#235 Tommy
Scott Benner
A type 1 diabetes conversation in transit…
Tommy and Scott chat while Tommy drives home from his endocrinologist appointment. Type 1 diabetes meta.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello and welcome to Episode 235 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by Omni pod dancing for diabetes and Dexcom. You can go to my Omni pod comm forward slash juicebox dancing the number four diabetes.com or dexcom.com forward slash shoes box to find out more. There are also links in your show notes, and at Juicebox podcast.com.
In this episode of the Juicebox Podcast, I'll be speaking with Tommy, Tommy's had Type One Diabetes for a year, maybe a little longer. And I got to record this with him while he was on his way home from his endocrinologist appointment with his mom. Tommy is 11 years old. And I think you're going to be pretty amazed when you listen to this conversation. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise and always consult a physician before making any changes to your medical plan. or becoming bold with insulin.
Tommy 1:36
We're driving right now.
Scott Benner 1:38
Oh, you're in the car. Okay, I didn't realize that. Okay.
Tommy 1:51
My name is Tommy and I've, I've been diagnosed for a year and a half right now. And I've, um, I've stayed steady and strong. I recently very recently just got an A one fee of about 6.0 6.0 M. And I feel pretty confident with that. But it wasn't as good as my last day once the my last day once he was 5.7.
Scott Benner 2:19
How is your variability though? Are you You know, sometimes a lower a one c isn't better if your blood sugar's bouncing up and down. So are you how are you doing with staying stable?
Tommy 2:29
I'm staying stable. Um, but in the mornings in the mornings, I kind of spike up a little bit because I'm I eat cereal, but we figured out a way to kind of make that work. That's excellent. Cute. Would you like to hear that?
Scott Benner 2:43
Hold on a second. Let me let I see. You're excited. Tommy. I like that. Hold on a second. Let me ask you a couple questions. Okay, so you said you were diagnosed about a year ago? But you're 11 years old?
Tommy 2:52
Yes. All 11 right now about to turn. Well, in April.
Scott Benner 2:59
No kidding. All right. Well, happy birthday a little early. Okay, so let's think anybody else in your family have type one diabetes?
Tommy 3:07
Um, oh, no one actually had type one diabetes in my family. And we don't know how I got it. But I think we might run a test.
Scott Benner 3:17
or other people thinking of like doing testing on them? Is it gonna do trial net? Maybe?
Tommy 3:25
Um, I, we might try, but I don't think
Scott Benner 3:30
it's that big. I was just wondering, so Okay, so nobody else had type one. You're the first one in the family to to get it before gotcha. Okay. And you say that now I got an email from you. Let me see if I can find it. And you said that your mom listens to the podcast, and then tells you things that she's heard for you to try? Or do you listen as well. Um,
Tommy 3:51
I listened sometimes. But my mom really listened to the most. Gotcha. And
Scott Benner 3:55
how does that go? When she comes to you and says, Hey, I have this new thing I want you to try. Do you? Do you want to try?
Tommy 4:02
So, um, we listened to one and it was it was you talking to another boy. And he said that you ate cereal and other things by waking up covering then going in the shower. And that really helped him with his insulin. So we tried that. And, um, and we couldn't really tell the difference, but it worked just a little bit. But it was true. And we really liked it. So we wanted to give it a try. Gotcha.
Scott Benner 4:34
Yeah, I mean, I think things work differently for everybody, you know, so something that worked for him might not work for you. And you know, Vice vice versa. So that's no big deal. So you said you're eating cereal now and you're keeping your spikes down and you wanted to tell me about how that's happening. So tell me a little bit about Yeah.
Tommy 4:51
So um, I wake up and I give myself some I give myself insulin like so my ratios are One to 30. And so I give myself three units, which is 90 carbs. And my base is also very high. And if if I was pretty high overnight, I might hop in the shower. But then after that I could change and change, and get my shoes and socks on, get ready for the day or school or school, whatever I'm about to do. Um, and then after that I eat and, and then we go to school, but I eat, eat and sometimes I go up a little, but then it works. It works. It goes, it goes up to like maybe one one, like top 180. But it it's, it's the best system that we've tried so far. And it's pretty, it helps us a lot.
Scott Benner 5:51
It's excellent. So tell me something when you put that those three units in? How long between when you put the three units in, and when you start eating the cereal is it it would take like,
Tommy 6:02
maybe 15 minutes. But right now I feel my body. It feels like it's kind of it's, it's getting faster, like I'm
Scott Benner 6:15
thinking is starting to work more quickly than it has in the past.
Tommy 6:19
Uh, yeah.
Scott Benner 6:21
Yeah. Is that so let me ask you this. How long have you been using insulin pump?
Unknown Speaker 6:28
How long?
Scott Benner 6:29
Yeah, no insulin pump.
Tommy 6:32
Oh, um, for about? Maybe like, a year.
Scott Benner 6:35
Okay, so pretty much the whole time. You've had diabetes. You've had a pump?
Tommy 6:39
Um, yeah, pretty. Pretty much the whole time. Okay, we haven't really changed or anything like that.
Scott Benner 6:45
Gotcha. Okay, are you getting? Are you getting out the car going somewhere else now?
Tommy 6:50
No, I'm low right now. So I'm trying to find a new job. Take
Scott Benner 6:52
your time. What's your blood sugar?
Unknown Speaker 6:54
I'm like 71.
Scott Benner 6:56
Okay, and When's the last time you had insulin?
Unknown Speaker 6:59
I gave myself insulin because I was going a little high. So are you?
Scott Benner 7:03
Are you 71? And like, is your blood sugar falling right now? Is it stable?
Unknown Speaker 7:08
So I just want to give myself just a little bit.
Scott Benner 7:11
How do you feel at 70?
Tommy 7:14
I feel a little weird. A little hot, like getting hot. But I don't feel I don't feel really weird. But when it gets really low, I feel it.
Scott Benner 7:23
Yeah, no kidding. So now will you drink the whole juice box? Or just half of it? or What will you try here? Oh, yeah. So what's your goal to get your blood sugar back to where?
Tommy 7:35
Maybe like, one to five?
Unknown Speaker 7:37
Cool.
Scott Benner 7:40
Take your time Drink up. But what flavor is the juice?
Tommy 7:43
Oh, I'm cooler. But cherries. My favorite
Scott Benner 7:51
artist has one that she doesn't like. But I switch it back and forth just so she doesn't get sick of the one she does like and sleeping if she's if she has to drink it while she's sleeping. She makes a face even in our sleep. For the for the flavor. She doesn't like as much.
Tommy 8:05
Or sometimes my mom wakes me up to um, so maybe give myself a Duke juice all like, I'll talk I'll be like
Scott Benner 8:16
Alright, so you take the juice box to Rm while she's sleeping and touch the straw to her lip. And she knows it's there. And then she just opens her mouth and drinks. She never wakes up.
Unknown Speaker 8:27
My mom tells me
Scott Benner 8:31
Are you ready to keep going or do you want to take a minute?
Tommy 8:33
Oh, yeah, no, we can go right now. I already had
Scott Benner 8:36
no clue. So why are you in the car? Where are you going are coming from?
Tommy 8:40
So I just came from the Indra and an endocrinologist. Sorry, I can't say it.
Scott Benner 8:48
I'll say it with you. Ready? It's endo. chromo chronologist. See you got it. All right. Okay, so you went in the to do your this is your like quarterly checkup? Like you're like every few months?
Tommy 8:59
Yeah, we're gonna get blood drawn. But um, we had we had it.
Scott Benner 9:05
Listen to you. We're probably thrilled about that. Right?
Unknown Speaker 9:07
cancer so happy.
Scott Benner 9:10
Nobody wants to give blood for any reason. I hear you. So what did you find out at the at the appointment?
Tommy 9:18
Um, we found out we found an agency. We just, we we got stuff rescheduled. Um, and prescriptions?
Scott Benner 9:31
Yeah, new prescriptions. Yeah, you went to visit the prescription and a once a lady. Yeah, I
Tommy 9:35
think I think we're gonna get touch a new touch on the pilot touchscreen.
Unknown Speaker 9:41
Are you gonna get the dash?
Unknown Speaker 9:42
Yeah, I'm really happy about that. That's
Scott Benner 9:44
so cool. I used one a couple weeks ago and they're really neat. All right, yeah, you're gonna like it I have to wait just like everybody else. I have to wait to my insurances. More book cover, but that's really cool. You're gonna like it. It's it's a it's a different experience and using that other one. So Okay, so you got a six a one C, which is probably thrilling. I would be amazingly happy to see
Unknown Speaker 10:06
a six my mom, my mom, my mom kind of likes it. Oh, yeah.
Scott Benner 10:11
What do you want it to be lower war. Okay, all right. Oh, but you know, there's not a real big difference between like five, seven and six. Right? Well, I think that whether you're 576, you know, or in any tight kind of space like that, you have to realize that it's not about the number as much as it is about knowing that what you're doing is working. So the idea is that you're following and you know, the steps you're taking are keeping your blood sugar in a place where your a one c stays under six, and you're not going over 180 very frequently. Do you get low very often, like under 60?
Tommy 10:48
I'm not not that frequently, but this morning, I was pretty low. I like had two arrows going down. And I got in the O Ws, but um, we got back up. The funny thing was, is that I put the milk in the pantry.
Scott Benner 11:04
so low that you tried to put the milk in the refrigerator and you just put it the pantry instead. Do you remember what being that low felt? Like?
Tommy 11:11
Um, I know it feels. I mean, I I, um, I was all I feel. Um, I feel like shaky and a little like, lightheaded. Confusion, of course. Yeah. And I'm just like, you, you just kind of just like, you don't really know where you are. I mean, you feel like your head's in a different position in like a different place. But you you just can't really tell it's it's really hard to tell like, people ask me Hey, what is low feel like? I tell them. I tell them, I tell them that. It's not the best feeling and you can't you can't control you can't really control yourself. But you, you feel you feel you feel you feel normal, but like you feel like you're in a different you feel like you're in a different universe. Like you feel like you're floating in space. I felt like your organs and organisms are in different places of your body.
Scott Benner 12:18
I understand. I mean, I don't understand this never happened to me. But I understand your your explanation. That's a pretty clear explanation. So you don't get low like that very often. What do you think happened this morning? That got you low like that?
Tommy 12:29
Yeah, we I waited a lot.
Scott Benner 12:33
She you waited too long on your Pre-Bolus. And then the cereal couldn't catch up with the insulin. Gotcha. How long did you end up waiting? That was too long.
Tommy 12:43
I ended up I think I might have ended up like 30 minutes, something like
Scott Benner 12:47
that. That's a long time because there's that moment, Tommy where it starts to fall, like and you have to realize that that that CGM is not showing you exactly what's happening in the moments a little behind, right. So when you start feeling it when you start seeing that like drifting down and even if you don't get a diagonal arrow down, even if the numbers moving down, then you're insulins active and it's working. And that's probably a pretty safe place to start eating that. Wow. Well now you know, right 30 minutes is cool. Okay, well, you won't make that mistake again. What kind of cereal by the way? Oh,
Tommy 13:26
my brother likes lucky charms. Um, I kind of like rice krispies, but I'm pretty sure if it was curious
Scott Benner 13:34
Cheerios that see then those those hit you hard right? They if you don't do all right, they'll really send your blood sugar up. Let me tell you about cereal for a second time. Nowadays, it's not like it was when I was a young man your age. They used to have real sugar in it like it was just like, you know, it wasn't like all chemically and weird. stuff was so sugary. My Favorites included back then. Apple junks. Froot Loops. Right. Have you ever had a fruit loop? Oh yeah, they don't taste anything. Now like they used to end my absolute favorite fruity pebbles.
Tommy 14:06
Oh, 30 cable is amazing.
Scott Benner 14:09
I'm gonna tell you if I can put you in a time machine. take you back. 20 years. Wait a minute, let me do the math again. That would make me 27 I don't mean 20 Oh my god. Tommy I think what I mean is if I could put you in a time machine and take you back 40 years. Oh my god. I'm so old Tommy. Your Fruity Pebbles would have been a different experience. They were just magical. Magical. I'm telling you. Okay, so now they're just not the same foods different now. GMOs. We're killing the farmers. That's all Tommy let's get past that. Now. What what are you using for a pump?
Unknown Speaker 14:42
I'm using for my pump?
Scott Benner 14:44
Yeah. Which which pump? Yeah.
Tommy 14:46
Oh, I have the Omni pod the M
Unknown Speaker 14:50
I'm confused. No,
Scott Benner 14:51
no, don't be confused. You're confused because you're lower because of my question wasn't ordered. Well,
Unknown Speaker 14:56
I think your question was,
Scott Benner 14:58
I think so to me, because I I already knew you had an omni pod because you said you were thinking of getting a dash. Oh, yeah, so my question should have been what made you pick the on the pod when you chose?
Tommy 15:09
Oh, I didn't like giving myself shots that often. I didn't like I'm just like, I just kind of like I cannot like giving much like, I saw that the Omni pod would just like give you insulin, which was like, Wow, that's cool. So it's just like a shot and then you're ready for three days. But um, instead of shot shot, shot shot shot shot shot shot over constantly. Um, I like I just thought it just seemed weird to me. So I wanted to try it out for you.
Scott Benner 15:43
And did you get to CGM at a similar time? Dexcom?
Tommy 15:46
Um, yes, I think I got it maybe before the pump. No, I got I got the I got the CGM before before the pump.
Scott Benner 15:59
Okay. And so did you have the G six always? Or do you have the G five? g five.
Tommy 16:05
And now I have the G six.
Scott Benner 16:06
Nice. Do you like it?
Unknown Speaker 16:07
Yeah, it's amazing.
Scott Benner 16:09
I think so. Alright, let's think about this. 11 years old puts you in? Let me do the math real quick. Are you in? seventh grade?
Tommy 16:19
Um, I got held back. So right now I'm in fifth grade. So I would be a sixth. So
Scott Benner 16:23
I should have guessed sixth, but you're in fifth. Okay, so you're in fifth grade? How do you find school and diabetes theater? Like how do you manage to go to the nurse's office to do stuff with your mom? Like how do you handle it?
Unknown Speaker 16:38
My name is Elizabeth. And at 10 years old, I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. Shortly after inspired by my middle school dance class, I came up with the idea to host a show to raise funds and spread awareness about diabetes. And dancing for diabetes started and has grown ever since.
Scott Benner 16:57
When you're done here today, please visit dancing for diabetes.com that's dancing the number for diabetes.com.
Unknown Speaker 17:05
My hope for all the kids and teens in our dance program is that their Type One Diabetes will never get in their way, it will never stop them from achieving any goals or dreams that they have. And that they will feel empowered by their Type One Diabetes to do more to do better. And to do well for everyone, including themselves.
Tommy 17:27
On the night of the show, I want people to know that diabetes doesn't define you.
Unknown Speaker 17:35
I want people to be inspired. And if they even have type one, that they're not alone, and that we can do anything we put our hearts to.
Scott Benner 17:56
Like how do you manage to go to the nurse's office to do stuff with your mom? Like how do you handle it?
Unknown Speaker 18:01
At my school, I'm
Tommy 18:03
surprised where we live, we live way out in the country. So we live pretty far out and I go to a private school. Like there's no nurse's office. So when I get low, I would tell my teacher and have a juice box. But if I get like really low, I'd tell my T shirt I'd sit down or something like that. But there's no nurse's office. So that means like I can't I just do it on my own. I don't have pretty I mean, except for my teacher. She's just there to make sure I don't pass out and start having seizures. You have a phone? Yes, yes, sir. I
Scott Benner 18:33
do have a phone. Do you ever communicate with your mom during these times?
Tommy 18:37
Yeah. So it's, it seems weird to take out your phone during class and just start texting your mom. So I got a we got recently just got an Apple Watch. So um, I would just go on my Apple Watch and text my mom. I'm like, Hey, I'm low. Um, I took a juice box and blah, blah, blah. So she didn't get scared or nervous. Cool.
Scott Benner 19:00
That's really good. Yeah. And by the way, I mean, I know you don't want to take your phone out in class a lot. And you probably you know, you shouldn't always have it out. But if you need it for your diabetes stuff, don't feel worried about that. That's just that's what it's for. You know, so now listen, you said you live out in the country? How far out in the country? Like if you needed an ambulance with a cow come get you or would it be a car? How would it be like where are you?
Tommy 19:21
Um, so we recently just moved, we lived we lived like on a farm kind of we live we lived on 30 acres and then like 100 acres was private land. So I just ride my dirt bike, like the round. So we had chickens and stuff like that. Um, and then now we now we move to a place it's like 15 acres in like 158 acres private land. Um, so it's not a lot of land but it's like they live like so if you pull up a map of Charl South Carolina, Charleston You would see Charleston, and then you'd see James Island. And then there's this tiny island across, it's called the wall and blah, blah, blah is a hard word to say. But it sounds like it sounds like a watermelon. Um, so we live kind of far out on watermark. And so, um, we like, it would be a 30 minute drive or a 25 minute drive to school. Um, and then to the nearest hospital, it'd be maybe an hour.
Scott Benner 20:32
Okay. How do you spell the island's name?
Tommy 20:37
Who AWA de ma LAW.
Scott Benner 20:44
I found it. I'm looking on a map right now. Because I want to see what you're talking about. Yeah.
Tommy 20:50
That's cool. Yeah, so it's, it's just this tiny island.
Scott Benner 20:55
It would take me 11 hours and 15 minutes to drive to
Unknown Speaker 21:00
just LA.
Scott Benner 21:01
And so you're really close to the water to do you go to the beach a lot.
Tommy 21:05
Yeah, well, there's not really a beach. But um, we live on the water. So um, we live in a place that
Scott Benner 21:14
like, like, it's an inlet, like, like, what are the leads to the ocean?
Tommy 21:18
Yeah, so we had our front yard and then there's just big draw. There's kind of not a big drop, but like, maybe a five, five foot drop on down to the water. And then there's just trees hanging over the water, which is pretty cool.
Scott Benner 21:33
There's a lot of green around where you just told me. That's really cool. That's cool. So you today. So I have to ask you something, Tommy. Because this sounds crazy. And you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But you're 11 years old. And you sound incredibly smart. And you're doing such a good job with your with your diabetes and talking to me that I can't imagine that you got held back in school. Did you? Oh,
Tommy 21:59
sorry. Um, I, I have dyslexia I have um, so I just don't have it. So dyslexia is like something with Word. So I um, so say you guys hear we're like people without diabetes. I mean, not hold on to the word.
Scott Benner 22:20
Don't worry. That was good.
Tommy 22:21
dyslexia. I'm there. So you'd, you'd be like, Oh, my teacher just taught me how to spell. Cow. I'd be like, okay, EAWCBO W.
Scott Benner 22:38
I gotcha. So it just so you just need to you just need to like a little more time. Like you didn't get held back like you couldn't. You couldn't add or subtract or figure out who Magellan was you were just you need a little more time to do what you needed to do. That's understandable, man. It really isn't. How are things going with that?
Tommy 22:57
Oh, it's honestly really difficult. It's not really difficult, but it's like difficult because I sometimes I forget how to spell. I'm, like, where or when I yeah, when I took someone I always say, I'm like, I'm, like, been bn? I don't spell b e and
Scott Benner 23:19
gotcha. Listen, I'm 47. And I'm misspell about 20 words like that all the time. So I won't even embarrass myself with the amount of words I can't spell. I think you're doing great. Can I ask you a question? And if it's a weird question, and you don't like it, you don't have to answer it. Okay. But if I if you were walking out on that beach, right, you follow the water down to the ocean, you went to the beach, you found a bottle on the beach, you rub it in a genie popped out of it. And he said, Tommy, I can take away your diabetes or your dyslexia. Which one would you pick?
Unknown Speaker 23:54
I'd pick my diabetes.
Scott Benner 23:55
Okay. Can you tell me why?
Tommy 23:58
Um, diabetes is a whole nother thing from dyslexia. Diabetes, you have a risk of like dying. dyslexia, it's just like, I mean, it's like, you can't spell a word. No biggie. But like,
Scott Benner 24:13
I hear what you're saying. He'd like to be alive and not be able to spell BB for being dead and be able to smell I got I think that's a quality answer. Very nice. I just was very interested in in what you might find. That's that's really cool. All right. So seriously, you're so you're on your way back from the endocrinologist right now recording a podcast about having diabetes. Yep. Just making a day of it, aren't you?
Unknown Speaker 24:39
Yeah, I got to skip school. So I'm happy.
Scott Benner 24:41
Hey, I'm with you. I won't even share with you how many days my senior year of high school I missed because it's embarrassing. And I think people would stop listening to the podcast if they knew. But I like having a day off to how's the weather there. I'm just gonna open up ardens Dexcom. Follow up here to see what our blood Pull up the six hour view last six hours. Arden's blood sugar is 93 right now it's stable. She got home a little early from school today. It's the end of the year they have half days, but she's still been studying for tests and doing homework, around four o'clock or blood sugar tried to get over 120 and we pushed it back down. And just prior to dinner at 6pm was 85. Now Arden's blood sugar is not been over 120 or under about 90 in the two hours since dinner, what do we have for dinner tonight, turkey breast, carrots, broccoli, mashed potatoes. Somewhere this afternoon, Arden had some snacks. I honestly don't remember what they were. But the information coming back from the Dexcom allowed us to make timely Pre-Bolus 's and adjustments to our dis blood sugar when necessary. So that heading into mealtimes, her blood sugar was where we expect it to be. And it made it easy to give her insulin for those meals. Now as the evening progresses, her blood sugar settling in nicely and getting ready for bed. Now with the dexcom g six, if her blood sugar tries to you know, get away from us here as bedtime comes, we'll be able to make some nice adjustments to get her back into range for needing food or something like that. Let's say she's drifting down a little bit, you know, we might trim back or basal insulin a little bit and get it to come back up again. I don't like Arden to have to eat things that she doesn't want to just because your blood sugar is going well. And with Dexcom, we can make decisions that'll stop that from happening, you can use the Dexcom link at Juicebox podcast.com. Or, of course right there in your podcast player, where you can just go to dexcom.com forward slash juice box, no matter how you get there, get there. These are our results. And yours may vary. But I believe that this six hour window is reflective of something that everyone can achieve. Especially when you have the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor.
Tommy 27:02
Oh, it's actually really rainy today. But normally, it's always sunny. Like I, um, my, my great. My grandparents live in Minnesota. So it's like, it's like, um, it's rainy and sunny. But in the summertime, it's, it's pretty pretty. I really like it because of all the lakes. Um, I kind of like the cold, which is weird, say, um, but um, I just like how it snows there. And I'd like to move to Minnesota, honestly. But here, it's just like really, really a hot every single day. Like, even in the winter, like, the coldest it gets is like 40.
Scott Benner 27:45
I would like like, do the bugs bother you after a while the bugs would bother
Tommy 27:50
a living here for almost 12 years. It's like, not you like the bugs don't really bother you. Gotcha. Here you stood. But if you come here, like straightaway, yeah, you'd hate the bugs. It gets like I'm a big animal person. So I wouldn't kill a bug single bug.
Scott Benner 28:10
You sound like my wife describing being married to me. She's got used to it after a while so it doesn't bother as much anymore. I understand what you're saying. I'm looking right now. There are a lot of people listening to this podcast in Minnesota. And I know a few of them. So if you want to move live. No, no, no, no, no. We're recording it. Not as many listeners in South Carolina as Minnesota. So if you move there, you'll find more podcasts friends, I think. Yeah, yeah. But do you think so? Hey, are you said your grandparents so if your grandparents are in a Minnesota and you're in South Carolina, who moved Where did you guys move?
Tommy 28:46
So, um, this is gonna sound really boring. But my family my whole family. Like is really interesting. So my, my debt like, way back. I'm from my dad's parents. Um, I forgot his name, but it's like Thomas or some. He came from Czech Republic, okay. To hear. And he he I'm pretty sure he can't he got from. He came from Maryland. And then he moved up to Minnesota. And he started this thing called the tracks loose. And the tracks lawyers is a huge hunting company. Huge hunting company. I love hunting, but my dad asked me to go hunting. I wouldn't. I'd say it right away. So so then from there, I'm one of the girls married a guy and his name was Taka. And that's my last name. So that then that was my great grandma. Great Great Grandma. Great, grandma. I mean, well, they came from my dad that I'm what my dad My great grandfather, great grandfather, great grandfather, all those other things. And then my parents ended up moving there. And they came up with a banking company and a bunch of other companies. Um, and so then my grandfather, his name is Thomas taco, like my name. Um, and he, he is an investor. And he invest because other things like thing companies like a real estate investor, yeah. And then he passed that on to my dad, which my dad is now a real estate investor. And he invests in houses, like companies and buildings and stuff like that. That's pretty cool, Tom. So
Scott Benner 30:45
this was gonna be boring. But then you said it was gonna be interesting. I think you were right. When you said it was interesting. So your family immigrated up north, from the Czech from the Czech Republic, I guess is the right way to say. All right.
Unknown Speaker 30:57
Well, you know,
Scott Benner 30:57
did you hear like at the end of last year, we had an episode with a Lenin. She's from the Czech Republic.
Unknown Speaker 31:04
Oh, cool. Yeah, she
Scott Benner 31:05
was on she has type 120. So, so you're okay, so your Do you guys move down there? I get this. Let me ask some other more like child friendly questions. What's the last movie you saw? What movie? Are you excited to say?
Tommy 31:19
Ah, last movie I saw was maybe the Spider Man movie.
Unknown Speaker 31:25
Spider verse. Wow,
Tommy 31:27
that's really changed it up.
Scott Benner 31:30
Tommy, I love that movie. You and I now have something we can definitely talk about here. Hold on a second. So they, so they kind of followed the, like different. My comic book thing. So my son didn't like some of the things that I thought were really great. So really weird. And you found it strange.
Tommy 31:49
Yeah, they had Spider Man having electrical shooting webs and also invisible powers, which the original spider man just had a just had, like, able to shoot webs. And that's that, like, I was totally fine with that. But a spider that can shoot electrical webs and going visible.
Unknown Speaker 32:10
But why was too much
Unknown Speaker 32:11
for that?
Unknown Speaker 32:13
Yeah,
Scott Benner 32:13
yeah. How about when they like? Did you notice the colors in the movie sometimes separated from each other? Do you know why they did that?
Tommy 32:21
No, I don't really Did you notice? Oh, yeah. Okay, but I didn't really
Scott Benner 32:27
do you want to know, I'll tell you why. Yeah, I want to know. So back when they used to make comic books a long time ago, the printing presses weren't really as good as they are. Now the idea of printing wasn't good. So sometimes you know how they print. Like, they lay colors overtop of colors, how our printing press works till you get to the color at once. So sometimes you write to like old inkjet printers still do that. Like they lay down the yellow and the black and like all these colors, and then you're like, well, it's purple. So what would happen was while they were doing that printing process on the comic books, the books would move. So you'd see like, the bands of other colors, like bleeding out from the actual color. So they so they reproduce that in the movie on purpose to give it like a comic book feeling sometimes. Oh, cool. And then need there's Yeah, there's a lot of cool stuff in that in that movie, actually.
Tommy 33:16
Right now I'm taking a huge animation class. Um, and well, not right now. I just finished it. And I I became white. I was I was pretty good in it. And my teacher, like, I was not not to like brag or anything, but I was like a straight A student in that class.
Scott Benner 33:34
And what kind of anime or do you Is that something you might be interested in doing when you get older?
Unknown Speaker 33:38
Yeah, maybe?
Scott Benner 33:39
How do you Are you good? Can you draw or like, my Arden likes design clothes, but she can't draw.
Tommy 33:46
So there is there's, um, there's traditional animation, which is like the flip books and stuff like that. And then there's computer animation, which is like the ones that they're doing right now. Um, with, um, like, with, like, on computers, like explains itself. And then there's, um, claymation, which I study down a lot. And you make you make these fingers of the clay and you take a picture, then you move them then you take a picture. So long process, but when it ends up when it ends up, it looks really cool. And then you can also add green screens and music and stuff like that to the videos, which was really interesting to me.
Scott Benner 34:28
Okay, so do you. What do you have a favorite claymation movie?
Tommy 34:35
Chicken one is claymation which is pretty good. It's one of the most recent. Um, I bet I bet your kids I've seen that.
Scott Benner 34:46
Trust me, so if I
Tommy 34:50
Yeah, um, but there's not claymation I don't know it's, I wouldn't like to say it's fine, but there's just not a lot happening. anymore, but the most popular one is computer animation, obviously.
Scott Benner 35:04
Yeah, well, there's a company that's still making movies like the ones you're talking about. Maybe you've seen some of them. So have you seen kubu and the Two Strings?
Tommy 35:14
Yeah, that one's really good. That's
Scott Benner 35:17
right. I really enjoyed that one. Mm hmm. And but else that comes about paranorman.
Tommy 35:23
I've never known and also, um, this is Halloween. Like I for Halloween is one.
Scott Benner 35:30
Are you talking about?
Unknown Speaker 35:32
Yeah. Christmas. Yeah,
Scott Benner 35:34
that one is great. I just want I just saw the Nightmare Before Christmas back at the holidays. In a theater, and instead of the music to the, to the dialogue from the movie came from the projector. But all of the music was done by a live orchestra.
Tommy 35:54
Yeah, I heard that. And then, yeah, that's, that's what they used to do. In the olden days. They used to, um, it was always it was always a they'd make their claim nations and then they'd do a live orchestra and add it to the background of the movie.
Scott Benner 36:12
And live like so it was really cool. So there's a new one coming out soon. But paranorman is Kelly's favorite my wife loves loves paranorman. From that, that production company, what is it called La? I'm trying to think of the name of the production company. I'll think of it in a second. But they have just, they they really it's Laika like la ik A. So they have a new they have a new movie coming out soon. With Hugh Jackman. called missing link. But my wife loves paranorman and Coraline. JVC Coraline. Oh,
Tommy 36:50
yeah, Coraline, I was just about to say that
Scott Benner 36:52
right in that cool now you know which one I I saw in the theater, but didn't like but I want to go back and try it again. Because I'm not sure if I was in a bad mood that day. But have you seen the boxtrolls?
Tommy 37:01
Oh, yeah, that one that one. Did you like it was a good movie, but it was just like, it was weird to come up with that theme of them making little kids that have boxtrolls and stuff like that.
Scott Benner 37:15
Yeah, I wasn't sure where I stood on that one. I'm gonna watch it one more time to know. But I'm gonna tell you right now that I think that spider man into the spider verse is one of the best movies I saw last year. Yeah, that's what I was really good. So I've already seen it a couple of times. Like I watch it up in the corner of my computer when I'm editing the podcast and stuff like that. So I really do. Okay, so we've covered movies. That's pretty cool. And you you like animation? Are you thinking about doing this? I mean, I know you're young. It's weird to ask you when you're 11 what you want to do when you grow up? But is that something you really think about?
Tommy 37:46
Oh, maybe? Oh, by now, I don't really know. You can
Scott Benner 37:51
always invest in real estate sounds like that. Working out for Paul. Is that, I think? Um, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 37:57
I think it's
Scott Benner 38:00
Let's pay in the bills, though. Right? You've got like shoes and a car and stuff. So it must be working out pretty well. You fix up? Yeah, yeah. Who? So? I guess your dad does that. But who has more involvement with your diabetes with you? Is
Tommy 38:14
it your mom? It's my mom. Definitely my mom.
Scott Benner 38:18
How does that work out? Like, how many times in a day? Do you actually go up to her and say, Hey, I need help with this?
Tommy 38:27
Most likely, probably once but I don't really I always her, it's always her. Tommy, do you have this? Oh, okay, Tommy, you okay?
Scott Benner 38:40
Miami pod.com, forward slash juicebox. That's where you're gonna go to find out about the insulin pump that Arden has been wearing for over a decade, the Omni pod. When you get to the link, you're gonna ask for a pod experience kit, you're gonna get a pack, you fill out a little bit of information, they're gonna send you an absolutely free demonstration pod that you can wear at home. And really, that's the best way you're going to be able to tell what you think of the Omni pod, you're gonna be able to see it. Hold it your hands, and where you'll be able to put it on your child. Take a moment to step back and say you know what? This isn't bad. I was scared to put something on the maybe with you know, tubes and all this stuff attached to them, but the only pods not like that. It's tubeless it's worth the try. Take a look. Miami pod.com forward slash juicebox. I cannot. I just can't I don't know how to say it enough. The Omni pod is a staple in our life every day for over a decade Arden's been wearing it on the pod. This pump offers freedom in so many different ways. The freedom to adjust your basal rates up and down to extend out your boluses to bathe without disconnecting. These things are possibly something that if you don't have the Omni pod You can't imagine, but they're wonderful. They're life changing. They allow a adjustments that just make all the difference. And if you're skeptical because you're thinking, yeah, I mean, Scott, you're being paid to say this. Okay, fair enough. But you can still get the demo for free and decide for yourself. Miami pod.com forward slash juicebox. Give it a try today. There is nothing to lose. There's 100% no obligation.
Tommy 40:25
It's always her. Tommy, do you have this? Oh, okay, Tommy, you okay?
Scott Benner 40:30
She's worried about you. And Sheila, it said, you said earlier, right? It's something you probably should worry about a little bit. So that's nice. Listen, trust me on this topic. You would rather have your mom be involved with this, then not be involved with it. So you do tell her sometimes like, Hey, I don't want I got it here. I'm okay. Or, oh,
Tommy 40:51
I usually I don't, I don't really want to say that. Because I'm, I know that if I if I say that I might hurt her feelings or something like that. But I always need your help. There's nothing I can do without her help. So she's always out. She's always looking up to me. And it will she's not looking up to me. But I'm always looking up to her. And she's always very helpful and kind of got my diabetes. And she doesn't give me any things that stressed me out. Which is, that's what I love about her.
Scott Benner 41:19
Yeah, that's beautiful, man. That's exactly what she should be doing. She's letting you figure it out and helping you when you need help. I think that's really cool. It really is. And she gives you a lot of trust, which I bet is nice. Right?
Unknown Speaker 41:32
She does. Good for you.
Scott Benner 41:34
That's very cool. I, I can't tell you that I hear stories about other people. And some of their stories aren't as good as yours. So there's plenty of people listening who are older now. And they'll think by wish my mom was more involved when I was younger, or gave me space when I needed space and everything. And I think it's really amazing that you're so involved in it. Can I ask you Do you ever get sad about having diabetes?
Tommy 41:58
Sometimes I there's always ups and downs to having diabetes, there's always something that will pull you down, there's always something that will just let you up a little bit. There's always someone out there that will be like, Hey, you got this. You You can get through this. But diabetes can be tough for some people and diabetes can just die. I mean, the thing I try to do is just I you have to always remember about diabetes, because it's life or death situation. But diabetes, I just if I could I just feel like, hey, just leave me alone just by. But right now, right now there is some there's some things that I don't like about diabetes, which is like, you have to give yourself shots you have to worry about. It's just sometimes it's not the best but diabetes. Diabetes,
Scott Benner 42:55
yeah. Push that. I hear what you're saying. So it kind of is what it is. There's not a lot you can do about it. Sometimes stuff happens, they, you know, kind of lifts you up. And sometimes there's stuff that knocks you down, but you know, you can do it. You just sort of keep going right? Yeah, that's excellent. Man. That really is that is an absolutely great attitude to have, because it isn't going to be wonderful every day. And there are going to be days that are harder than others. But that's your situation and you need to make the best of it. Because it's not going to change right? Like it's not like you can't wish it away right there is no real Genie on the beach. It's going to come by and ask if you want to get rid of it. You know, so you just you just do the best you can it sounds like you're doing really fantastic I mean I'm completely impressed with your a one season your variability it's it's stunning. I mean, you're 11 you've only had it for a year you're really doing a great job What if I'm, if I asked you to give other people advice about how to keep their blood sugar's you know, where they want them to be. What do you think the the most? The most best? I almost said, say, Tommy, I'm trying. What do you think the best advice would be?
Tommy 44:02
So I hear what you're saying. But first of all, I I I always I always, always, always. I'm trying to get the word out there and I'm trying I'm trying so hard to um, help people with newly diagnosed diabetes, just like just giving them advice and stuff like that. So this is a perfect question asked me Okay. Um, like, like, so if you newly just got diagnosed with diabetes, there's, there's no, there's no wrong answer to diabetes. Like, if diabetes. If, if you think diabetes, the worst thing that could ever happen to you. It's, it's really not theirs. Diabetes is just another one of those things that it's just like, it's bad. It's not that bad, but you can push through it and you can always stay active with your diabetes and give yourself Give yourself the ups and downs. Like what I said, like what I said, like, you can always you can always just be the happiest about diabetes, but then there's some times that you can be diabetes, the worst, I hate diabetes, nothing else is gonna happen better to me. But you know what? That could be true. And but then the other thing you just said, diabetes, the best could be true too. There's no wrong answer to diabetes.
Scott Benner 45:29
So what's one good thing that's happened to you because of it,
Tommy 45:33
I mean, a lot you get, you get a lot of attention, you get a lot of attention. And then you also some things like you get, like, right now I'm skipping school because I kid to do diabetes. And then you get juice boxes, like sugar when you're low, like. And then I recently decided my diversity, um, diversity is your, like, when you got when you just got born, like, it's like a happy birthday, but for diabetes. Um, and then. So like, I recently just had it and it's like a second birthday. So you get two birthdays in one year. Congratulations.
Scott Benner 46:16
So Tommy, you're telling me that I get if I have diabetes, the way I can be thinking about it is I get an extra birthday every year, I get to skip days of work or school to go to the doctor. Right? People like around me and care. I can tell people care for me. And I see the love that other people have for me that I might not get to see in other situations. And I get snacks. Yeah, yeah, you've made it sound pretty good. You really have and, and tell people that it's not as bad as it seems. And you know, you just have to, you just have to keep going. I hear that. Okay, well, so where do you try to help people you said, it's important for you to try to help people in that you're trying really hard. What do you do that?
Tommy 46:55
I recently just started a social media page on Instagram. And I'm almost 200 followers in like, less than a week, which is amazing. I didn't, I didn't realize that I get this much. Um, and so I reached out to people with type one diabetes, saying, I haven't actually right here. So I say, um, I said, Hey, I'm a diabetic with the dream, blah, blah, barely pull it over here. I say, um, hey, so I'm a diabetic with a dream. And I, I dream, that one day, one day, diabetes will be no more. So I, I reach out to people saying, saying I asked them for a photo with their, and also with their glucose monitor and pumps, and stuff like that. And then what's what's you're able to see? And like, when did you get diagnosed? How long have you had diabetes for and then if you hear, I'll tell you what my Instagram pages, it's p, e, one D, all lowercase underscore power. Um, right now we're in at 797 followers, and I post things. My most recent post is of this boy of this boy named Dalton. And he is he's age seven. He was diagnosed of at 20 months old on on, on the 20 22nd of April. It will be six years now. And he he has a pump in GMC. I mean to CGM and he's been very confident with this type one diabetes. So I make people without Type One Diabetes more, like have more aware awareness what type one diabetes is. So um, so we can get the word out there that type B Type One Diabetes isn't just a disease. It's like a cool thing that other people have that. That's amazing. And you should you should like you should tell people about it. Tommy I'm
Scott Benner 49:05
looking at your page now. So you so I see what you're doing. You're having you're having other people with type one kind of share their pictures on your page and you're telling their story and everything and just trying to raise awareness for all these people. Is this you in the picture? At the waterfall?
Tommy 49:22
up the waterfall? Yes. That is me like a year ago?
Scott Benner 49:25
Yeah, go see. Yeah, I gotcha. All right. So listen, I want everyone listening who's on Instagram. Please go check out Tommy on Instagram. He's T one D underscore power. And give him a give him a follow. Say hello. All
Tommy 49:39
right. 98 followers right now. So
Scott Benner 49:40
good for you, man. That's really cool. I gotta tell you that stuff takes a long time to build up if you do it the right way. And it means more. If you if you do it the right way you don't like just try to get like clicks and likes out of you know, anything you can but but you're really trying to do something thing and I think that will, that will end up working out for you it really well. And I'm going to I'll share your, I'll share your stuff on my, on mine as well. I'm not the greatest at social media, I'm a little better at this podcast and I am a social media,
Unknown Speaker 50:13
now you're doing great.
Scott Benner 50:19
I have no idea why it's coming through my phone. And in my headphones, that sucks. I appreciate that. I, I appreciate that very much. I'm trying really hard to do just like what you're talking about. Like, I feel like I've found some ideas that would help people keep their blood sugar in the range that they're hoping for, give them some freedom that they might feel like they don't have, and I'm doing my best to spread the word about it. So I really appreciate what you're doing. I know how hard it is.
Tommy 50:48
Yeah. And I I really appreciate what you're doing to on with the, with the podcast and social media. It's just it. It's from my hopes up, like 100% like I feel great with diabetes a lot because because of what you did, and I really appreciate how how you've handled like with your podcasts and social media.
Scott Benner 51:13
Thank you. That is really kind of you. I think that's a it was very sweet of you to say thank you so much. I I am hoping that it continues to grow. It really is. And, and I'm hoping to reach more and more people. And you know, I say sometimes I get nice notes from people about how well they're doing. And they'll tell me that, you know, it has something to do with the podcast. And I just think that's amazing. I wish I could reach more people. And I just keep trying. So I can tell you that this past month, just ended. March just ended. It was the most downloaded month in the history of the podcast, just like the month before and the month before the month before. I think I'm up to like 18 months in a row where each month does better than the last one. And this in March, I had, I think 71% more downloads than I had in December and the ones I had in December. We're pretty amazing. So it's it's really going well. Yeah, I bet your your Instagram page will take off like that as well.
Unknown Speaker 52:15
Yeah, absolutely, man.
Scott Benner 52:16
All right, Tommy, I'm gonna let you go because you've got to get the rest of your day going here. He took off this whole day you need to do something cool. Please thank your mom for letting you Come on. And I will I will let you know as soon as this is gonna be on the podcast. Okay.
Tommy 52:32
Okay, you can you can either DM me or
Scott Benner 52:36
Thank you or not? I will I absolutely well might it might take it might take a couple months, but I absolutely will have it on Okay. Okay. All right. Keep in touch Tommy. All right.
Unknown Speaker 52:45
Okay, bye bye.
Unknown Speaker 52:50
What a nice kid.
Scott Benner 52:53
That's a first for us Tommy having a conversation while riding in the car coming home from his endo appointment. It's about the most diabetes meta thing you could imagine right? On a diabetes podcast on your way home from your endo. Thank you so much Tommy for being interested in being on the podcast and to his family for allowing him to come on please don't forget to check out his Instagram. Thank you also have Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes, you're good at dancing the number four diabetes.com my omnipod.com forward slash juice box or dexcom.com forward slash juice box. If you can't remember any of that. Those links are actually in your show notes right there in your podcast player or at Juicebox podcast.com. Keep your eyes open later this week, we're going to start a little bonus episode. We'll just be a few minutes long. It'll be Jenny Smith and I defining simple diabetes terms. You'd be surprised how many times I get notes from people who asked me What does Basal mean? What's an extended bolus. I don't understand what ketones are. Somewhere here I have a absolutely delightful note from someone who said I was doing MDI for six months before I knew it was called MDI. So some diabetes definitions coming your way. You'll see them start appearing your podcast feed this Friday, and they should go on every Friday, you know, till I run out of definitions. If you have a definition suggestion, send it to me. Anyway. You can I don't care, Facebook, Instagram messaging, email, through the blog, whatever you want to do. If you have a phrase or word or diabetes idea that you'd like to find, send it in Jenny and I'll see what we can do.
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