#742 Vocal Support

August 24, 2022Scott Benner

Suzanne has type 1 diabetes and was a back up singer for some famous acts.

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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 friends and welcome to episode 742 of the Juicebox Podcast

Never before has an episode had so much packed into one short hour. Suzanne's on the show today. And I'm not gonna tell you anything about her life except for this Suzanne sang backup for Billy Joel, Rod Stewart and other famous musical artists. Her stories about her life. Well, they fit right in with that. They are amazing. There are twists and turns in this one and surprises. Things you won't see coming. I certainly didn't. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. We're becoming bold with insulin. Don't forget t one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Go there. Take the survey, complete the survey help people living with type one diabetes, it's super simple. That's not take much time at all. You could do it right now from your phone, or your iPad or wherever your butt is then you have access to the internet p one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box. complete the survey. Do me a favor.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Omni pod five. Learn more about the Omni pod five Omni pod dash, and everything else on the pod has at Omni pod.com forward slash juice box you may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omni pod dash find out at the link. Speaking of links dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Speaking of maybe being eligible, you may be eligible for a free 10 day trial of the Dexcom G six. Find out more about my favorite cgm@dexcom.com forward slash juicebox.

Suzanne 2:09
My name is Suzanne and I live in Canada. And I'm sure you can tell by the accent. That's not where I'm from. I was born in the UK, in Cornwall in the very early 60s. But I didn't Yeah, I moved away from there. I haven't lived back at home for a very, very long time. And let's get going

Scott Benner 2:34
since the very early 60s. That's when I was born. Yeah. Is that is that your way of trying not to tell me that you're 60 years old or?

Suzanne 2:43
No, I am 60 years old. No. I'm delighted to be 60. Come on. That's quite an achievement. I've been a diabetic type one diabetic for 59 years.

Scott Benner 2:50
Wow. You were you were diagnosed at a year old.

Suzanne 2:54
I was diagnosed very young. Yes. Just just over a year old. Yeah, that's insane.

Scott Benner 2:58
In like night, honestly like 1961 ish. Like, right around? Yeah.

Suzanne 3:03
No. Yeah. A little bit later than that, actually. But yeah, yeah, I was diagnosed pretty early. Yeah, I was born in 19. In. I was born in 1962. I was diagnosed in 1963.

Scott Benner 3:14
I gotcha. Okay. That's me not realizing it's 2022 already. But Jesus.

Suzanne 3:22
I know which one of us is 60.

Scott Benner 3:25
Listen, I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but my knee is 75. If anybody if, let me just throw this out here at the beginning this if any of you have been really helped by the podcast, and you're an orthopedic surgeon in the northeast, could you call me? Something's wrong with my knee? But I digress. What do you have you Oh, my gosh, you're you're 60 Your parents are with us or No,

Suzanne 3:49
no, no, unfortunately, not. My father died, Gosh, 35 years ago, from a heart attack. And my mother passed away just a few years ago, but was in her late 80s.

Scott Benner 4:00
Wow. Good for her. That's a good long time. I take late 80s No problem. Did you ever talk about your diabetes with them as an adult? Did you ever look back on it with them?

Suzanne 4:14
Mmm hmm. No, not Not really. Um, my sisters used to bitch about it a lot because they reckon I got all the attention and all the care and all the rest of it but and think I was a spoiled brat because I'm the youngest of three. But no, I didn't might we just dealt with it. So it became a fact of life. Nobody ever thought about it. I don't think so when I went home when I went back to my mom's house. Mom just automatically did what she'd always done I suppose.

Scott Benner 4:48
So but you guys never sat down and had a heart to heart about it. Or you were like Mom, was this hard to raise a baby with diabetes? You just I mean your English you probably don't talk about feelings.

Suzanne 4:56
No, we don't talk about things like that because that would involve feelings. Um, no, I never did. I did talk to my oldest sister though, who is old enough, who is older than me enough that she looked after me a lot when I was little. And I did talk to her about it. And she remembers a lot more about things than I do. So when I was diagnosed, my parents were told that I'd be lucky to make my late 30s. And certainly don't expect me to live into my 40s that I'd never have children and I have to and that my life would be difficult. And it hasn't been it's been great for you, and continues to be great. Amazing.

Scott Benner 5:40
I don't see why it couldn't be just it's interesting to me that

Suzanne 5:43
well, even back in the day, though, I mean, we were boiling urine and testing so you were always learning what your sugars were like six hours ago. There was nothing I mean, there were no a one sees until I believe the mid 80s.

Scott Benner 5:59
Right. Do you remember what you would do with that information after you after you threw your your urine and witches pot and did whatever you did with it? Like what would what did you do with the information then?

Suzanne 6:09
You know what, I don't remember my insulin being adjusted at all when I was little. I don't my mum must have done it all. I do remember that. My pediatrician got me this special injector pen, which was like a little gum thing with a trigger on the side, really. But it was glass syringes and metal needles and everything had to be boiled all the time. And then my mum stored it in surgical spirit. And we use the same needle several times metal needles until you know it became dull. I guess when I scream loud enough mum changed it. No. I mean, she. I didn't. I do. One of the things I do remember though, is that my mother? I do remember my mother telling me that she practiced injecting herself because she was so afraid to inject a baby.

Scott Benner 6:59
Yeah, I know. That's scary. I've done that. And it's yeah, it's a big leap to make by the way, they still make the injection gun.

Suzanne 7:07
with it. Mine was different though. Mine was it didn't look like the ones that you see. Now. It was it held a very small glass syringe and the trigger was on the side of it. It was it was a very different looking thing. I've never seen one like it before or since but I remember it very clearly. And I probably used it until I was about 14 I started off on cow insulin change relatively quickly to pork insulin, and then didn't go on then went on to I think it was called Novo rapid and insular tard. Those are the Canadian names. I tend to remember the English ones better. No, Toronto, it was called Toronto here. Went on to Toronto and insula tide when I was 14. Okay. And my insolence didn't change again, until I was about 48. Wow. Yeah, I know. Right?

Scott Benner 8:10
Wow, you just use a pump in that time? Are you injecting me? I went onto

Suzanne 8:15
a pump a year ago.

Scott Benner 8:20
Wow, look at you. Yeah, like innovating.

Suzanne 8:24
And I started the libre two years ago now. And now I'm on the libre to my insurance company. Because I don't live in Britain. My anymore. My insurance company won't cover the Dexcom because I'm too well controlled.

Scott Benner 8:38
Well, you know, there's a thing called a letter of medical necessity you could get here in the United States. I don't know if it exists in Canada.

Suzanne 8:45
But I just you know what, I honestly just decided not to bother because I'm good as I am really. You know, I do pretty well, my a one sees around 565 5.6 5.8. So, you know, I'm not likely to tighten that up much more.

Scott Benner 9:02
So we've been in that kind of in that range.

Suzanne 9:06
I've been in that kind of range since I had my son 30 years ago.

Scott Benner 9:11
And so, your first job? Yes. Okay. So is it fair to say for the first 30 years you weren't that concerned? And then somebody told you you needed to do a certain thing to have a baby? Is that what got you there?

Suzanne 9:24
No, somebody told me you're pregnant. You really better look after yourself. Because I was always told that I wouldn't want to have children. So didn't really think too much about it until all of a sudden my husband and I were pregnant. Well, you know, mostly me. Let's be real. Yes, so I was terribly concerned about having an unhealthy baby. So I pulled my a one C's back at that time to be low five with no hypose That's the tightest control I've had was with when I've been pregnant with both my with both of my children,

Scott Benner 9:57
where were they prior to your pregnancy?

Suzanne 10:01
They were probably in the low sixes. And my son was born in 1991. So 81 C's were also very new, and I only have my a one C done once every year.

Scott Benner 10:16
Okay. In the low 60s, do you think you were having a lot of like low blood sugars? Or were you push your variability pretty straight forward?

Suzanne 10:24
No, I I've always had extremely good hypo warning. So I get to about 3.5 3.6. Sorry, I'm, I'm English and Canadian, I don't do your thing. The number of store that I get to a date, that kind of number. And I know and I instantly will take a few swigs of a coke or Sprite, or something like that. That's my quickest way to get out of a Hypo is to take some kind of fizzy pop usually.

Scott Benner 10:53
So around around a 60 blood sugar for us is what it comes down to. It's

Suzanne 10:58
okay. Yeah. And I'll just take a couple of swigs. And that'll usually level me out. Gotcha. Like it took a long time not to stuff my face to the point that my sugar levels were then through the roof, you know that that that panicky feeling?

Scott Benner 11:14
Yeah. Did you learn to overcome it or learn to ignore it?

Suzanne 11:19
Um, I guess I learned to ignore it. Because really, during pregnancy, because I learned to do the 15 grams, 15 minutes.

Scott Benner 11:31
Or you saying that the pregnancy really just gave you the determination or the will to do the things you probably knew you were supposed to be doing all along?

Suzanne 11:41
100%? Okay. 100%, and then the fact that I had children and needs to change my lifestyle, because I mean, I was, I was a touring musician. I was a total Wild Child.

Scott Benner 11:53
Yeah, I know, we were gonna get to that. So I see you grow up the entire time with diabetes? Not really. I'm assuming it didn't really take up much of your life. Right? Like you're shooting that that like that cow and that pork stuff. What are you shooting that like once or twice a day? Twice a day? Yep. Twice, right. And when you get up and mix,

Suzanne 12:14
a mix of fast acting and a low acting in the morning and a mix of a fast acting and a low acting in

Scott Benner 12:20
the evening, okay. And so other than that, it's not like you're testing it's not like you have access to data you just be living if you get dizzy. Eat something. If you don't get dizzy. It's a good day.

Suzanne 12:30
Yeah, if you're thirsty, you increase your your fast acting a little bit.

Scott Benner 12:34
Thirst makes you think high blood sugar.

Suzanne 12:37
Well, not not just for us, but that kind of dry, really dry mouth.

Scott Benner 12:42
Okay, yeah. So Oh, that's interesting. So you, you totally looked to physical cues.

Suzanne 12:49
I had no, I had no choice. Really. Even if you were if you were in the hospital, you could get a blood test. And it took a short period of time for it to come back. But I have never been in DKA my life once I was diagnosed.

Scott Benner 13:03
Did you live as a child thinking you weren't going to live very long? Did anyone? Nobody told me? No one ever said it to you?

Suzanne 13:11
No, I was an extraordinarily happy, very middle class child with a pony in a boat. Gotcha. Oh, no, it was it was idyllic. Honestly, truly, my childhood was idyllic. I don't remember any problems from it. I'm sure my poor mother was frantic. But I don't remember any problems.

Scott Benner 13:32
Will you have kids? I mean, you have kids? Are you doing my math? Right? Your children around 30 years old, right are a little older.

Suzanne 13:39
I have a son who is 30 who is just my second granddaughter was born yesterday.

Scott Benner 13:44
Congratulations. Thank you. And I have

Suzanne 13:47
a daughter who is 22 who has her own autoimmune disorder, but not diabetes. My daughter actually has ailleurs Danlos Syndrome. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, we should have stayed at the gene pool, frankly. But you know what you're gonna do? Yeah, so and she is an F II I groom with showjumpers.

Scott Benner 14:11
Okay, hold on a second. There are a lot of words there. I only understood some of them. But I want to I want to go back to

Suzanne 14:15
the Olympic. She's basically a groom for an Olympic show jumper.

Scott Benner 14:19
Oh, no kidding. Alright, so we'll figure this out in a second. But my my initial thing for bringing up your children was to say, can you imagine if you're if you thought your son was on a 30 year countdown to being dead? No. And you didn't know you couldn't tell him?

Suzanne 14:35
No, I cannot even begin to imagine that at all. I just and I know that it was things like that were a constant worry to my mother. I mean, at nine I actually contracted salmonella. And I was in the hospital for about three months. And I suspect my mother thought I was going to die then as well. Yes, I think my mother lived in a state of constant fear and it must have been all before, but she didn't show it. She was a really great loving, kind fun, Mum.

Scott Benner 15:08
Wow. I just wonder if she looked at you like, like a ticking bomb. You know what I mean?

Suzanne 15:14
She she did, I think until things got easier. Okay. But they let me fly, they really did let me fly. I mean, I used to go off for the day with my packet of sandwiches and ride my horse and go with my friends. And there were no cell phones, there was nothing and I know now that mum would drive her car to places where she knew she could see us from the distance and know that we were that I was safe. But I had no idea that that was happening. I just thought I was just like everybody else. I had no clue that I don't think I am any different. But I had no clue that my mother perceived me as being a walking zombie effectively.

Scott Benner 15:55
This is that that almost made me cry. When you said about your mom driving places and watching you from a distance. It got me. Yeah, yeah,

Suzanne 16:02
I'm just what moms do, right?

Scott Benner 16:03
Yeah, yeah, no, I know.

Suzanne 16:05
My mom was a pretty awesome mom.

Scott Benner 16:06
No kidding. She certainly was. And plus, they were probably like, I let her go. She's gonna be dead soon. Anyway.

Suzanne 16:13
There's possibly some of that involved, too, that you let your child enjoy what you think they can?

Scott Benner 16:20
Right. Yeah, that makes See, that's what I was initially wondering about. Like you're, you know, you're basically what you did with your life? Like, did you ended up being a wild child? Because maybe in the background, people were sort of like, yeah, just let Suzanne go. Don't matter. You know, like me, that was good. It was good for you.

Suzanne 16:39
I've never been, I was definitely wild, but I've never been stupid. I've never played my insulin, I've never forgotten to take the right amount of carbs for the insulin that I've injected. I am. So I'm an odd mix. I think of control freak and wild child.

Scott Benner 17:00
No, it's just I think it's wild pensioner trying to call yourself a child to get done talking to me and pick up a cane and walk away. I know how you feel. Yeah, right. But no, I mean, you know, I think that anybody who has a child will know this, that there's a moment when you you make a decision, right about like, How hard are you going to pull back on the reins and how much you're going to let go and in your heart, you want to just let them go? And then there's this fear in your head that thinks like, Oh, I'm gonna make them a heroin addict, if I don't give them some rules, right? Like you have some like wild concern. And then you'll pull back. And I wonder how much of that is valuable? And how much of it ends up being harmful? And how maybe it's sometimes not necessary for some people versus other children? And maybe you just got like, maybe you got the like, oops, let's go parents because they thought

Suzanne 18:00
Yeah, well, no, I do think I did. I think I got my Mum used did used to say that I raised you until you're old enough to know how to do it yourself.

Scott Benner 18:13
How old do you think you were when that was?

Suzanne 18:15
Well, I mean, I left I left home to go and tour at 15. But so was I old enough to know how to do it myself. I knew how to look after my diabetes, but I also knew right from wrong. Okay. And that was made very clear to us as children. I have never been smacked. I don't I've never smacked my children. And I have never been smacked. My mum was a reasoner. She would. She was a yeller, she would yell, but she was she would explain why you couldn't do it and why that was probably not the best idea. And if I wanted to survive, basically, this was what I had to do. And that was ingrained in me, I think.

Scott Benner 18:57
Okay. Well, that makes sense to me. So what makes you wait, you left when you were 15? To do what?

Suzanne 19:05
I went on tour with Krista Berg in 1977.

Scott Benner 19:08
How long did that last for?

Suzanne 19:12
On and off a couple of years. I've also tour with Rod Stewart, Elton John.

Scott Benner 19:16
Really? Like a backup singer?

Suzanne 19:20
Yeah, yeah. Started a tour with Billy Joel. But it didn't go very well for me. I quit that one. Um, I've been in musical theater. And then eventually I went back to school and now I have two doctorates. In what? I have a doctorate in advanced vocal production. I have a master's in jazz musicianship. And I have a doctorate in psychology.

Scott Benner 19:46
No kidding. Would you do something with those or you just show them off? To teach? That's lovely. Good for you. All right. Well, I I would be remiss if I didn't ask you a little bit about that life. So especially with diabetes, But yeah, I mean, but I'm drawn to first ask you why Billy Joel and you didn't get along. So let's, let's start there and work backwards.

Suzanne 20:11
Somebody got ahold of the bus key, the women's bus key, some guy and barged his way onto the bus. And I was furious about it. And nobody took me seriously. So I walked out.

Scott Benner 20:21
No kidding. What Tor was that? Do you remember?

Suzanne 20:25
Oh, gosh, that would have been in the early 80s,

Scott Benner 20:30
early 80s. So about Christie Brinkley time. Yes. Okay, maybe an old no and stuff that nobody else understands. I imagine there are just scads of people right now going Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel, what is he even talking about? Who is Billy Joel? First of all? Yeah,

Suzanne 20:48
who are these people talking about?

Scott Benner 20:50
I don't understand scenes from an Italian restaurant. What's this? No. Is that about the greatest job in the world being a backup singer? Or is it arduous? Is it repetitive? Or do you love it?

Suzanne 21:01
I loved it. I just I just love music. But no, I did love it because it was a different place. Every day you woke up in a different place every day kind of thing. It was. It was difficult as a diabetic because the hours are weird and wonderful. And you had to work your way around that. I also had some drug involvement, really, without almost knowing that I was taking it somebody gave me some pills to keep me awake. And that was that was a whole issue that developed that that changed things a lot for me and made me much more conscious of my health. But it was it was a good life, though. It was it was a lot of fun. It was a huge amount of fun. It was wild. And it was crazy. And it was it was who knew if it was Monday or Friday. It's It's Vegas, it must be Tuesday. It was It was wild. But it was some?

Scott Benner 22:00
I imagine. So how old were you when someone gave you? I'm assuming amphetamines and told you

Suzanne 22:06
17 Oh,

Scott Benner 22:08
and you just thought like, I mean, I mean, where I don't want to put words in your mouth. Did you think you were doing something a little wrong? Are we like, Oh, this is what people do? This is okay.

Suzanne 22:16
didn't have a clue. didn't have a clue?

Scott Benner 22:22
Did those? God I'm sorry.

Suzanne 22:24
I was just told I was offered these tablets and was told oh, this, you know, it's an upper keep your weight? And I'm like, Well, is this addictive? Is this going to be a problem? You know, I need to be aware of what I'm taking? No, no, no, everybody does it. So everybody did it.

Scott Benner 22:40
How long did you get stuck with that?

Suzanne 22:42
Um, about 80 months?

Scott Benner 22:45
Okay. How did that affect your diabetes?

Suzanne 22:51
Well, I don't know. Because I'm not great. What any, I didn't test during that time. You're not going to exactly be be collecting your urine and putting tablets into it. And because by that time, it was tablets, and then strips. I just didn't do it. I didn't.

Scott Benner 23:13
Okay. And do you have any health issues at this point?

Suzanne 23:17
Yes, I do. My kidneys are not great.

Scott Benner 23:21
Okay. Are they you're there watching them? I guess or Yes. Okay. Yes. They're watching them. Do you think you'll end up on dialysis at some point?

Suzanne 23:31
They don't think so. Because my kidneys have now been stable for seven years.

Scott Benner 23:35
Okay, so you found? Well, yeah, I mean, you pull it. It's interesting. You've got like a half and half life like You're like you're only 60. But you've got 30 years of probably not paying attention at all and 30 years of paying attention really strictly? Yes. Yeah. You probably just stopped whatever was about to go.

Suzanne 23:55
About to go. I probably caught it all just in time. Yeah. I also have visual issues, but it's nothing to do with diabetes. So it's just luck of the draw. Right. But diabetic wise, my eyes are good. Everything else is good. I have no peripheral neuropathy. Yeah, I'm actually pretty disgusted me healthy to be honest.

Scott Benner 24:22
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no good for you. There's a lot of people from back then that just that insulin seem to cover them. Well. You know,

Suzanne 29:11
yeah, we didn't eat sweets in the same way that kids do today, though. There wasn't when I was a kid certainly in the UK. I don't know. Obviously, I don't know much about America. But when I was in the UK, pop was pretty unusual. We didn't get sodas or juices very often. We drink milk or water really. And milk was a was a mealtime thing. Not a not a Oh, I think I'll grab a glass of milk. So I think our diet was really healthy.

Scott Benner 29:41
Yeah, that's interesting. It really is. Do you make any diet concessions now or do you just eat the way you eat and you use insulin?

Suzanne 29:49
Um, yes, I I'm I'm relatively low carb. Okay. I'm not zero carb and I don't restrict myself if I want something. I'll have it and I'll go through it.

Scott Benner 29:59
Right Okay. I'm sorry, I have a lot in my head from you there. So you have a big life. Hold on a second. Yeah, I do. Yeah. I want to go backwards a little bit. I mean, sure. How do you become a backup singer at 15?

Suzanne 30:15
Okay, so my aunt was the nepotism is the is the answer. My aunt was the head of the, the London School of Music was for many, many years and is a was a was a famous opera singer. Okay. So she was in the industry and the first person I toured with crystal Berg was somebody who requires backing singers who are quite good at singing in tune, because he will lose his pitch otherwise, and follow the about, you know, a backing singer who's not quite as accurate. And so I got volunteered voluntold to do some recording work. And it all went from there. No kidding. So, my whole family sang.

Scott Benner 31:08
How about your kids? Yes, everybody can sing. But that's, there's something I have actual jealousy about. I have a terrible singing voice. And

Suzanne 31:21
anyone can learn. It's just not always worth the effort.

Scott Benner 31:26
I'm not gonna shine quite bright enough that we're all think the juice was worth the squeeze. I think you're right. I think I'm just lucky to have a deep speaking voice to be perfectly honest.

Suzanne 31:37
Yeah, so you've got a very you got a very pleasant speaking voice.

Scott Benner 31:40
I get lucky there. So okay, so Chris de Burgh and then, like, like we're talking about, like, lady in red. Yes, I got the right person, right. Yes, yes. But I'm talking prior to Ligue one way, way earlier than that. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yes. I'm

Suzanne 31:58
talking Spanish train. Patricia, the stripper.

Scott Benner 32:01
And you're out there just every night. Just?

Suzanne 32:04
Yeah. Did you try to be super Trump?

Scott Benner 32:08
Are you really? Yeah, it's amazing. It really is. It's just wonderful.

Suzanne 32:13
And then to be Peter Frampton.

Scott Benner 32:16
No kidding. Yeah. And so if I said you, if not that I'm not going to do this. First of all, Susan, don't get worried. But if I started just spitting out songs, could you just start singing along to them? Probably. Yeah. But how long has it been since you've done it?

Suzanne 32:32
Since I don't want some onstage? Yes. Oh, gosh. Um, last thing I did was probably in the late 80s, early 90s. But I've never stopped singing. I still sing. I teach now. Right. And I'm an international judge for singing competitions.

Scott Benner 32:57
Are you really? Yeah. Okay. Did any of these people know you had diabetes while you were out on the road with them? Yes, everybody. You told them. Yeah. What was the reasoning behind telling them at that point? I had a hyper. Okay, so you were worried about a low but you didn't have that happen? Really? Did you ever have it happen on stage where you had to do something?

Suzanne 33:18
No, I didn't have any. I've never had. I never had a Hypo that that caused me to end up in the hospital. I never even had a hyper that pulled me off the stage. I have had hypose where I know I've needed something. But I've been able to get to the next break and run off stage and chug something and get back on again.

Scott Benner 33:41
Gotcha. Are there you'll forgive me because you're a lady. But are there massive amounts of indiscriminate sex during these things?

Suzanne 33:49
Huge amounts. Yes.

Scott Benner 33:53
Thank you for a good

Suzanne 33:54
time. Can I tell you sex and drugs and rock and roll?

Scott Benner 33:59
Did you meet your husband while doing this? Or afterwards?

Suzanne 34:02
I met my husband on the Royal Wedding Day Charles and die. So 1985 I met my husband

Scott Benner 34:11
in a pub watching it on television, or Yes,

Suzanne 34:14
he was he was it was his first job working as a barman. 1985 So we were no nice nice vibes when we got married and lying to you. The marriage. The wedding must have been a few years before that.

We got married in 1985 when I was 23. Yeah, we were 23. So we met before that though, a few couple of years before that on the royal wedding day, he overcharged me 10 Pence for a half pint of cider. And I argued with him until he finally said you can keep it and I said, I don't want it. It's daddy's and walked away. So he knew what he was getting into. I was

Scott Benner 34:54
gonna say he's like, You know what I would love to argue with this woman for a couple more decades. Let me get into this. By the way, do you think she's and that people right now, can't even hear the words coming out of our mouth because they're so impressed that I figured out that you met him in a pub because you said the royal wedding. Yeah. I really impressed myself for a second.

Suzanne 35:19
Actually, let's be real. It wasn't a public was a country club. Because again, daddy was a member.

Scott Benner 35:30
A bar had a nicer place. I see. Yeah. push bar. And, and at that point, you're a she got married a little later, huh?

Suzanne 35:38
Well, we got married. I mean, we were only 23. But yeah, we got married pretty quick. I guess. Really?

Scott Benner 35:43
Okay. Wow. And you're still so you're still performing at that point when you're married? Yeah. So you traveled without him? Yeah. Did the indiscriminate sex stop then?

Suzanne 35:57
Would anybody other than him? Yeah.

Scott Benner 36:01
Would it be great if I got you to admit to cheating on your husband? 30 years ago, just now on a podcast because later you'd be like, I don't know why I did that.

Suzanne 36:10
No, I've always been faithful to my husband. It's lovely.

Scott Benner 36:12
I just think what do you tell your kids? When they know this is what you've done for a living? Their assumptions got to be there that you lived a fairly wild life. Like, are you able to tell your kids like like when you're 16 year old goes out? Can you say to him like don't smoke weed? Like you can't do that. Right? Like you're

Suzanne 36:32
No, no, we just said make sure you're in company and be careful.

Scott Benner 36:36
Okay. Because that was your your experience with it. Was that it? Yeah.

Suzanne 36:40
Actually, I didn't I I've never been a smoker. So I haven't Yeah, I actually have an edibles. Yeah, different matter. But no, I've never smoked because I worried more about my voice I suppose that I did about my pancreas.

Scott Benner 36:57
What was big then? Was it acid?

Suzanne 37:00
Everything every cocaine, cocaine was the biggest thing on the music scene.

Scott Benner 37:04
Okay. Interesting. Who is your favorite person to perform with? Rod Stewart? Who's the best singer? Me is very, very diplomatic.

Suzanne 37:22
I don't know. It's very difficult to say. Probably the best musician was Billy Joel.

Scott Benner 37:27
Okay. But the rod store stuff is just fun to sing. I would imagine

Suzanne 37:31
he but he was just the loveliest man. He's just the loveliest guy. Okay, we would play football. Soccer backstage. Before we went on, and everybody would would have we would all gather together and do a pre concert warm up and and it was just a big family atmosphere. There was no it was much less bitchiness and, and, and drama on his tours.

Scott Benner 37:56
Don't say the name out loud. But in your head. Who's the most famous person you've been intimate with? You have it?

Suzanne 38:03
Yeah. Okay. That's all. Yeah. Oh, my 16th birthday. Really?

Scott Benner 38:09
You'll tell me when we're done. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Girls. Yeah, yeah, girls, too. Yeah. I mean, why not write in for a pen? Absolutely.

Suzanne 38:25
I have no, yeah, no, I don't. I don't. It's it's, I don't know. Everything was just fun. Everything was fun, and free and easy. And it was the I mean, you know, I guess we had the liberation of the people from the 60s that passed on through into the 70s and the early 80s. And then, things became a lot more careful after the AIDS epidemic began

Scott Benner 38:49
right now. I remember, I was not. I mean, I was a child still in school. But yeah, I remember how that like hearing adults talk about it. Like, there was a way the world used to work and it was over now. Was Was, was the vibe.

Suzanne 39:05
Yeah. And it and it brought out a lot more homophobia. And

Scott Benner 39:13
I think racism too, right. It got Yeah, it got it got focused on blacks, too. And it was I remember it being really terrible for

Suzanne 39:20
it's pretty nasty. Well, yeah.

Scott Benner 39:24
Well, at least he got him before then.

Suzanne 39:26
Yeah, exactly. Right. I have my phone.

Scott Benner 39:28
The worst thing that happens is what something that takes a little penicillin, something like that. Back never never for you. Good for you. Good for you. tells you I was never stupid. Yeah, that's wonderful. So I didn't realize we were going to do all this. This is so much fun. I don't even give diabetes IVs we'll get back to it. No, but somebody told me the other day. They were listening to an after dark episode with the stripper. And she's like, it was like 45 minutes into it. And I thought, does this girl have diabetes? And she's like, I don't even care. And then we just, you know, she just kept listening. I thought that was just a wonderful thing to say that that the podcast is, is is entertaining for reasons that that aren't. Yeah, right.

Suzanne 40:19
I mean, yeah, diabetes is just a part of who I am. But it's not a defining characteristic. Yeah, I'd be naked on stage too, because I was in here.

Scott Benner 40:27
You were inherent. You know who was here? Oh, God, who am I thinking of? He's a Canadian. He has diabetes. He's older than you. Why can't I think of his name? He's been on the podcast now. People are like, Come on Scott. Victor Garber. Oh, right. Yeah. Victor Garber was on like, in the first couple years of the show. He's Canadian. left home very early at a really early age to perform, actually, yeah. And when he had type one, your stories are pretty interestingly similar. What was he in? Which was what was that big show? He was in Hold on a second. I got this. I got the internet.

He was in the Toronto production. Of Godspell. Gods. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. That's what I was thinking. That's where he became famous first. Now young people are like great hair. Godspell. I don't know what any of this means. I know. Right? Yeah. But

Suzanne 41:36
I toured, I did tours Fantine in Les Mis before it went on to the Barbican in London.

Scott Benner 41:43
It was this more nepotism or by then had you like, really laid down? No,

Suzanne 41:47
I was known as being easy to work with, I think by then.

Scott Benner 41:52
If I Googled you, what would I find? You

Suzanne 41:55
know, because my stage name is not my real name. Okay. There are naked pictures of me out there. Scott. My children don't need to see that.

Scott Benner 42:03
I don't want to see those either. Not while I'm talking to you later, maybe later, but not now. We'll keep that for after the podcast as well. Well, I should start making it after the podcast list. I put an episode up recently were with a woman who was divorced. And she'd put up with a lot of things from her ex. And at the end, I said, Can I ask you a question? And then I'll and you can answer it. When the podcast is over. She was sure. And I said Did Did your ex husband just have a really big and then I just cut the audio off. But I never really finished the sentence. I just left it out there for people to wonder about. Because I couldn't understand why she was putting up with him otherwise, and and I'm trying to think of how to end the podcast with you. But I think you might say so many things. I won't be able to pick one. Is it? Do you feel younger now? Because of the experiences you've had in the past? Do you think?

Suzanne 42:58
Do I feel younger? When I get up in the morning, my body's not young my body creaks and cracks and moans and groans and I haven't placement yet, which is the youngest part of me. But my brain is no different. I don't feel any older. I wonder why people gave me all these responsibilities I have now I don't really understand where they came from. But I I think I am by nature. I'm very enthusiastic about everything. And I think that that keeps you young.

Scott Benner 43:30
Yeah, I mean, you can hear in your voice like you. You're You're telling me stories like you're 20 years old. And yes, yes. I feel the same way. I in my mind. I don't know how old I am. No, me

Suzanne 43:41
neither. But I'm certainly not 60 I walked towards a mirror and I'm like, Oh my God, there's my mother. And I'm like, oh, no, that's neat.

Scott Benner 43:50
I enjoy if I lay in bed in the same position too long, and then I decide to roll over I have to will myself to do it. That's my favorite part of being older so far. Like, my back getting stiff for just reasons that seem incomprehensible. You know? That's something else. So when did you so when you switched over to pumping? You're saying just a few years ago,

Suzanne 44:15
a year ago? A year and a half ago,

Scott Benner 44:18
I guess what made you do that?

Suzanne 44:20
Um, well, I was doing really well on in on the injections and I thought if it ain't broke, don't fix it as always been my kind of mentality. And then I thought but try it. So Alberta have a pump program where they pay for your pump. We have we have pretty good health care here. Um, a lot of things are covered, but a lot of things aren't covered so you have to pay for your own insulin and things like that. So I mean, you know, we've got insurance. It's not the best insurance in the world but it's pretty good but a bottle of insulin here of I use Nova rapid nine And a bottle of Nova rapid is like $35. Okay? So it's not nothing's terribly expensive. But I thought, yeah, I think I'm gonna try the pump. Now we have horses, so I ride horses. And so I didn't want tubing, I've got dogs and horses and grandchildren. And so I didn't want tubing. So I went for the Omnipod. Okay. And I also wasn't terribly interested in looping anyway, which is why I didn't go on to the depths calm, I am too much of a control freak to let a piece of computer technology managed my life for me.

Scott Benner 45:39
That's a fair statement, I would rebut by sending you Arden's last 12 hours on our graph. But

Suzanne 45:46
if I was a child, I think it would be very different than I think if I was younger, and I hadn't had all these years of thinking about my diabetes, these last 30 years of thinking about what everything is, I think it would be very different. But I don't know, that is such a large part of my daily existence that I was a little reluctant to give that up. Funnily enough, is it

Scott Benner 46:09
that you just do it now without having to think or that

Suzanne 46:13
I eat? Yes, I don't really think about it. I look at a plate of food, or I fight I think about what I'm cooking, and I go, Okay, I need this much insulin, 20 minutes before I eat it bang done. So I don't really think about it. But I also don't really want to give that control up. Do you know why? To do I just I think I'm a bit of a control freak. And I think if I didn't have that, I'd start over controlling everybody else.

Scott Benner 46:43
But the dogs would have to learn how to walk on their hind legs, because you'd be bored. Yeah, yeah, no, no, I take your point. Like, and I'm not. I'm certainly not saying you should or you shouldn't. I'm just interested in in why you say that. So

Suzanne 46:56
yeah. Am I against it, per se? No. And certainly, as I get older, and maybe if things start to get more difficult, I might look into it. But the the thing, the other thing is, it's almost a way to convince myself that I don't need a Dexcom I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. You know, it would be hard for me to get a Dexcom because I got a letter from a doctor, letter of medic or whatnot, you know, similar type of thing of the medical necessity. And Dexcom still refuse me I would my insurance companies still refuse me. And also, I would reach the maximum on my insurance payout pretty quickly. Okay, so exactly what I would do if the pump program here started to include CGM ins, I'm not sure. I think Libra is the best thing since sliced bread. So I probably love it. But I am not going to stress over any of it.

Scott Benner 47:50
Okay. Do you give a lot of time to thinking about when you're older? Like you're being able to see meters being able to like articulate with your hands and things like that? No. Okay.

Suzanne 48:05
Not really. I mean, occasionally, I do think, I mean, dementia is more common in in diabetics, right. So I do worry a little bit about that. But, but then I decide that that's a waste of my time, so I stopped worrying about it.

Scott Benner 48:22
So it's just gonna happen when it happens. And then you'll Yeah, I'm pretty optimistic by nature. Yeah. So you're gonna have to just adjust it and you're you are still married? Is that right? Yes. Yeah. Are you? Does he have much? You know, I asked him this question. I didn't know the answer to it. But I was gonna ask how much he helps you with your diabetes, but I'm guessing the answer is not at all.

Suzanne 48:44
Certainly not very much. No. I mean, he would if I asked him, and he's really good. If I may say to him, sugar levels are running low. And he'll go and grab me something if I'm doing something else. So he and there are a couple of times when I haven't necessarily pick it up and he'll go check your blood sugar and it will you so it's just a part of our life, but it's not something that he does know. Sometimes if I want to put my pump on my back, he puts it on for me. So yeah, seems like that.

Scott Benner 49:14
But you're on your own pretty much bite by choice. Yes. Okay. Would you mind if we pivoted to your daughter for a second? The light is the is it? How do they pronounce it? It airs.

Suzanne 49:28
Here's a news I think we say Ehlers in the UK and you say ailleurs, e h l e r s Danlos Syndrome.

Scott Benner 49:39
And that's a connective tissue issue, right? Yes, but mainly, mainly about skin.

Suzanne 49:46
No, hers isn't hers is vascular.

Scott Benner 49:50
Okay, how does that impact your life?

Suzanne 49:53
Um, she could die of an aortic aneurysm.

Scott Benner 49:56
So we can veins, arteries, that kind of stuff.

Suzanne 49:59
You Yes There go the dog sorry. Yes she could she we can veins are a part of it. She has a scan every six months to make sure that there are no bulges anywhere that needs to be treated.

Scott Benner 50:11
And is that what happens? They look for stuff and then they go reinforce it.

Suzanne 50:16
They'll look for stuff and then they'll if they can they'll they'll repair it.

Scott Benner 50:19
Has that happened to her yet? Not yet. Okay, how young was she

Suzanne 50:24
when you guys have permanent distribution does have constant dislocations?

Scott Benner 50:29
Her joints dislocate. Yeah, hypermobility? Yeah. How old was she when you figured this out about her?

Suzanne 50:36
She was diagnosed at 13. But we just thought she was clumsy because she was always hurting something and she got a lot of fractures, which we later come to find out or avulsion fractures because the tendon or the ligament have ripped off a little piece of the

Scott Benner 50:55
bone bone. Is that? I mean, you joked earlier about the gene pool. But is that stopping her from thinking about children?

Suzanne 51:06
She will not likely be able to have children naturally anyway, because of the weakness of the vessels. I doubt the uterus would die the baby or even Meredith would survive it. No, I don't think it's very likely.

Scott Benner 51:22
I say Is she married? No, no. She's

Suzanne 51:27
She's 22. And currently living her own wildlife is a groom.

Scott Benner 51:32
And you said groom so she was explained that to me is that she works in horses. Okay, so she's a she, she prepares them, grooms them keeps them how she rides as well. Yeah. Do you know, I know a man who does the dental work on horses?

Suzanne 51:47
I don't know, right? Yeah, we our horses get their teeth done every year.

Scott Benner 51:51
I don't know what it's called.

Suzanne 51:53
I just coined dentistry.

Scott Benner 51:56
So my son, you know, is a baseball player his whole life. And, you know, there's kids that you play with, and they come and go, and then they're back again. And so you know, eventually you meet people that you just see over and over again over decades. And one day, I was just talking to this guy who I'd known forever and I was like, what do you do for a living? He's like, I work on horses teeth. And I was like, why? I was. It was just endlessly fascinated by he files them and I'm like, how do you? You know? So now I'm like, he's a nice guy, but he's a real normal average guy. And

Suzanne 52:26
well, he'll be halfway up a horse's mind for the Black and Decker drill.

Scott Benner 52:30
I'm trying to figure out like, you know, did you Sorry, don't be so

Suzanne 52:39
hang on, give me a second your thing okay, they're gonna bark for that because someone's come to clean out the dog pen.

Scott Benner 53:00
Well, I'll say this and probably just trim out them barking later. So this this gentleman that I know like I asked him you know, what did you like go to school to learn this? You know? And it turns out it was a blue collar thing that he picked up. Like it was just a job that he worked with somebody else when he was younger, and he learned how to do it. He's no special degree or anything. And I thought oh, that's That's insane. It's very cool. He seems very happy doing it as well.

Suzanne 53:24
Oh, yeah. I mean, we use a vet. We don't use a dentist we use a vet but but I know people who do use an equine dentist

Scott Benner 53:34
you know we can wait a minute Susanna for one. So yeah, I'm really sorry. Don't be sorry.

Suzanne 53:39
Somebody comes on a Thursday. Normally they come in the afternoon.

Scott Benner 53:44
But not today. Thanks. Okay. Don't worry. We can chill out for a second. Your life seems lovely.

Suzanne 53:51
It is. My life is wonderful. My life has always been wonderful and continues to be wonderful. I am very very lucky.

Scott Benner 53:59
Were you able to pass this kind of free nature on to your kids?

Suzanne 54:03
One of them a little bit my son is much more like me. They're both an odd mix I suppose of myself and my husband my husband is is tends to be more serious and studious than I am

I'm just gonna go and shut them up okay

Scott Benner 54:24
don't like the lady. The lady looks pissed we'll stop well I was gonna say like your husband couldn't be like your you would not successfully have raised children or bought a home. So

Suzanne 54:36
this is this is true, although honest, I think is quite a he's quite optimistic too. But I am very much on the art side of things and he is an engineer chemical engineer who paints own artistic bent but he is much steady or I guess,

Scott Benner 55:01
yeah, Kelly's the one who's like more. Like, I don't know if serious is the right word, but she's very. She's studious. And yeah. And a hard worker. Like if you I don't care what kind of business you have you hire my wife, your lover. You know what I mean? Like she she works. She knows what she's supposed to do. She doesn't really well, she doesn't ask for help. She gets it done. She takes it seriously. Like, it's her own job. Like it's her own life that she's doing. You know, it's and, and I'm more like the one who's like, oh, it's nice out today, we should scrap all of our plans and do something that nice weather says to do? Yeah,

Suzanne 55:35
that's me. I'm very, I suppose spontaneous. Disorganized would be another way to call it. Name it. But But yeah, I think that we've complemented each other fairly well raising children. But, you know, if you want to know some more interesting facts about me, my husband actually is gay came out as gay 20 years ago, and him and his partner live in the basement of the house and I live in the upstairs of my house. Wait

Scott Benner 56:01
a minute. Wait, hold on. Okay. Really? Your children are obviously aware of this. Absolutely. Okay. And you. All right. Hold on. Do you date?

Suzanne 56:17
I have done Yes. I'm not dating currently. But I certainly have done in the past. Yes.

Scott Benner 56:24
That and so why did you guys decide to stay in the same house

Suzanne 56:29
is we still had a daughter to race together when we moved here. So we moved here from the UK. And everything was fine. And I thought everything in the garden was rosy. And we got here in the February. And in the end of March, I found out work out my husband was gay. And a week later, my daughter developed leukemia. So by the time I stopped to think about Alastair being gay, I had that initial oh my god, oh my God, oh, my God. And then the OH MY GOD moved on because my daughter was very, very sick. So by the time I stopped and thought about it all, we were still raising a child together. And he was doing him and I was really just raising the children at that point. And so we decided that he I am no longer in love with him, but I still love him. He is my best friend.

Scott Benner 57:28
So you weren't? Obviously you're not angry with him for feeling the way he feels. But it's it's shocking to you and you can't possibly

Suzanne 57:34
be angry at the way he feels because it's not the way he feels. It's who he is. Yeah, he can't choose this. It is the way he is genetically gay. It is in his makeup. And we had a great a great relationship up until he came out. We had a bit of a rocky road there for a little while. And now we are good again. So he is still my helpmeet.

Scott Benner 57:58
And I'm sorry, the Leukemia is the same daughter we were talking about earlier. In that that she she got through.

Suzanne 58:07
Yes, but only just we were told to pick. We were told to plan her funeral.

Scott Benner 58:13
No kidding. When she was just a couple years old. She was two and then again, free. Yeah. Oh my god. Sorry, no, don't be sorry.

Suzanne 58:27
Yeah, so she she was Yeah, so she she got through that and she's, she's a tough cookie. She really is a tough cookie. I imagine. She really really is. She's an incredible kid. She actually got into read Neurosciences at Calvary university, but decided that one her body would still support her. She wanted to run wild for a little while, and then she'll come back and go to university when her body starts to break down a bit more.

Scott Benner 58:56
Listen, you need to apologize for nothing except for waiting 54 minutes to bring up that your husband came out like that far into your marriage. The only thing you need to have all you should have what? When I said introduce yourself, you should have said, Hey, I'm Susanna. I have diabetes, and my husband came out. That's how that should have gone. But other than that, I'm good. Wow. And everyone should be proud of me. When Suzanne said she was busy raising the babies while Aleister was I thought raising penises but I did not say it out loud.

Suzanne 59:28
That's not true. He's a good dad. Wasn't and he is. He's an amazing dad and he's always been there for the children. But he has my daughter for a while called him the penny because he kept turning up in other men's pockets.

Scott Benner 59:42
Oh my goodness, you have a varied lifestyle. This is really something there's a book in you like you should be a movie or a mini

Suzanne 59:51
right? No one will believe it. Scott. I've said that many times before. If I wrote a book about my life, nobody would believe it. Yeah,

Scott Benner 59:57
that's true. I there's a portion Have my extended family that I once thought I should turn into a sitcom. And I just thought people would think it was ham fisted if I wrote it down, they just think like that's not people don't live like that. That's he's making this up. So

Suzanne 1:00:12
no, no, we genuinely sit around the dinner table never be burst into song because somebody said something. And I didn't know we're pretty. We're pretty crazy lot. So

Scott Benner 1:00:22
that's wonderful. I just because we're up on an hour. Is there anything I didn't ask you about that you wanted me to? I can't imagine there's something we left out. But if there is I want to know.

Suzanne 1:00:33
I don't think so. I guess I didn't talk much about diabetes, did I but it is a back. It's takes a backseat in my life. It's not front and foremost in my mind all the time. I am aware of it. It floats around in the back of my head all the time. Wherever I am, it is always and I will flat a panic if I don't have insulin and a blood testing kit with me.

Scott Benner 1:00:55
Okay, you're just you trained in a very modern way now.

Suzanne 1:01:00
Yes, but I Yes. So ever since I've been able to test my blood, which again, was about the 80s I believe. I have carried a blood glucose monitor of some sort, and testing strips and all the rest of it. And now I have the libre, which isn't a CGM. I realize that, but it's, but it's a similar type of technology, I suppose. And I have the pump. But I don't leave home without everything ready to replace it?

Scott Benner 1:01:33
Yeah. How did you find me? How are we talking?

Suzanne 1:01:38
How did I find you on the internet. Um, I actually I listened to a podcast. And I typed in on my apple podcast app thing. I typed in looking for things about diabetes, wondering if there was anything. And it was random at the time that I find out that my kidneys weren't doing quite as well. Um, that I started looking into various different forums, I suppose to begin with. And then I had pneumonia and my sugar levels were all over the place. And once I got rid of the pneumonia, I couldn't sort out my sugar levels again, I couldn't stabilize everything. And that was when I hit on the podcast, and the whole bowl with insulin thing and, you know, the whole everything sort of started to slop together. And I got back on track again.

Scott Benner 1:02:37
I'm glad. I mean, as you were talking earlier, like you said you didn't talk much about diabetes, but in my opinion, you did. I think, I think what we heard was, you know, you were diagnosed at a really young age before, you know, much treatment was really honestly available day to day. Yeah, that you went out you let an interesting, active life. You know, you met people had children got married, phallic rosin, was gay bought dogs rode horses. Like I think that's the kind of stuff people need to hear that you can do all that stuff with diabetes, like, there are plenty of people who are worried that not just you know, all of those things aren't possible. They think one of those things is impossible. So

Suzanne 1:03:18
hasn't stopped me doing anything I've wanted to do.

Scott Benner 1:03:21
Doesn't sound like it. But I just wondered, because, I mean, you sound like you're doing so well. Like I didn't imagine you would you would need like something like this. So, but you did find like the way I talked about diabetes to be valuable, kind of like straighten your back up again. You're saying?

Suzanne 1:03:39
Yeah, well, it got me back on track again. Because it's sometimes you do get, I suppose that's probably the closest I came to a diabetic burnout, which I hear about all the time. And I didn't think I'd ever had but looking back on it. Maybe I did, maybe this fighting constantly with blood sugar was was just getting exhausting. And I was like, it was like I was constantly correcting. Okay. And so that was when I thought about the whole thing and stuff and thinking about pumps and all the rest of it. And just thought, you know, yeah, I got a, I'm getting older. And so it's, I would say as I've got older, my diabetes has got a little more brittle. In a way. I think my responses are quicker and slower. So my responses to food are quicker. My responses to insulin are slower, maybe. So if I I am not particularly careful about what I eat, but if I step too far off that trail, I will pay for it. And I don't enjoy that feeling. I enjoy feeling well.

Scott Benner 1:04:46
Right. So what do you need to do now? Like are you Pre-Bolus ng longer?

Suzanne 1:04:52
Um, I use a lot of a you I always Pre-Bolus Anyway, but I use a lot of extended bonuses. Okay. Alright, um, yeah. And I, I didn't take a huge amount of insulin. I don't think I fill my pump every three days with 100 units.

Scott Benner 1:05:15
That's a I mean, that's 30 Some units a day. So yeah, yeah. I mean, what is that? What is your Basal like point seven?

Suzanne 1:05:25
Yeah, varies between point five, five at night to the highest is point eight first thing in the morning. Okay.

Scott Benner 1:05:32
Wow. All right sounds like you're doing great. I also don't think of it as using a lot of insulin or a little bit of insulin, I just think of it as using whatever amount of insulin you need. So

Suzanne 1:05:40
yeah, exactly. And I don't really care too much about about what I need. And if I'm sick, my insulin goes through the roof. I mean, I will literally use eight to 10 times more insulin. Gotcha. Okay, so if I, if I do get sick, I don't use the pump.

Scott Benner 1:05:56
Do you switch back? Yeah. Have you ever done what they call untethered? Like,

Suzanne 1:06:03
I, I've thought about it, but I don't need it. So. And I prefer, I suppose to what I what I what I do when I'm sick is actually I do leave, I leave the pump on. And I leave the pump running on what I've got as my sickness, basil, which is like two units an hour. And then I dose on top of that.

Scott Benner 1:06:27
It sounds like you've got a lot together. I was just surprised that you found me because I mean, not because your age, although it makes it a little more unlikely. But just because it didn't seem like you would have needed this. But it's really cool that it that you found it and that it was of any value to you at all. I'm

Suzanne 1:06:43
sure there's a difference between need and want. Okay, yeah. No. Like, it's nice to know there's a community out there. I don't have any friends who are type one diabetic at all. Gotcha. So I just, it's nice to know that you're not the only one because people don't understand me. Now. I'm sounding like, Oh my God. There we go. There we go. Everything is awful. And it isn't. But it is different. And it is a part of your life that you have to take care of. And sometimes it's nice to know somebody who understands the words hypo Bolus?

Scott Benner 1:07:20
No, I agree. I really do. I also think that's why like conversations like this one are some of my favorite because I think we both didn't speak about diabetes and only spoke about diabetes. Somebody asked me recently. I don't know, they the way they said it was like, you know, what, what's it like making a diabetes podcast? And I said, I don't really think of it is a diabetes podcast. I think of it as a podcast, where I mostly talk to people who have diabetes. And I don't Yeah, and I don't know that, that most people would see a difference in that, but I see a huge difference in

Suzanne 1:07:53
it. Yeah, so I am a diet. Like, I've always said, I am a diabetic, but it is not a defining characteristic,

Scott Benner 1:08:00
ya know, that's how I see this whole thing. So all right, well, I can't thank you enough for doing this. And for having such a great life and telling us about it. And being Yeah, you were demure in places you wouldn't say who the best thing or was, although I know someone popped in your head. And yeah, and I was demure and didn't ask you about the most famous person you had sex with, although I am going to stop this recording and ask you immediately. And then I'll spend my afternoon trying to find those nude pictures of you, and then I'll get on with my life. That'll be pretty much No, but seriously, I really appreciate you doing this and taking the time out of your day. It was it was

Suzanne 1:08:39
Thank you. I appreciate everything you do. You're out there for people. And it's a great thing, Scott. It's my pleasure.

Scott Benner 1:08:52
A huge thanks to Suzanne and Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor dexcom.com forward slash juice box Get started today. I also want to remind you to go to Omni pod.com forward slash juice box get started with automated insulin delivery with that on the pod five, or check out the Omni pod dash and see if you're eligible for a free 30 day trial. When you visit the sponsors, including Omni pod Dexcom, and all the rest, if you do it from juicebox podcast.com and use my links or use the links in your audio app. Well, then they know you came from me. And that really helps. So thank you. Many of the series within the podcasts a lot of the management stuff is located in your podcast player, right? But if you're looking for lists of them, or you'd like to be able to listen to them online, you can do that at juicebox podcast.com, or more specifically, diabetes pro tip.com. Since this is a shorter episode, I thought I would leave you with a couple of minutes I'm Susanna ly trying to get set up for the recording. I don't know why, but I found it delightful. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast

Okay, do you have headphones?

Suzanne 1:10:18
Um, I do somewhere. Um, I don't to be truthful I hate them though do I have to use them?

Scott Benner 1:10:25
Well if you hate them so here's the problem is that you're going to when you're just speaking into the end of your iPad, which is basically what you're doing you are you're going to change distances from the microphone without realizing it your your voice is going to get softer and louder. We're also going to hear room noise and the hollowness of your room which is not something you're accustomed to worrying about but I think about Yeah, can we try it to see what it sounds like?

Suzanne 1:10:55
Yes, hold on a moment because I have to find something

Scott Benner 1:10:57
you go ahead Thank you

Suzanne 1:11:51
Okay, so I find the box that should contain them

Scott Benner 1:11:56
that doesn't sound promising.

Suzanne 1:11:57
No, it doesn't does it? You okay wire but

Scott Benner 1:12:32
you didn't fall, did you?

Suzanne 1:12:36
You know what, I genuinely can't find them. Scott.

Scott Benner 1:12:38
That's okay. Well, we'll just show sorry. I'll be sorry. We'll get you close to it and be a little bit cognizant about not tapping your feet or moving around stuff like that. That's okay. Right. Okay. Yes, I'm not wasting your accent. We're doing this, don't you? Were

Suzanne 1:13:00
we talking about I've been in Canada for 20 years.

Scott Benner 1:13:03
Sure. You sound like Wayne Gretzky.

Oh my gosh. So here's how this goes right you introduce yourself anyway you want to be known. And don't feel pressure to use your last name. Don't feel pressure to say specific places where you live where you do things or use people's names if you don't want to, you know, if you're going to talk about someone in your life, you can refer to them as your mom or your partner. You don't have to say you know Jim and bill or whatever. So, you know, after that just introduce yourself and we'll start talking. Okay, are we ready? I'm always ready. I've been recording the whole time you've been bouncing around your room looking for those. I'm so sorry. My dogs don't bark. I have to tell right now all that's going at the end of the episode. You just buried with no explanation. It's just gonna run at the end. It's gonna go straight in there. Fair enough. I get it. Okay, so