at most in a sitting. Are you.

[Scott]

Are you drinking only or do you do, like. Do you smoke weed still or.

[Scotty]

I still smoke weed. It's. It's legal over here in Germany, so I have the odd, Odd plant on my balcony every now and then.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

During the summer over here. Yeah.

[Scott]

Your wife too?

[Scotty]

Yeah, she. When we were together, before the kids, we used to smoke a fair bit of weed together, but now she. She dabbles, but not often. I'd say once or twice every few months. She'll have a little puff or whatever. But I've just changed to like a herbal vaporizer now for the last probably six or seven months. And it's been a. Been a game changer.

[Scott]

The ones that just heated up, right? No smoke. Yeah, yeah, I was just. Yeah, I've had people on here talk about that, but before, yeah, it's been.

[Scotty]

It's been a game changer. So I was smoking joints for years beforehand, but I'd have to go outside. And we have a. We have a law here in Germany with distance from schools and playgrounds and things like that. Whereas my house is kind of right on the edge of the forest in the dead end street neighborhood, but there's a playground right beside my house kind of thing. So I was always paranoid about the cops catching me having a joint in the evening outside. I don't. I don't. I don't smoke weed around my children or anything like that. I usually wait till they've gone to bed to like 9:30, 10:00 clock at night, and I'll go out and have a little puff and then come back and chill out for an hour.

[Scott]

It's funny around here, some of the places they make it legal, you go outside, you're like, my God. It's like everybody get high. Like.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I had that. I was in Florida about two months ago and. Jesus. Right? Yeah. Just everywhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

I gave a talk in Atlanta a few weeks ago and I ran out at night like across the street to a. Just to get a sandwich somewhere. And just crossing the street, I was like, my God, like, am I ins. It smells like I'm inside and everybody's smoking.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, I was. It was like that in Frankfurt even before I got legalized over here. So.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, nothing really changed. They just made it legal.

[Scotty]

No, no, no, this is less trouble you can get in now. So.

[Scott]

Yeah, everything's exactly the same. It's just legal now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear that. Well, what did you. What are you Thinking about a pump, is it a thing that's in your head, like, or are you not sure?

[Scotty]

Wouldn't say that I'm. I'm the thing. It's not in the head as such. It's just with. I do a lot of resting with my kids and I'm in a lot of tight spaces at times and stuff with the job and things like that. I'm just worried about it getting caught on something and ripping it out. The thing I don't like the most is having to change it every three days from site to site. Yeah.

[Scott]

The trade off there for changing it every three days versus giving yourself an injection a few times a day is not.

[Scotty]

It doesn't feel like the injections are so easy. So easy.

[Scott]

You don't mind them? Yeah, yeah.

[Scotty]

Nah, nah. And it's. I don't really take any. Oh, sorry.

[Scott]

No, obviously I almost stepped on you, but go ahead and talk. I'm sorry.

[Scotty]

I don't really take much insulin during the day. I don't really take any instant during the day at all. It's just in the evenings when I get home for dinner and things like that. Yeah.

[Scott]

Do you think when the insulin becomes a bigger part of your life, you might look at it again?

[Scotty]

Yeah, if once my pancreas 40 cox it and then my. My rates go up, then I'll probably definitely look again.

[Scott]

You might look at it again at that point. Yeah, it's gonna be even.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. My ratios are pretty low at the moment. I think I'm on one unit of insulin per 10 grams of carbs at the moment. So.

[Scott]

How much basil do you use a day, basil?

[Scotty]

I'd say between 12, 12 and 16.

[Scott]

12 and 16, depending on your activity in the heat, right?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I was in Florida a couple months ago, I think I had to chop it down to two or three units over there just with the heat and everything.

[Scott]

The heat was hitting you, was it? It was really. Yeah, it was helping the. The insulin move around. You're probably more active too than you are sitting at home.

[Scotty]

Yeah, but I still do. I don't know, I probably average between like. Like, I'd say 12 and 18, 000 steps a day with my job.

[Scott]

Yeah. So you really. You really feel like it was the heat, that's why it dropped down?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And it's hot there now. You said in Germany.

[Scotty]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It wasn't too bad today. I think she was about me 30 degrees Celsius. But yesterday and the day before, 33 34.

[Scott]

Okay. And are you, are you adjusting your insulin for that too?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. I went down to eight units just for the last few heat days and then last night I went back up to 12 because. Because I thought I was going to have an easy day. I had an easy morning, but the afternoon was absolutely slammed.

[Scott]

But it wasn't too bad to get humid there too.

[Scotty]

It can in the evenings. It does. I'm right out by the forest, so it's not too bad. But if you go into the city of Frankfurt itself, it's absolutely heinous because I've been in Saigon or something. All the concrete buildings and. Yeah, cobblestones and high rise towers and everything. It just holds the heat, Sits in

[Scott]

there and holds the heat and everything.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Germans, Germans still don't know about the great air conditioning. Yeah.

[Scott]

Is that another place they don't have air conditioning?

[Scotty]

Yeah, they're not the biggest stuff. I've got it here at home. We had it installed here at home, but they don't like it over here. Not many places have it. And the houses are very old. Like the house I have is under the roof, so it gets very hot in the summer. So. Yeah, we've had air conditioning for the last few years upstairs and it's been a lifesaver.

[Scott]

I don't know how people live without it to be perfect.

[Scotty]

No, no, neither do I. Like, yeah, everything's run off the old radiator heaters and stuff in the winter and. Yeah, yeah, the fresher luft the dirt. Germans love opening the windows even when it's minus 12 outside. Open the windows to get the fresh air in the house in the mornings and. Yeah.

[Scott]

Oh, geez. Yeah, I'm okay. I don't need. My wife leaves for work sometimes. She's like, well, here goes a week with no ice. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're drinking warm drinks for a week. I gotta go to Europe, I'll see you later.

[Scotty]

Yeah,

[Scott]

But you know, it makes sense. The electrical grid's not really the same in some of these places too. Although Germany's pretty, pretty modern. Right. Yeah.

[Scotty]

They took all our nuclear reactors offline.

[Scott]

Oh, I remember that. Yeah.

[Scotty]

Yeah. It's a bit of a. Bit of a fest. And then we had the issue with the gas and stuff once the war started in Ukraine, gas prices went through the roof. Still are not as bad now, but yeah, the house gas and things like that that.

[Scott]

You think they'll jump those rockers back up or. No.

[Scotty]

Well, there's talks of it, but I don't know. Yeah, the Green party is too high on power over here at the moment, I think so I don't think there's. Yeah, there's talks of it happening, but Yeah, I just said I had a big solar panels on my roof two or three months ago, which has been a game changer here as well.

[Scott]

Yeah, please. But make sure my news is right on this. They were, they wanted to cut the reactors down for social like, like reasons like, you know, around, around. And then they ended up burning like way more gas or something for it or something.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And coal.

[Scott]

Yeah, that's right. They had to go back to coal. That's the story.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, yeah, I think one of my, one of my friends is actually a nuclear engineer and yeah, he, he lost his job and had to go move to France to go back there because.

[Scott]

Yeah, we'll shut the reactors off and start burning coal again. Everything will be cleaner. Don't you.

[Scotty]

Yeah, be fine. It'd be a hunky dory, you know, it's cleaner, it's better. Yeah.

[Scott]

I wish people would stop pretending there was an actual answer to anything and you know what I mean?

[Scotty]

Yeah, no, it's stupid. And then, yeah, the prices of electricity went through the roof as well after they turned all the nuclear stuff off. And everything as well sucks.

[Scott]

I, listen, I'm, I'm, I'm waiting for the, the part in, in the future where we all get a little tiny desktop reactor that powers our house. I'm, I'm, I'm.

[Scotty]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I was listening. I listened to my NPR today and they're talking about how America's planning on building the station on the moon. Yeah.

[Scott]

Good luck.

[Scotty]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if one of us to get the Helium 3 to make some cold, cold fusion or whatever.

[Scott]

If I see them fill some of the potholes around here, I'll imagine that they can get to the moon and build a reactor.

[Scotty]

It's not just your country with potholes then. Yeah, it's mine as well.

[Scott]

So you show me 10 guys in the same place and get something done and I'll go, okay, maybe we can accomplish this.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I know, but there's always 10 guys. One's only doing the work. And the other night is standing around watching.

[Scott]

Three of them called out sick and the other ones are, yeah, yeah, yeah. This guy's like, we could build a reactor on the moon if you guys would just. They're like, shut up. And then what if we just went to the bar and you shut the hell up, how's that be?

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. Set the corner and be quiet and jerky.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah. I showed up at my first job out of school, and those guys pulled me aside no time. And they were like, what are you trying to prove? Slow down. And I was like, well, I'm just working. And they're like, not that fast. Don't. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.

[Scotty]

And I was like, yeah, you're gonna make us look bad.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, I got that talk real quick when I got out.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Increase the workflow and make me look better.

[Scott]

Yeah, just slow down is what I was told. And it wasn't a friendly conversation. I got pulled to a corner by a bunch. A bunch of grown men. I was like, 19 years old. I was like, okay, yeah.

[Scotty]

Oh, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Strike the theory. And when he's young.

[Scott]

Well, no kidding. What are you trying to prove? First words out of one of their mouth. I was like, I'm trying to keep my stupid job where I make $4 and 50 cents an hour, you know?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. I already. That was my first job was, I think, 475 an hour exactly, breaking my ass.

[Scott]

And this guy pulls me aside and he's like, no, no, no, no. Anyway, I don't think those guys are going to get a reactor on the moon either, is what I'm saying.

[Scotty]

Nah, nah, nah. Yeah, they'll probably find the two.

[Scott]

When people complain about capitalism like, you know, the. The desire for money is the only thing that makes anybody do anything. You're like, yeah, we wouldn't have anything if their scumbags weren't out there trying to get rich.

[Scotty]

Oh, no. Yeah. No, no, no way. No, no, no, no, no.

[Scott]

Let them go, or we're gonna be walking again. We can't walk. That's over. I just want to say. Yeah, it's so funny. Oh, my gosh. All right, I. I mean, have we done any of what you imagined we'd do when you came on here, Here, or are we just bullshitting?

[Scotty]

Ah, I. I prefer the bullshitting. That's my. That's my. That's my forte. Yeah.

[Scott]

You're not going to hear this on npr, I'll tell you that much.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. No, not with the 7C delay that we blur in all the swear words. Anything out? No, Yeah, I do.

[Scott]

There's part of me that needs to keep this episode shorter so I don't go over on editing costs. For the cursing. But. But no, seriously, though, like, I think chatting like this is good sometimes. Like, I don't.

[Scotty]

Oh, definitely.

[Scott]

Yeah. You're a real person in the middle of being an adult. You were living a certain life and somebody showed up and it was like, hey, that's it. You have diabetes now. Everything's different. You were really honest about all the different ways it impacted you, and I think you're being honest about the fact that you don't really have it all worked out yet. You're just, You're.

[Scotty]

Oh, no, no, it's. I just, I just said everyone. My. My daily life is like a science experiment. Every day is different. I don't know what's going on, and I'll just deal with it when it pops up. Yeah.

[Scott]

Characterize yourself as happy, though, right?

[Scotty]

Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Still have my moments every now and then, but I don't have the burnout like I did. I function pretty well. My averages in A1C is great. It's. I think the last test I had two months ago, I think my A1C was 5.6.

[Scott]

Well, look at you. That's awesome.

[Scotty]

And then I think my average is, I think, 85 in range.

[Scott]

That's awesome.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I. I figured out last year the less I'm focused on it and the more blast I am about it, the better my averages and A1C is. Whereas if I'm hovering over it and trying to concentrate more on it, the worst it is you.

[Scott]

You had too tight of a grip on it. You're over matter. Yeah.

[Scotty]

I wouldn't say tired of a grip, but I was hyper focused on it.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Now, I. I probably took my sensor maybe five or six times a day. That's about it really now.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I don't know that people believe me or not, and I certainly don't have as much to do with Arden's diabetes since she's older. But I just have a. I. I have a. You know, my, My alarms are set where they're set, and if the thing doesn't beep, I don't look at my phone.

[Scotty]

Yeah, same as me. It's. I've turned off the high settings because I was sick of that going off in the night when I'm trying to sleep, because once I get up in the night, it's a hell of a challenge for me to go back to sleep. So.

[Scott]

Right.

[Scotty]

I've turned off the high settings, but I got the low set. I think once I had 75, then my alarm goes off just to let me know.

[Scott]

I have to say, Arden just finished her, her semester, so it's going to be a little confusing for people. She has graduated, but she only walked. She still has three courses left to actually get her diploma. So she finished a semester. She's got to go back one more time. But this is like the day or two after the semester ended. So she's just sleeping. Right. So I just look, because I was, I found myself thinking about it at

[Podcast Host]

8am

[Scott]

she was asleep and I thought, oh, the algorithm's doing a good job of pushing her blood sugar where it should be, but it'll go, it should go a little faster. I gave her like a bump of like a quarter of unit of insulin and that was now five and a half hours ago. I haven't thought about it since. And I just pulled up her six hour graph. She's been between 110 and 77 for the last like six hours.

[Scotty]

Yeah, that's.

[Scott]

Yeah, that's.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. I wish I could get my averages down to there. I'm usually hovering. I'd say between 120 and 140.

[Scott]

Yeah. Well, Scotty, that's an algorithm that, that's doing a lot of work behind the scenes given and taking insulin away and stuff like that.

[Scotty]

So, yeah, I'm pretty, I'm pretty blah's eye about it though. I just, I just take it when I need to.

[Scott]

I think you're doing a great job. It sounds like you're doing a great job to me, honestly. You're balancing your mental health with your, with your physical health and your, you know, the amount of effort and time you're putting into it. It's, it all sounds like a good thing to me. Yeah, yeah.

[Scotty]

No, no, I'm in a good spot at the moment.

[Scott]

Yeah. One last question. How much do you let your wife in on the diabetes stuff now? Like, could she help you if she needed to? Does she understand glucagon like, or is it a thing?

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah. I had, I made a big lesson with the boys and things like that when I first came out of hospital. Still do now. We sit down and talk about a family, about everything really. We don't really hide anything from each other. I've got a good, we have a very good relationship with our kids. My oldest will come to me and my wife very often with problems he's having in life and things like that, which I'm so thankful for. You know, he's not hiding it away, but the, the kids know exactly what to do if they find me on the floor or anything like that. I've never passed out or had anything yet, you know, not saying it's not going to happen, but I'm not going

[Scott]

with you if you want. There you go.

[Scotty]

But I have little. I have little stashes of those glues to. Gone inhalers and things like that hidden around the house and stuff, so the boys know where to grab one and know exactly what to do and things like that. I've got the library hooked up to my wife's phone as well, so she's. She's quite onto it. If I'm. If I don't know what's going on or I'm not paying attention and my phone goes low, she'll send me a WhatsApp straight away or give me a ring. Are you okay? What's going on? Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah. So is that.

[Scott]

Is that about the level of com. Is that where you want it?

[Scotty]

That's pretty much all I needed, really. And they know what to do if there's an emergency or anything like that. But we haven't crossed that bridge yet. And, yeah, I've had no issues around the house or anything with it. Like, there's been times and stuff where we've been out and about. I forgot to put, you know, glucose tablets or some sugar in my pocket and me and the wife have gone for a walk and I've had. We've had to stop and then ring one of our friends to come pick us up to take me home again because it's too far to walk home because I'd. I'd crash and things like that.

[Scott]

But yeah, and she's comfortable too, with. She doesn't ask you for more than what you're giving.

[Scotty]

No, no, there's nothing really more to give, if you know what I mean.

[Scott]

No, no, it's good. I was just trying to see it's a good balance for both of you.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to burden her with too much of it, but there's not much she can really do for me really either. Anyway, like, it's.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, you're an adult.

[Scotty]

She's. Yeah. And she. She watches, she keeps an eye on the numbers and things like that. When she'll tell me, oh, you're a bit high. Do you think you need some insulin? Bits and bobs. But otherwise I'm pretty much just left to my own devices, really.

[Scott]

Any concern for the kids now that you have Type one, are you there is.

[Scotty]

There is a bit. I Can't get the air. I can. My endo asks if I'd like to do the antibody test with them to see if they have the antibodies. But I don't want to. I don't want to know, if you know what I mean.

[Scott]

I've only known you for an hour and I could have guessed that's what you were going to say. So. Yeah, yeah, you don't want to know because you don't want to worry.

[Scotty]

That's. Yeah, if I knew they had them and I'd be waiting for the bomb to explode, if you know what I mean.

[Scott]

I think that would be bad for you, your. Your mental health.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I think so too. So I'd rather let them. I'd be more worried about them. I'd rather they're at that age now where I just want them to be kids and have fun, you know, not have to have anything. I don't want the thing in the back of my mind either, you know, so. Yeah, but it's a very.

[Scott]

And you'll, you'll, you'll speak up.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. I do the old. I do the old finger prick with them every now and then, you know, it's a fun game.

[Scott]

Have you ever caught an out of whack blood sugar?

[Scotty]

No.

[Podcast Host]

Good?

[Scotty]

Not at all.

[Scott]

It's awesome.

[Scotty]

So my, my old endos, she just said, you know, chances are very, very low. I think she said it was like 18 to 20 or something, that the kids could get diabetes as well.

[Scott]

Well, you probably. Is there any worry about the kids? And she said, stop being such a Scotty.

[Scotty]

Pretty much, yeah, pretty much, yeah. Even. Even she said, you know. Yeah, pretty much. She just said, I, you know, if you want to do it, do it, but if you don't want to know, you don't have to know.

[Scott]

I have to say, just in case any of my doctors are listening, I would love it if we had conversations like that, so feel free.

[Scotty]

Oh, that's the thing I missed, like, that's the thing I missed about my first endo. She was. I was so comfortable with, about talking with her about everything and anything.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

My new one, not so much now, like.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you said different. Yeah, no, you only get special people like that don't come around all that often, you know?

[Scotty]

No, no. So, yeah, I'm a gutted about it, but it's all right. I just go and get my meds, get tested, come home again. That's pretty much.

[Scott]

What time is it there?

[Scotty]

Yeah, quarter past seven at night.

[Scott]

Oh, you gotta get Going okay? Yeah, yeah. You do?

[Scotty]

Yeah. The kids go to bed about nine, 9:30. So, yeah, they're out in the pool. They're out in the pool with their mates swimming, anyway, so.

[Scott]

Oh, no kidding. Yeah. I wish I was a kid. That sounds awesome.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. I'm gonna drive to the pharmacy instead after this and then come back and make Facebook ads.

[Scotty]

Yeah, no, I get the. I get the neighborhood kids ringing the doorbell every day. Towels, togs on, Winston home. I come in. Yeah, just at the back in the pool. At the back in the pool.

[Scott]

Scotty, those kids have you eyed up. They know that you're where they're going to get their drugs from five years from now. So they're.

[Scotty]

Well, possibly. Possibly. Yeah. I'll tell you how much it's not. It's not much of a challenge over here in Germany anyway.

[Scott]

So, yeah, they're like, listen, I think. I think Scotty's gonna be able to hook us up one day.

[Scotty]

There's a few of us in the neighborhood. Like, yeah, yeah. I went around to my. My other son's friend that lives down the road instead. I went around to see him the other night in Heavy ar. He's like, oh, do you smoke? And it's like, I don't smoke cigarettes, but I smoke the other stuff. Come with me. Come with me. Yeah, yeah. I got three kilos in the cellar here. Take an ounce. Yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Pablo Escobar.

[Scotty]

So, yeah, it's. Yeah, but it's. You know, I'm. I don't know. I don't. I'm trying to think what he'd say. I don't think there's anything wrong with weed at all. It's much more cleaner and better than alcohol. It's you. My wife prefers me on the weed than the alcohol.

[Podcast Host]

I would.

[Scott]

Listen, I'd prefer you smoke weed than drink alcohol. We. I'm. I'm building a. Like a proper recording studio in my basement. And, you know, I had painters come in to paint after the drywall went up and everything. And my. Like, everybody's walking around the house looking at each other funny and like. And finally we all just kind of. Because we all work at home, like, you know what I mean? So finally we all collected together and we're like, hey, the painters are high, right? And then. And. And everybody's like, oh, is that what that is? I'm like, yeah. I was like, I think that's what's going on here. But I'll tell you what, they paint great. He's got that brush in his hand and he's, like, lining the wall. And I'm stunned at how great the line looks between, like, the wall and the ceiling. He's.

[Scotty]

I think it's a pretty standard. I got mates at home and use it on their painters, and that's pretty much how they function. A quick joint in the van before they go in for work.

[Scott]

And then that time, perfect. I said, I don't. I don't question anything. Look how nice that line is at the ceiling. So.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. If it works, it works, right?

[Scott]

What do I care? Yeah, no kidding. All right, well, Scotty, I appreciate you doing this with me. Thank you very much.

[Scotty]

Oh, no, it was great.

[Scott]

Yeah. Did you have a good time?

[Scotty]

I did, actually, yeah. Yeah. A lot more comfortable than I thought it was going to be, so.

[Scott]

Yeah. You said you were really nervous at the beginning, but did it end?

[Scotty]

I was, yeah. Yeah, I was. I was. I'm in an hour in this morning when I got up. Do I do it? Do I not?

[Scott]

Like, were you gonna bail on me? Is that what you're thinking?

[Scotty]

I was. I'm in an iron about it.

[Scott]

Like, yeah, bail on me. I'm busy. I sit over here. I'm waiting for you.

[Scotty]

Yeah, talk to the. Talk to the wife about it this morning and stuff.

[Scott]

And she's like, scotty, she said, call your old doctor. She'll tell you what to do.

[Scotty]

Exactly. Don't be a Scott. Do the podcast. Yeah, that's fantastic.

[Scott]

All right, man. Hold on one second for me.

[Scotty]

Yeah. All good?

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

It seems that the podcast you just enjoyed was sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care.

[Scott]

Care.

[Podcast Host]

Learn more about Tandem's newest automated insulin delivery system, Tandem Moby with control IQ technology@tandem diabetes.com juicebox There are links in the show notes and [e-mail] to Tandem and US Med, who also sponsored this episode of the Juice Box podcast. Get started with [e-mail] juicebox or call 880-8872-11514. Get your free benefits check and get started today with us Med, the same place that we get our diabetes supplies. Usmed.com juicebox links in the show notes links@juicebox podcast.com click on those links. Baby support the podcast.

[Scotty]

Sam.

[Podcast Host]

The Juice Box podcast has been in production since January of 2015, and in that time, I have amassed just a fantastic catalog of information for you. Defining Diabetes Bold Beginnings. The Diabetes Pro Tip Series. Small Sips Fat and Protein Algorithm Pumping Mental Wellness. Ask Scott and Jenny the diabetes variables Defining Thyroid After Dark. There's even an Omnipod 5 Pro tip series.

[Scott]

Come on.

[Podcast Host]

Pregnancy, how we Eat, Grand Rounds, Cold win, GLP meds. What else do you want from me?

[Scott]

And if you'd like to get going

[Podcast Host]

now with this podcast, boy, oh, boy, you have not picked a better time. You haven't, because we have a diabetes myth series, and there's even a type 2 pro tip series. All of this. All of this is free.

[Scott]

Free.

[Podcast Host]

That's right. Scott Free. @juiceboxpodcast.com Go up to the menu, click on a series. They're all right there. Or you, of course, could use your Apple podcast app, Spotify, or wherever you get audio. Every episode is listed on the website along with its episode number, so you can search for it in one of those apps. I've done everything I can do, baby. There's transcripts. You want to read the podcast?

[Scott]

Go read it. What do I care? I'm not your mother. You do whatever you want.

[Podcast Host]

Juicebox podcast.com Apple podcast, Spotify. Wherever you get your audio, baby, go get your audio. Why'd I say baby so much? I'm just realizing now this all seems like it's something you can't believe. But I swear to you, it's a great podcast.

[Scott]

You'll really like it.

[Podcast Host]

If you want, go to juiceboxpodcast.com reviews and read what other people have written.