#147 Out of the Mouths of Babes
Scott Benner
Emily knows something that you should know...
Sixteen year old Emily has had type 1 diabetes since she was twelve and she knows something that we all should understand.
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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
Thank you for being here on episode 147 of the Juicebox Podcast. The show is brought to you again today by Dexcom and Omni pod on the pod of course the tubeless insulin pump of choice, and Dexcom really the only choice and continuous glucose monitoring. In this episode, I'm going to be speaking with Emily. She's 16 years old and has had Type One Diabetes since she was 12. The conversations fantastic, but at some point, Emily's experience reveals how to avoid the fear of type one diabetes, you have to really just stick with the entire conversation, but she is going to almost by mistake, tell you the secret to not being afraid. There's a lot more that goes into this episode. But that to me was the real central focus of it. It turns out that what's intuitive to a 12 year old is probably the secret to not being afraid. Emily is the master of fear. That could be the title of this episode. Emily is the master of fear, Emily fear master fear Master, Emily,
Unknown Speaker 1:05
dun dun dun,
Scott Benner 1:06
I don't really have an option yet. As for the title, you can see I'm trying but it's not really coming to me. I'll get it. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before being bold with insulin. You do not have to consult a physician before going to Juicebox podcast.com and buying a boat with its own t shirt. Oh, I should call this episode out of the mouths of babes. Did it I came up with the title.
Emily 1:41
Hi. So I'm a obviously I'm a type one diabetic that lives in Toronto, Canada, and I was diagnosed in 2013. I'm 16 years old. I don't know there's
Unknown Speaker 1:55
it's weird to talk about yourself, isn't it? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 1:58
so odd.
Scott Benner 2:00
Well, what I was gonna say is that so you're so I'll help you tell you who you are. It'll be fun. Okay, so you're 16 right. And you were diagnosed? How long ago?
Unknown Speaker 2:09
- Okay.
Scott Benner 2:12
See, you're taking the math for me. I could have done it, but that's fine. And so 12 years old, so you're four years into it?
Unknown Speaker 2:19
Yeah. Okay.
Scott Benner 2:21
And would you consider yourself like a type one diabetes advocate.
Unknown Speaker 2:27
Um,
Emily 2:27
I try to be I'm not sure I set the best example. But you know,
Scott Benner 2:32
but but by that I don't even mean by being an example. I mean, like, Are you out in the public being open about your diabetes?
Unknown Speaker 2:39
Oh, yeah, totally.
Unknown Speaker 2:39
How do you do that? Um,
Emily 2:42
well, I'm usually like, the type of person that doesn't like, try to hide anything. Like if we're out for dinner or something. I'll just like stab myself. Like, right in the middle of like the dinner table or
Scott Benner 2:53
with a syringe or what do you do?
Unknown Speaker 2:56
Oh, I do. I am on injection. So okay.
Scott Benner 3:00
Yeah, I didn't know. You just had the salad fork in the restaurant.
Unknown Speaker 3:03
Like, yeah, yeah, stabbing away yourself.
Scott Benner 3:07
Do you have a CGM? Ah, yes,
Unknown Speaker 3:10
I do. I do have a.com.
Scott Benner 3:11
Okay, so you do Dexcom with MDI, that's really good. That's fun. That's gonna be fun to talk about. So. But what I'm talking about a little more, is this like, I see you like, if you said to me, Emily's on the pod, yes. I'd be like, Oh, isn't that blah, blah, blah from Instagram. So what's your Instagram handle?
Emily 3:30
Um, and so on to live.
Scott Benner 3:33
And so that to me is, that's really interesting. Because when it occurred to me, at some point to be out in the public and talking about living with diabetes. Uh huh. I didn't know what to do. Like, you know, and so it was so long ago that, you know, as I kind of filtered through the internet, I was like, I could start one of these blog things. And I didn't really even know what I was talking about.
Emily 3:57
Yeah, I like it. Because it's a great way to connect with other people and just kind of help people who don't know anything about it to kind of get familiarized and especially they're just diagnosed and feel like such a great way to I don't know, I just because that's what I I initially just searched like diabetes on Instagram. And it's just so nice. Because there's, you know, so many things you can relate to, and yeah,
Scott Benner 4:19
yeah, so wherever people are on on social media, that's where they look. Right? That's like you were on Instagram. Like you were. I don't know how old were you when you first did that?
Emily 4:31
Um, maybe, I don't know. Actually, I think my accounts pretty old. I think I did started like three years ago or something.
Scott Benner 4:37
Okay, so you're like 13 years old on Instagram? Probably, like a double tap and pictures and, and going crazy. Then one day you're like, Hi. I wonder if there's other people here with diabetes? Exactly what and now you have like, what I would consider to be like a pretty strong presence on Instagram. And it's interesting because I just it's like, I don't think of Instagram. That way. Go, I would like to I wish I was of the I was gonna say generation, but I don't think it's a generational thing. I just have the mindset to, to do that, like, and I it's like I thought to make a blog, you know what I mean? And are some people who thought to make a Tumblr and there are some people who thought too, you know, blah blah blah do this and do that and do other go on Facebook and talk about it in Twitter and, and it's just I think Instagram is just an incredibly I don't know that it's an impactful way, I guess because it's such a it's a quick hit. You don't really have to give too much of yourself to appreciate what the person's put up there. Or do um, to interact either. So do you actually, if you have Instagram friends, like people you would consider like friends that you only know through Instagram?
Emily 5:50
Yeah, totally. I have met a few people on influential is like, and not just people who live in the same country as I, which is really nice. And I have like answered questions like some people just like ask me questions and be like, Hey, I have this like, do you know what caused it? Or like, my doctor told me that I have like some people like for some reason their doctors don't explain like really simple things to them. And I'll be like, obviously, I'm not a doctor or anything. But like, diabetes is not something you caused on yourself. Like, but some people yeah, will will message me with like, the weirdest questions others like I've met and I'm friends with now. And that's really nice. Um, but yeah, I prefer it over I was thinking of doing a Tumblr or something like that. But Instagram is just such an like, it's such a popular thing now. And it's like, I feel like it's the most popular. I don't know,
Unknown Speaker 6:39
no, no, I
Scott Benner 6:40
agree with you. It's I, I am forever. slightly disappointed in myself that I can't do. I can't do better. And I always take it as I go. I'm like, Well, I'm not good at this. Like, you know, I'm, I'm in this situation where like, if I put something up on Instagram, my kid and he does incredibly well. For me. That could mean like, I don't know, 150 likes and my kids are like that. So sad. And I
Emily 7:06
know what save. I've got, like so many followers, and I only get so many likes, and I feel like and it's also the the amount of followers I'm getting, I feel like I've hit a peak amount, because now it's just slowly decreasing. But like, that's not what it's about, obviously.
Scott Benner 7:22
Let me ask you this, when you put something on, and I'm gonna go back to that, but when you put some when you put something up on Instagram that you see somebody finds really helpful. Yeah, and and you think, well, I did something today that actually like impacted people? Uh huh. Do you have the next thought? I wish more people would have seen it.
Emily 7:43
Kind of a lot of it also, like, isn't just to help other people, honestly, like some things are just to help myself like, I'll have a question. And I have, I'll have no idea what to do. And I'll put it on there and people will be totally helpful to me. So that's really nice to
Scott Benner 7:57
see. Now did that. Was that your intention in the beginning? Or was that just like a happy benefit that you found?
Emily 8:03
Um, actually, I think it was also a bit of an intention, because I did have some questions. So like, a, like, just, I don't know, questions that I come up with randomly that you can always necessarily find on Google. But no, I think it I guess it, I guess it is a benefit. Because mainly, I just wanted to connect with people and just help other people who are dealing with the same problems as I. So yes,
Scott Benner 8:23
it's really nice, because you've been doing it for a while now, obviously, and people and that's really cool. And it's helping you, which is pretty fantastic. I find the same thing with the podcast, and I say it a lot. But it's it was my intention to do something that would benefit somebody else. And now I think I might be the person benefiting from it the most. So it's really, I didn't intend that, obviously. But it's really strange that it worked out that way. But it makes sense. When you stop and think about it. It's, you've started a two way dialogue. And, and it's beneficial, like, you know, because you have a question you can ask if you have a statement, you can make it if you're like, Wow, look at this bizarre thing that happened, like people can say it. Tell me a little bit about being diagnosed when you were when you were younger? What because that was sort of if I'm not mistaken, I don't want to pry too much because you are 16 we did have to ask your parents permission for you to be on the podcast. But they were Canadian. So they're very, super, super nice about it. And, and but but So were you Mmm hmm. I never considered how to ask you this. When you were dying. You were diagnosed. Were you a lady already? Or not?
Unknown Speaker 9:38
Ah, not really. No. I,
Emily 9:42
I'm kind of an immature kid. So I was just like, I had no idea what was going on. And I'm one of those people that like if something's wrong, I just go like immediately into denial. Like just No, No, I'm fine. Like I broke I broke my arm at school when I was like in grade five and in the morning, and I was in pain and crying but I just The whole day at school and then went home and like, would stream to the hospital because I just was convinced I was fine. Yeah. So like, that's kind of like what happened, it was the end of my end of the year. Right? And I was just like, obviously, like drinking a lot of water and all that. But I was I didn't really think about it ever. And then it was the summertime and everything was okay. But I was still like, I remember I went to the movies. And I went to the bathroom like three times. But I like didn't think about it like you don't you don't necessarily like, I don't know, when your kid stuff just flies by and you don't pay attention. Um, but then what happened was I went away to stay with my grandparents, like four hours away or so by car. So I wasn't with my like, immediate family and everything was fine there. But my grandpa my grandpa had, like pre diabetes or whatever. And my grandma, like when when it's not your parents, sometimes, like people around you. Like, my grandparents noticed that I was drinking a lot of water. Whereas my parents necessarily didn't because they were just,
Unknown Speaker 11:06
I don't know. Like, for 13 years, Emily, they're sick of you. Yeah.
Emily 11:13
Well, they're not gonna pay attention to like the little things that make sense. And then so my grandma was like, one morning, she's checking your sugar. And she's like, here, Can I check yours? So it's like, Yeah, sure. Like, I don't mind. And so she checked it. And I wasn't even. I think it was like nine or something like it wasn't that bad. And compare this comparison to some. Oh, I say I forget but do you know how like, I don't
Scott Benner 11:38
know the conversion. I'm
Unknown Speaker 11:40
yeah, I'm
Scott Benner 11:41
but nine is around. What What do you think?
Unknown Speaker 11:45
I have no idea. That's your problem. Hold on. We've
Scott Benner 11:49
got the internet. And you know what I was always I always wonder. And Alaska, you said check your sugar. How come? You guys don't say check your maple syrup or something like that. All right, hold on a second. All right. Let's Google conversion.
Emily 12:04
Oh, I think there is probably some sort of tart or something like
Scott Benner 12:06
that. Yes, Lee. Okay. Yeah. I got it here. You guys are mm. Oh, well.
Emily 12:15
Yeah, I think so.
Scott Benner 12:19
Ha, I now hold no, I don't wait. I do. Hold on nine is about 165.
Unknown Speaker 12:31
Yeah.
Scott Benner 12:34
how excited I get a good now that when you blurt out a number, you'll just hear my voice in the background say a different number guide.
Emily 12:42
Okay, perfect. That's that's kind of hard, though. When I listen to like your podcasts when I see people post on Instagram. I never really like understand what they're actually saying. Because I'm like,
Scott Benner 12:51
you don't know if they're, if they're, if they're so yeah, they're like, I don't know how to get my blood sugar. Well, listen, I'm looking at the chart, the lower your number, the lower our number. Okay, so when Pete like this is the fourth edition includes blood glucose levels. So if I said my blood sugar is 90, which one actually ardens is right now. That's 5.0 for you.
Unknown Speaker 13:13
Oh, that's nice. Okay,
Scott Benner 13:14
so I'm gonna send you this. Okay. You can put on your Instagram and tell people look, when you're talking to me, please do the conversions for me. So I don't think so. So your grandmother is a doctor, obviously. Or, obviously, you live in some great named place like Saskatchewan tune or something like that. Or
Unknown Speaker 13:35
Ottawa, the capital.
Scott Benner 13:37
It's not that much fun. Whenever you whenever you come upon fun Canadian words, please use them out loud. But, but so your grandmother checks your blood sugar. it's higher than it should be. And she, Oh, okay. Then she acts. She acts like, I can't believe her parents didn't know. I knew those people didn't know.
Emily 13:57
What happened was, um, I was like, I was like, oh, nine like, it's probably fine. And my grandma was like, I don't know, that seems really high to me. And then I went on Google, like, oh, such like, okay, I went on Google and I was like, what's like a like, blood sugar rage cuz in my head. I was like, maybe there's a different blood sugar range for like, for kids than there are for like, you know, people or something people and kids, right? I got
Scott Benner 14:22
really, really might be the title of this episode. I'm not 100% sure, but old.
Emily 14:28
And so like, obviously, like I would do like diabetes Canada or jdrf or whatever it was that came up first. And it showed like I still remember like, there's that thermometer right? And there was like the red at the top the yellow in the middle and the green at the bottom. And so I saw my like, blood sugar's were like in like the red. But I I was still like in denial. Like, I was like, Yeah, I'm fine. Like, I feel fine. Like, anyways, I'm kind of mad at myself for like, not realizing sooner.
Scott Benner 14:56
You shouldn't be No, I mean, that's, you know, I guess You probably were looking right at it and chose to ignore. But, you know, listen to it three times a week, I'll text art. And I'll say, Hey, we have to test here. I'm not sure if I believe the CGM. And and her immediate responses, I feel fine. Yeah. And then I respond Arden, how you feel is not an indication of your blood sugar. We've talked about this, like a million times, it doesn't still stop her from saying it, you know, and think it's just a natural reaction. You don't? It is not people's inclination to imagine something's wrong. And I want to say this, because I think it'll make you feel better about what you did. Imagine living your entire life, under the assumption that everything was going wrong all the time. Oh, that's not how our brains are wired. If we thought like that, you'd never make it through walking across the room, let alone a day. Yeah, you know, like, you have to believe. Like, it has to be sort of burned in your wiring that things are going okay. Like, it's gonna be worried if I go outside a tree is not gonna fall on me. You know, you can't even wonder that once you start turning into a person who's like, God, if I go outside a trail fall on me, then you have a problem. So you were having a very normal reaction to something, I think, well, like for instance, I'm 46. And I still think one day I'm gonna get in great shape.
Unknown Speaker 16:14
That's never gonna
Scott Benner 16:16
do it never gonna happen. But that's not the point. The point is, is that every day I wake up, and I believe the best for myself, and sometimes that's really important, but go ahead, I'm sorry. So you ignore the numbers. And then,
Emily 16:28
um, so then my grandma called my other Grandma, my, my, my mom's side who had diabetes, and was like, like, hey, like, you know, Emily here has got like a high blood sugar, what should I do? So they actually gave her like a help home line, or something of that sort of, and I remember that my grandma like called the liner, I don't even remember what it what it was. But the person who was on the phone was like asking us all these questions and stuff. And then when we told her like, I was drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot, and like, that was my blood sugar. They were like, cold like immediately to the hospital.
Scott Benner 17:08
So in Canada, they have a phone line, like the butterball hotline, but for diabetes.
Emily 17:13
I don't know. I don't know. I guess that's what Well, I mean, that's what it was. But I don't know what the company was or what
Scott Benner 17:20
the butterball hotline is, by the way. Nope. It's butterball is a company that that produces turkeys. And oh, and around Thanksgiving, they put a hotline up that you can call and ask any question you want about cooking it. And it's a very, it's a free service. And I'm just thinking like, Is there like a diabetes hotline that I didn't know about?
Unknown Speaker 17:38
Did you call them that phone? Like,
Scott Benner 17:39
maybe you were talking to Batman like it's right. It's crazy. That you're 16 and everything I say to you, I think you're not gonna understand. But But you listen to the podcast, right? Yeah, so does my first of all, thank you. And and secondly, but so it's stuff do you constantly find references just like going by you are?
Unknown Speaker 18:02
No, I, I'm okay.
Scott Benner 18:04
As corny as I think I am. That's excellent. Good for me. Now you're on the phone with Batman or the butterball hotline, or wherever you are? And yeah, they're like, Hey, you have diabetes? Yeah. And then you go my arms not broken.
Unknown Speaker 18:18
Yeah, like I'm fine.
Emily 18:21
And then, no, it's actually this is kind of interesting, because then we just went to the hospital. And like, they checked us out and everything. And then I only stayed there for like, a couple hours. Like, my doctor spoke to me. And like, I had some nurses that spoke to me, they gave me insulin, and they were literally, like, just take this much every time you eat. Because what was happening was the next day, I was coming back to Toronto, and I was going to be transferred to that hospital. And so like, I didn't, I wasn't in the hospital for that long. I was in there for like half a day. And then I came out and then I like, had dinner and I took my own shot at my grandma's house. And then the next day, I came back home. And I was like, I remember like I was in the car. And I was like Oh mom look at all of this. And I just like open like my diabetes bag. There's all these like gadgets and stuff that like you know, my parents are like, okay, like, What is all this kind of thing? And then I come home and I like our parents order pizza for dinner and I just like pull up my insulin and like just take pizza for pizza but I didn't know like how much to take really cuz Yeah, well
Scott Benner 19:30
you cuz you were 13 and a doctor who in my mind I imagine is Wayne Gretzky gave you a couple of things and and just was like Yeah, like good luck kid. And and you were like, you really go where the puck is going not where it's been. And then you guys are like yeah, right on and you left and so so sorry. It Canada is like America, slightly colder and I'm acting like it's on the moon but it's still That's no fun to imagine.
Unknown Speaker 20:01
Mmm hmm. So are you saying
Scott Benner 20:03
your parents like flat out didn't know when you got home? They were just like, Hey, what's all that stuff? Or your grandmother must have called and said, Hey, I'm taking your daughter to the hospital, right?
Unknown Speaker 20:14
Oh, sorry. Yeah, that will go. Okay. No, that's okay. I
Scott Benner 20:16
just want to make sure she wasn't just like, look what we did with me while we were in when we went to the water. And we went to the movies, and we got her diabetes.
Emily 20:25
I actually my grandma was kind of like, I she was kind of, like, scared to tell my parents, right? Because it's such like a heavy like, fake. Like, well, obviously, the doctors called my parents and told them, but then my grandma, like, didn't tell him what, like, didn't talk to my parents after that for like a day or two. And I was like, Damn, I should probably tell them what's happening now. Just
Scott Benner 20:46
scared to talk to them. Or do you think that she was told she was like, everything will be fine? And or
Unknown Speaker 20:54
no idea
Scott Benner 20:56
that maybe she just didn't want to be the face of the news. Like the person who walked in the room and said, Hey, everybody whose kid doesn't have diabetes, raise your hand. And when your parents are putting their hand up, she's like, not so quick. And you're like, maybe she just didn't work. That's a hard thing to tell somebody. Yeah. You know, I always felt bad for the doctors in the emergency room. I actually remember feeling bad for the guy that told us like in the middle, in the middle of the night at 330. Actually, yesterday was Arden's 11th anniversary of our diagnosis. And we didn't even realize, Wow, we didn't realize until Facebook put up a memory thing. My wife's like, hey, do you notice that they aren't was diagnosed and like, I didn't even think of that. But back then it was 330 in the morning, we were like, exhausted, sitting in this like cold, unpleasant, like, oddly lit room. And I remember this guy coming in, and he looked like he wished he was anywhere but in that room with us. He didn't want to tell us, you know what I mean? And I always
Emily 21:57
always remember that face like,
Scott Benner 21:59
I could absolutely draw him he looks like the the right wing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And so yeah. He had dark hair. It was a little curly. He was about six feet tall. You know, like, like, he just I remember exactly what he looks like. And he wasn't even the guy who helped us afterwards. He just walked. He was just like the he was the specter of death doctor, he just walked in and was like, hey, oh, yeah, that's type one diabetes. He said her life's never gonna be the same. She's gonna need insulin to stay alive. And it Don't worry, it's gonna be okay. And I was like, Don't worry, it's gonna be okay. Doesn't sound like it goes with any of the other words you just used. But, okay. And But yeah, I can picture him right now. But but maybe your grandmother was just like, didn't want to be attached to it or didn't know how to say it or didn't want to be the one to say it? I don't. I don't know. It's interesting.
Emily 22:52
Yeah, um, yeah, but I like just so grateful that like, obviously she like realizes, like, of course, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Well,
Scott Benner 23:01
she cares about you not like your parents who didn't notice your opinions. But you know what, though, in your parents defense, it's like when you lose weight, or get your haircut and people you live with don't notice. And then you leave
Unknown Speaker 23:12
back? Exactly. Yeah.
Scott Benner 23:16
So now you're 13 in school? You know, is it hard? Like when you get on the dog sled in the morning to go to the building where they teach you on chalkboards? Is it? Like what's it like going to school with diabetes? When you're at the conclusion of this episode of the Juicebox Podcast, I would like you to go into the show notes, and click on the links for Dexcom and Omni pod and check out what they have to offer. Now, you might say, Scott, Why should I do that? The answer is I'm commanding you with my mind. I'm sending telepathic waves through your podcast that, and I'm imploring you to click on the links. Now. That's not actually why. The reason why is this, do you have the pleasure of owning a tubeless insulin pump, you are not going to completely understand what freedom is with Type One Diabetes. I talked about here all the time. But the ability to bump and nudge your blood sugar is so key. I know that some people want to say oh, I don't want to pay that much attention. I don't want to always be bumping and doing that. But do you know that it is so much simpler to put a tiny bit of insulin or make a change to your basal rate on a blood sugar of I don't know 120 diagonal up than it is to ignore that blood sugar until it gets to 200 and then you're suddenly fighting with it. I want your days to be full of just happiness, not fights. I want you to be able to make a small adjustment to your blood sugar in two seconds. That stops it from going up or from going down and not spend hours and hours embroiled in this battle with your blood sugar. I don't want you constantly worrying about your kids. I want things to be quick and simple in and out. Quick Hits. Oh, there's something to do. I did it. 35 seconds later, it's over and you don't have to think about it again. And two Not be tethered to something. I mean, that's just a bonus, honestly. But if you go to my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box, you fill out the tiniest bit of information, and on the pod would be thrilled to send you a no obligation, absolutely free demo pod that you can hold field touch try on and see what you think.
Emily 25:19
That's, it was kind of like, like I made sure like all my teachers knew I had diabetes, honestly, now, I'm just, I don't, because they don't understand it. And by the time I explained it all to them, it's like, it's kind of overwhelming for them. Sure. So I just tell them that like sometimes to get low blood sugars, and like the fact that I take insulin for low blood sugar won't even like make, like, they're not gonna understand anything. So I just tell them that sometimes to get low blood sugars night to eat something, but like, if I take insulin during class, they're not really like, wait, what are you doing? Cuz I told them I have diabetes. But yeah.
Scott Benner 25:55
Wow, that's interesting. So you could probably be a well functioning heroin addict. And they wouldn't even ask questions. You're like, that girl just introduced yourself once in a while. She said, yeah. So we're good with it. Yeah, exactly. And that's that again, Canada, people are so nice. And then do you have to, um, like, do you have your parents have to put like, like plans in place or like legal documents about your care? Or do you just basically say, this is what I'm doing? And
Emily 26:19
I have none of that. Yeah. Like I had to take my exams this summer. And I was like, actually kind of concerned that like, I could get a low blood sugar or something. So I went to my guidance. And I was like, hey, like, I just want like an extra 20 minutes or something if my blood sugar's go low. But they can even like, they really understand what I was talking about. They legit gave me like two extra hours. I'm like, Oh, my exam.
Scott Benner 26:42
You're gonna be in the Canadian Harvard, or the real Harvard by law? Or? So that's so it's just not as, huh? It's not is like, fussy.
Emily 26:56
or anything, either? I don't know. I keep hearing about that. So we don't have that you've
Unknown Speaker 27:01
never had a school nurse? No, no, no. And so how
Scott Benner 27:04
do you consider your son? And this is something you don't have to talk about? If you don't I tell everybody. You don't have to feel pressured to like, give away your own secrets. But do you have? Do you feel like you're a one C is where you want it to be? Is your blood sugar's during the day? Are you happy with them? Or is it one of those things where sometimes people are like, well, I'm at school, there's nothing I can do about it. Or you find your days ago,
Emily 27:29
as school is actually like my best time for blood sugars, because it's a routine that set so it's like, I wake up, I pretty much like usually have the same thing for breakfast. So you can really get it down. Yep. But then what happens is over the summer, like it's a completely new routine, like I'm not waking up at 8am and waking up at like 10. And by then, like your hormones have already kicked in, or whatever. So it's like a completely different beginning already. So I've had a bit of I've definitely had some harder time controlling it at home in the summertime. But it's cool. It's really not that bad. Yeah. It's the rich,
Scott Benner 28:03
it was. So this is interesting. I just realized that there's this great advice I give to people I talk to. And by the way, it's not really advice, Emily, why is that? Because nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast is advice, medical or otherwise, but but it's this thing I say to people, when I talk to them privately, then I realize I've never said on the podcast, but you just made this great point. And I just said it to somebody a few days ago, I gave them kind of like these sort of new tools to try to try to get things under control a little bit. And I said, it's the weekend coming. That's it's great that it's the weekend. And they said, why I said, well, because I want you to do something that's gonna sound ridiculous, and really boring. But on Saturday and Sunday, I want you to make the same exact thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner on both days. And they're like, why? And I'm like, well, because you can take a shot at it right? You can say, Okay, I think it's gonna be this much and it takes this much pre balls. And then you'll find out what happens, you were still high afterwards or not as high as you usually are low or whatever. And then the next day, without any outside interference from food changes, you can make a different decision based on the information from the day before, and then see where it goes. I said if you if you take out the variability of the different foods, it's one less thing to worry about while you're trying to figure out the insulin timing. And I just think that's like, it's the simplest, like advice in the world. But I then tell them the same thing you just said, which is I love it when schools in session because it's so regimented, she gets up at the same time, eats at times, like you know, as active at the same time. It's so easy when you take away some of the variability. So yeah, so you find the same thing then at school is easier than summertime, or something like that. You know, there's one at 12 months there.
Emily 29:54
It's actually quite nice actually this like we've had quite a warm summer
Scott Benner 29:58
or point seven months. See if you use the conversion chart here from 12. Sorry.
Emily 30:04
Um, but no like in Toronto, it doesn't really snow that like it snows, but it doesn't snow, like five feet or whatever. Like it was in Ottawa or something.
Scott Benner 30:14
But one of the real big cities like in the middle of
Unknown Speaker 30:17
a glacier. Yeah, exactly.
Scott Benner 30:20
Okay, so school is pretty, it's pretty easy. But how was it back then when you were 13? You were just like, what did you do? We just like, Hey, I'll take this needle and give myself about this much insulin or how did it?
Emily 30:32
Well, like obviously, when I came back home that summer, like, we when I got transferred to the new hospital the whole time. They kind of took me into like a step by step process, like taught me everything again, from scratch. And then to I did figure out obviously, my like insulin to carb ratios and stuff like that.
Scott Benner 30:54
Yeah. And would you say it's your experience, and for all the people that you see online, who are sort of parents like wringing their hands, like I can't send that kid to school, unless he hasn't been, let's say, as a tank made out of insulin, and there's 16 nurses one on each corner of the hallway. And, and someone's gonna have to be with them constantly. And like, would you say to them, hey, none of that ever happened for me, and I was fine. There's been some talk recently about a new product, and people are calling it a CGM, a continuous glucose monitor, but it is not. It is not a continuous glucose monitor. It's a glucose monitor that you have to hold something to, for it to show you your blood sugar. That doesn't give you an alarm. That doesn't tell you Oh, my God, my blood sugar's falling. It's rising. It's that's, that's not the same thing as the Dexcom. Oh, I'm upset. But I'm gonna calm down for the next combat. continuous glucose monitoring. You listen to this podcast, you understand what it does, you know how important it is? I really shouldn't have to say anything else, I should stop right now just tell you dexcom.com Ford slash juicebox. Go find out more. But I won't, I'll give you a little more. There is a world where your child can be at school, or on a playground or in a park, or at a friend's house or to sleep over where you can see their blood sugar in real time. Going up going down? How fast is this a crazy spike? Do I need insulin? Can I wait a second, all of this information comes from your dexcom continuous glucose monitor. And with that feedback, you can make decisions that directly affect your health and your happiness and just how good your day goes. You know, if I test my blood sugar with a regular meter, I say Oh, it's 80. I don't know if it's 80. It's falling, or it's 80. And it's stable. There's a huge difference. Dexcom tells you you're at a stable, your 80 is actually drifting up your abs drifting down, your ad is falling fast. These decisions that we talked about here every day, they come from the data that comes from the Dexcom. And you can have one too, just by going to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box and finding out more.
Do you remember at the beginning of the podcast where I was talking about how Emily is sort of gonna just magically tell you how not to be afraid. Just listen to this?
Unknown Speaker 33:14
Ah, yeah, not
Emily 33:15
Yeah, it doesn't. Yeah, it's not that bad. What I did what I did do that, like I really like, like, my mom literally bought me like a box of those mini juice boxes. And I put it at like the top of my locker shelf. And so if I didn't have like, if I didn't bring juice with me to school, or if I didn't have something to eat when I was little, I could just go to my locker and I had this huge box of stock juice boxes,
Scott Benner 33:40
and you ever, ever have a bad low at school? Um,
Emily 33:46
yeah, actually, I had? Well, first I want to say that I had a teacher who was really funny. And he would say that every time I was low to ask him for a Mars bar, he just had like a whole bunch of them in his desk. But all the other students would never understand. Like, why was I asking my teacher for a Mars bar, just like randomly during class. And like he wouldn't give them any other students. It was kind of just a joke between like the students and the teacher and stuff. And so that was really nice until my mom told the teacher like, hey, okay, she has juice you don't have to give her a Mars bar. So
Scott Benner 34:20
this teacher with a Mars bar problem who was using your diabetes as a as an excuse to keep a bunch of Mars bars on his desk is what I'm hearing but it's but how you said you had a bad low How long were you unable to help yourself or not? Okay, well,
Emily 34:35
it wasn't more it wasn't as much of a bad low was it was just a bad timing. I was doing a musical for school. And I was just about to go on stage and I had a horrible like, I was getting really low. And so what happened was I didn't have juice on me because you know, I don't know why, but I know do you saw me so I had to like go back to my locker. But they had to like pause the Musical for me.
Unknown Speaker 35:02
My locker. My
Scott Benner 35:06
Hello, Dolly. Oh, everybody, just one second. Exactly. And so it wasn't bad like you weren't incapacitated, it was just really horribly time. So what I'm assuming is now as you're speaking, once this, you know gets released is just a ton of Facebook support groups or parents are shutting down because they're just like, oh, apparently we're worried about a lot of stuff for nothing. I will tell you that. I never, I never do this because I don't want to make people feel badly. But you know, there's a big you know, when school starts again, you see a lot of moms are like, okay, here's the supplies we're sending. And it looks like, it looks like a military drop. Like, you know, I mean, like, there's like giant skids of things wrapped in like, like Saran that's gonna have to parachuted into the people on the front lines, it gets so much stuff. And when we, when Arden starts school back up in a couple of weeks, we take her nurse, this is so funny, we take her a brick of juice boxes. Yeah, an omni pod, just one. And I give her a ketone meter because that I actually want to be in the building. Right? That's a thing. Yes, I have a meter a blood ketone meter, it's so great. You just you just be I don't know, it's just test your blood sugar accepted. Your ketones is that I'll I'll put a link in the show notes too. And I'll send it to you so you can see what it is. But so it's these three things. And we bring them in. And I'm like, I only do it to make the nurse feel better. And then at the end of the year, I go back, we throw out the juice boxes, and I take the pot back and I give her like give her glucagon too, because that makes her feel good. And I'm like, here's a you know, here's a glucagon and a pump. Now that I put the extra pump there in case Arden ever needs to change, and I bring a pump that somehow fails. And so we have an extra one. But in my heart, I don't really want to give her anything. Oh, as Arden since Arden is going to go into eighth grade this year. She's 13. And she has not been to the nurse for diabetes since second grade. Wow. Yeah. So I don't. So when I see everybody with their stuff.
Unknown Speaker 37:19
Excuse me, I
Scott Benner 37:19
don't want to make them feel badly. So I'm not like, Hey, here's our stuff to go this year. It's a glucose thing. But at the same time, I'm like, Wow, you've sent enough stuff into keep seven kids with diabetes. Like, like if they had a problem every day. And and I do know, but I understand the anxiety. Yeah, because I had it. I had it too. But your parents didn't have it? Did they not know enough about it to be anxious? Or were they just super Zen people? Or?
Emily 37:48
No, no, actually, I think I want to say I think it's kind of bold, like cuz I yeah, I think it's kind of both but um, yeah, I just have juice boxes in my locker. And what's nice is there actually, there's actually like two or three other diabetic students in my school. And one of them was in my grade. So like, obviously, I keep spare needles, test strips meter on my Walker. Yeah. But if I ever needed anything, like there was one time last year, I had, I didn't have enough infant pine needles, because I just want to rush in the morning. And I didn't bring an extra one with me. Um, and I was like, frantically trying to find him before lunch. But I could just like get an extra needle. But that's really nice that there are students in the school who have diabetes, so we just kind of like,
Scott Benner 38:36
do you have your own needle, give your own needle share program? And? Well, I just think if what you're saying is, is wonderful, and it's fascinating at the same time, and I think there are probably and I want to talk to the people right now who are like, God, am I overreacting? Probably not, but probably a little bit and just know that right now in the back of Emily's head. She's thinking to my parents not care about me. And why? Why are they not sending a bunch of stuff to school with me? They're just like, go get them killer. Go where the pucks going, and you're like, right on, and then that's the end of it. But that's really it's really cool, though. So at home, did they not have very much? Like, how much interaction did you do your parents have with your diabetes?
Emily 39:24
Um, well, initially, it was like, my mom was helping me like every dose and stuff like that was like, literally like the first week or like two month I was diagnosed. But then like, after that, I was like, Okay, this isn't that bad. And so I kind of you know, and then when you start have to adjusting insulin doses and stuff, I kind of got it. I think I jumped ahead of her a little bit, and just kind of started doing it on my own and then and I don't know, and there's just a lot to keep up with. If you're not someone who has it. It's a lot. It's hard to understand every little thing about it. And it's like I kind of already did. So I'd have to explain things to her and she it kind of looked like like I was taking care of it myself. So she kind of let off a little bit and
Scott Benner 40:04
so while you were doing this and I do want to if you don't want to tell me you don't have to but while you're doing all this like how was your anyone say?
Emily 40:10
Oh, it was actually really good my a once you right now is seven which is the highest it's ever been. It was like sitting in like the six or something. I think my agency went up this time around because of exams I was just like stressed like crazy this year for like, a couple weeks so
Scott Benner 40:27
and so. Okay, so let's everybody take a deep breath here because well no, no, no I'm, I'm thinking about the people are listening are like how is a 16 year old doing so much better at this than I am? Because I'm starting to hate you a little bit as you're talking. And and
Unknown Speaker 40:43
no, I have no idea what I'm doing. She's just like, and it's working.
Emily 40:51
Well, I think I was honeymooning for such a long time to okay, but I literally like have like a cinnamon bond and like juice and like take like three units of insulin and be fine. Like that's when I was like the first year or two I was diagnosed like, I'm like my I go back to see my doctor and he'd be like, yep, you're still honeymooning. So I that really helped. Like I was planning but now you have
Scott Benner 41:13
you been Dexcom CGM. Now how long have you had one?
Emily 41:16
Ah, actually, like less than six months?
Scott Benner 41:18
I think. Okay. And in Canada, you can't just buy them the way we get them. Like, you have to go to Tim Hortons or something. Right?
Emily 41:25
No, like, no, the only difference is there's just no insurance.
Scott Benner 41:28
Okay, so you have to pay tax. Wow. That's crazy. And yeah. How many loons is that? I'm just kidding.
Emily 41:37
I don't know. I don't know the exact price right now.
Scott Benner 41:41
But it's expensive. Yeah, no. Okay. So you've had it for six months. So let me Let's know, we've got a good feeling for that. You're just like being here. Some insol have a cinnamon bun. No, I don't have a needle. I'll ask a friend at school. It's all good.
Emily 41:54
And and so I'm sorry, sorry. I'll have a nymo bar away. And then nymo bar.
Scott Benner 41:59
Okay, that's not something we know about.
Unknown Speaker 42:02
dessert.
Unknown Speaker 42:02
So there you go.
Scott Benner 42:04
Do you know what a maple long john is? No. interest, I'll
Unknown Speaker 42:08
have a jug of maple
Scott Benner 42:09
syrup. Just a jug of it. Just say I'm low. I'm gonna lick this tree. So. So you now you've had a dexcom for six months. So now you can really see. You can see what's happening. It's not just like, Hey, I ate something. I gave myself insulin. And however many hours later when I tested again, my blood sugar was kind of where I wanted it to be. I'm good. So when you first got it, what's the first thing that struck you about your management that because you must have something must have happened that you thought, wow, I'm doing great or Geez, I have to change this?
Emily 42:40
Um, no, I think my insulin sensitivity was just really good. And like because I was honeymooning, like, initially, it was just super easy. Like, I was like people struggling with diabetes and high blood sugars. What are you talking about?
Scott Benner 42:52
Yeah, you're doing, obviously just
Emily 42:56
do it. And then no, after I kind of got out of the honeymoon period, I was obviously still dealing with it on my like, mostly on my own, which I was like, which is fine. I like I like doing, like being independent with it. And sure. But then it started to get kind of tricky. And then we switched to an insulin pump. And that was really nice. That kind of calmed down a little bit. Because, you know, if you if you didn't take the full amount of insulin for a meal, and you have to like keep correcting or adding or whatever having 10s was really hard for that,
Scott Benner 43:26
right? Because you just have to keep sticking yourself. So So yeah, we have a pump now now.
Emily 43:31
Now I don't have a pump anymore. What happened?
Unknown Speaker 43:34
Well,
Emily 43:36
my reason for that is that I got into running and jogging or whatever, just to kind of pull down those blood sugars. And it's just a really nice, like, stress relieving thing. And I really enjoy it and having an insulin pump on me was really difficult. When you're running. It's like every thought like you feel your insulin pump like on your hip. Right. So
Scott Benner 43:54
what kind of pump are you using?
Emily 43:56
I was using an animus. I honestly don't even remember the name. I haven't looked at my pump in like a year. So
Scott Benner 44:03
this is interesting. So you had a pump that you enjoyed, because it was keeping you from having to give yourself as many injections as you want as you needed to to be kind of aggressive with your blood sugar. But because of running, you stop using it went back to pens.
Emily 44:16
Yeah, okay. And I've, I've actually had, like, I haven't minded using pens at all, it's been pretty, like, it's just like, I think of going back to a pump every once in a while. But then I think about running or exercising with my insulin pump on and I just it's not worth it. In fact, we're kind of out right now.
Scott Benner 44:35
Do you not have do you have on the pod in Canada? You do, right?
Unknown Speaker 44:39
Yeah, we do.
Scott Benner 44:40
And so that not having a controller thing. Feel like something you could want to try it or no?
Emily 44:49
I thought about it, actually. Yeah, it's just what the problem was. I have my old insulin pump sitting sitting in my bedroom right now.
Scott Benner 44:57
So I've got some pumps. You're like, I have I'm on fancy. But so I'm not trying to. I talked around a little bit because I don't I want to make it sound like I'm like, Hey, you know, on the pod sponsors this pocket. Yeah, you should really try. There's like that. But but at the same time, I am interested because there was a benefit there that you had with the ping that I'm assuming he was being hit with the animals. You really like that? I'm assuming you still missed that benefit of being able to kind of not do that. But you made a choice. Obviously, one thing was more important than the other. But what if there wasn't a choice to be made? If would you want it back if that didn't exist?
Emily 45:36
Um, maybe it's just also infusion sets are really uncomfortable more than, like, dexcom sensor things or whatever they're called, aren't that painful at all. Like, when you put them in, it can hurt but other than that, like it doesn't hurt whereas fusion such do hurt. I find you
Scott Benner 45:53
didn't like it. So now, I will tell you that. I think that anybody, people who have been around diabetes longer would probably tell you that every infusion for that feels different. I guess, if the one you got that wasn't comfortable. I would. I'd be thinking about that too. Actually. I was hoping I'd be like, you know what, that hurt? So we're not doing the point. Yeah. Okay. So that is very interesting. So you so you're still being so you listen to the podcast? Like do you employ any of the things we talked about? Do you give yourself insulin before meals or do you?
Unknown Speaker 46:23
Um, yeah, something?
Scott Benner 46:24
How do you manage a meal?
Emily 46:27
Ah, okay. Well, so I am like, I don't eat, eat. So I do eat a lot more carbs. And like, the average person does I think
Unknown Speaker 46:36
don't eat. You're saying, Yeah,
Emily 46:39
I'm vegan. Okay, so, um, so for a meal, for example, I'll have like, around 30 to 60 carbs on average. Um, and I like people to sing like that was something I didn't take seriously until you mentioned it until I heard your podcast and I was like, Yeah, I really should get on board with that. And so people listening really helps. I'm excited to like go back to school. Really try that because that wasn't something I did throughout the school year. Another thing that really So yeah, I usually tell people my meal, and yeah, I usually guess the amount of insulin I take. I honestly don't use insulin to carb ratios because
Scott Benner 47:18
I don't either. I did. I really hit last night I made um, I'm sorry. You're a vegan. So I feel that I feel
Unknown Speaker 47:25
I don't know. I don't.
Scott Benner 47:26
So I made. I made pulled pork yesterday. So it's pork, but then it has barbecue sauce on it. And then it's on a roll and then we had it with chips. And I got hardens, I got Arden's bolus for that. So perfect. I was just like it when it was over. I thought there should be like an award show right now because I get up on stage and receive my award now. It just worked out so well. And then late at night. She's like, I want to get a snack. And I was like, sure. And she wanted popcorn. I made her popcorn. And then I just I over Bolus, the popcorn. And that's how she got the low like later. Oh, I should I just missed on that. Um, anyway. But But the point is the polpark has, I don't know how much barbecue sauces, which obviously has sugar in it. And then bread and then chips on the side like all this stuff. And I just looked at I and she she squirted like some sauce. She was gonna dip something in, I just remember looking at the plate
Emily 48:23
and counting so hard to like have an insulin to carb ratio and like exact and just,
Scott Benner 48:28
it would just I would have banged my head against the wall if I had. There's 18 chips there and each chips a carb and a half and the rolls 20. I just looked at I went 234567 Let's try seven and a half. Yeah. So I got the seven but the seven and a half and went and it was done. Yeah. When when you can get to that point. I just think everything's a lot easier. By the way. I think that most people who have had diabetes for a while just look at a plate and go I think this is about this much insulin, but when you're wrong, then what? Blood Sugar Do you not allow yourself to go pass before you give yourself more?
Unknown Speaker 49:07
I'm 10
Unknown Speaker 49:09
which is 180.
Emily 49:10
Okay, that's like my like once I hit 10 I'm like, Okay, I'm going to take more insulin, somewhere around there. And that's
Scott Benner 49:17
after a meal. So you assume when you get to 180 you assume I've missed on the carbs.
Emily 49:22
Yeah, um, and I did do some The thing is with eating like a lot as much carbs as I do eat, like I actually do the opposite of what a lot of diabetics do which is the high fat low carb I do the high carb low fat but with eating a lot of like potatoes rice beans, stuff like that. Your your sugar, your blood sugars will like go up kind of like no matter what but because I'm not eating fat with my meal, my blood sugar's won't stay up long at all like it'll just go up for like five to 10 minutes. 15 minutes, 20 minutes max and just come right back down. Good. Like if anything, kind of Quickly, so I have to kind of pay attention to what I'm doing and not just. Yeah. Well, like,
Scott Benner 50:07
it sounds like it sounds like to me that if you if you're just getting a 20 minute jump like that, though, a slightly longer Pre-Bolus might take that out. Yeah, I think.
Emily 50:19
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. and I both think write out a meal. That's kind of what will happen naturally. But yeah,
Scott Benner 50:24
because if you think, you know, it's just this, there's a million different odd ways to explain it. But in the end, it's a tug of war between the carbs and the insulin, right, exactly. And your goal was for the rope to never move. But you need to give, if you're going to use if you're going to stack the carbs side with so many strong guys, then you gotta, you gotta let the insulin guys pull a couple minutes before you let the carb guys pull that, yeah, and it sounds like you're really close to that. I mean, the other thing is to if you had a pump, especially with this higher carb stuff, you could be using temp basals, which I would think would be amazing for you. The one thing that I can think of is you missing more than anything, because if you're not, I don't know what the word is, if you're not concerned with injecting more often, to keep your blood sugar down after a meal, then that's, that's you. That's personal, that's fine. But you're missing out on the being able to like crank your Basal up for something. That's the that's the one aspect you can't you know, you can't reproduce with with injections. I
Emily 51:28
guess. That's true. Yeah. But I do find that eating cuz I'm not eating like a lot of fast with my meal. I do find that my insulin sensitivity is quite good, though. Which is really nice.
Scott Benner 51:39
So it works the way you expect it to.
Emily 51:41
Yeah, for the most part, until I have like a bad like, if I have like for example cake or something then that's like, all hell breaks loose. Like, you know, if I'm having like a bowl of rice then yeah, pretty good.
Scott Benner 51:55
Yeah, yeah, we were at a going away party for my niece leaving for college. And so there was like a dinner. And it was one of those things like you got there. And there were just snacks everywhere. Yeah. And then that was that it was dinner. And then it was like we got a cake and ice cream. And I was just like, I hear you. And so but we really did well with it. It was just there was a lot of it's funny. Because doctors they don't stack and so it was a lot of like, Hey, here's some now do some more do extra here. Got ice cream. Yeah, you think you're gonna eat all that like like there was a lot of those little like sidebar quick conversations. But we did a good job, man. We kept our blood sugar was really good. Actually there. Yeah. But but it was a lot of was a lot of that. It was a lot of here's a little more. Here's a little more. Here's a little more if she was injecting and was a person who didn't enjoy, you know, or was, you know, kind of bristled about the injections. I don't know if she would have skipped food. Like, I don't know what people do in that situation. Oh, yeah. Never do that. Do you ever look at food and go, it's not worth it?
Emily 52:59
Ah, no, actually, I really try not to but sometimes, like, I had that same scenario. We went out for dinner with friends and I got like appetizers, and then the appetizers were like, you know, nachos or whatever. So I took like, a whole bunch of insulin for the nachos already. Because what happens is, for example, like if I have a pizza without cheese, like that's still like 60 carbs or so. But I can take way less insulin for that. Then I'll take with pizza with cheese.
Unknown Speaker 53:26
Okay, because
Scott Benner 53:28
Sorry, just the fact that cheese is gone.
Emily 53:30
Exactly. Yeah. But the second like, for example, so yeah, we were having nachos with cheese and stuff like that. And like, it's hard to be, you know, you can't, for my own mental health. Like, I'm not going to force myself to be vegan 100% of the time. So because I had nachos with cheese and stuff. I was like, trying to just have nachos. But yeah, I did. I still took it take a bit more. And then we had dinner. And that, for me was a veggie burger with fries. So then I had to take a whole bunch more info on top of that. And then we had dessert, which was cake so that I had to see I injected myself like four times and like, you know, Ben, three hours. That's
Scott Benner 54:05
right. So it the injections really don't bother you at all? Hmm.
Unknown Speaker 54:10
Not really. Yeah, that's cool.
Scott Benner 54:11
No, it really is I you know, because that's, we, I think I'm about to put it out. But we did this episode where it was about MDI. And, and you know, somebody's like, Well, how do you do what you do but without the pump? And after the conversation, I said, you can't completely because of the the inability to to adjust the basal rates. But in the end, the answer just is you have to be willing to inject a lot and if you just gotta suck it up. You are it's then it's that it's completely possible. It just you have to be able to you have to be willing to do that. And if you're not, then it's not that it can't be done with MDI and say you don't want to do the things that it's going to take to deal with them di
Emily 54:52
like, Oh, you just got a master like carb counting perfectly and Pre-Bolus and perfectly like all you have to
Scott Benner 54:57
do is figure out how to count carbs completely. Perfect. In pretty great time, and you'll only have to inject one time
Emily 55:04
and predict the future because you know you're eating something else, right?
Scott Benner 55:08
also be clairvoyant, you're 100%. Right? It's pretty simple.
Emily 55:11
Yeah, yeah, it's super simple. Yeah. I've had to like, I've had to, like, explain why I've like gone low, or like why I'm high sometimes to like people. And I'm like, and I'm like, oh, because I did this. And I did that. And I did that. And then I did that. But then this happened. Like, I was talking to my dad one time, and it was like, we were on a walk, and I went low. And it was right after dinner. So he was like, Oh, why are you low? Like, I wouldn't have it. Like, you wouldn't expect that I'd be low after dinner, right? And I was like, No, I took the right amount of insulin. And everything was fine. But then what happened was, I didn't calculate the fact that I just got gone running like, three hours earlier. Like, who would have thought to think about that? You know, like, sometimes there's just little things that you miss, and they make the world over. Yeah. And the result of your blood sugar. So
Scott Benner 56:03
no little things make the world over. That's a, that's a good thing to remember. Because it is seriously because it's these tiny little variables that I mean, you're just a person, right? You can't. Sometimes it's like, oh, look, there's dinner. It's bad enough that I have to go I think it'll take this much insulin, I should probably take attendance before I eat bah, bah, bah, all that stuff. What to do. And and to like, you know, not think, Oh, I went for a run. Three hours. Yeah, I should probably take a little less. That's just Oh, and it's like, oh, you know, I'm
Emily 56:33
feeling kind of stressed. Like, Oh, I should
Scott Benner 56:36
put more insulin because yeah, the day the day that I realized that I had to in to give Arden insulin for adrenaline while she was playing sports. Oh, that was like, I remember thinking, I can't believe I'm about to give her insulin, her blood sugar's 100. Like, her blood sugar is 5.5. And I'm gonna give her insulin with no carbs. And I
Unknown Speaker 57:00
thought crazy. I would never have given myself for that.
Scott Benner 57:03
Exactly. But I knew what was about to happen was she was I, I learned it while she was playing basketball when she was little as if they're going to that game is going to start and her blood sugar is going to jump up 120 points. Her blood sugar would have went from 5.5 to 12.2 without insulin while she was playing. Yeah, but then when the game's over an hour later, all that insulin that held her blood sugar down while the adrenaline was hitting or some of it was still there. But then the adrenaline disappeared. So imagine if all the carbs
Unknown Speaker 57:33
in your adrenalin goes away, just drop. Yeah,
Scott Benner 57:35
that's it. Yeah. Like, like, imagine if you took this big bolus for this giant veggie burger. And then what, like, 10 minutes later, I was able to reach in your stomach and pull out the veggie burger. You'd be like, I need those carbs now. And so that's when the adrenaline just disappears. It's crazy. It really is. So Emily, we're coming up on an hour because you are super chatty, which is fantastic. No, no, no, don't be sorry. It's a podcast. Can you imagine if you didn't talk? I just say something, please. But But you were really great that you said in your email. I'm an extrovert, because I was a little like, you're like, when I hear from kids. Like and I'm sorry. But you know, in my mind, I'm just like, I got I hope they can hold the conversation up because it's an hours a lot more talking than you think it is. And and you were like, No, I'm an extrovert. I can do it. I was like, right on. I was like, well, I want to hear about this Instagram thing. So she's totally coming. Now in the background. Is that a moose? I hear or
Unknown Speaker 58:30
my brother who forgot.
Scott Benner 58:32
No, it's fine. I thought I thought it might be the abominable snowman. I wasn't 100% Sure. No,
Emily 58:38
it's a it's a dever walking through our front yard.
Scott Benner 58:43
It's a beaver walking through my yard. That might be the title of the episode. So it just yeah, I I imagined you live in like in in a city that looks exactly like most of the places in America. Yep. Yes. But in my mind, there's a there's a moose and a beaver out front. And they have this
Unknown Speaker 59:02
igloo somewhere. Probably. Yeah.
Scott Benner 59:08
And that bird that you guys only have that we don't have?
Unknown Speaker 59:11
I don't know. Yeah, I don't either. I'm just simply Jay. I don't know. Everyone has there's me stopping silly plays.
Scott Benner 59:19
So tell me tell me because we do have a couple minutes and I want to get a couple things out of here real quick. But as a 16 year old listening to a podcast First of all, I had fun How'd you find the pie as you just search iTunes or? Yeah,
Emily 59:34
I saw I think I saw your Instagram first or I saw somebody else who's talking about the podcast on Instagram.
Scott Benner 59:40
And what's been your takeaway from it so far? Like if you could say to somebody The one thing I've gotten out of this is
Emily 59:46
this like how like cuz you realize that people are dealing with the same issues but then you don't realize on what level and like it's really relatable all the podcasts obviously because I have the same problem. So Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:00:00
so it's for you. It's mostly community like finding community. Yeah,
it's not as much nuts and bolts about the insulin and stuff like that.
Emily 1:00:07
I've definitely learned stuff like being bold, insulin like doctor. I know, my endo is like really, really nice and informative, but I think he he's more on the safe side with things right? Whereas this is like you're kind of like, no, like if you think you need this much more influence than like, take it like, you know, don't be more or less on the safe side will
Unknown Speaker 1:00:27
say that.
Scott Benner 1:00:28
But isn't it interesting that we call we call like letting your budget or behind the safe side? Yeah, yeah, that's it's it's is that that completely lends to the idea of how dangerous insulin can be if you use it wrong. You know, like that you would consider like, Hey, I'll just leave my blood sugar high my whole life. Sure, maybe when I'm 40 my fingers won't be able to feel like things but you know, at least I'm not. And like, it's it's a weird, it's a weird trade off to make. I get it. Like I understand how the fear hits people. But that is sort of my goal is for to hope people are just like less afraid, but you're not afraid of anything. So you're like, well, you're probably afraid of like, weird stuff. Like boys are. Like that kind of stuff. Right? So that's really interesting due date.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:17
Ah, no, I'm not dating,
Scott Benner 1:01:19
by the way. Good. I appreciate this. Let's spend the last two minutes I'm going to give you some good fatherly advice.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:25
Okay, go
Scott Benner 1:01:26
boys are terrible. And they will only ruin your life. I have destroyed my wife's life. And I loved her. And I didn't even mean to. But I made her. I gave her these kids. And now we have a house. And she seemed I know, I just liked her. And I liked her right into a life she didn't want. She was
Unknown Speaker 1:01:45
hilarious.
Scott Benner 1:01:46
Yes. When boys are being nice to you, I want you to run the other way. Do you understand me? And this is the same information your father would give you just wrong. Yeah, actually, it's
Emily 1:01:55
very similar. Father.
Scott Benner 1:01:57
Yeah. Well, just absolutely. Boys are icky, I think is what you should learn from all this. All right. So what have we learned from talking to you? It's like a wrap up. For me. In my mind, I think we've learned that there's seriously the lack of fear that existed in a 13 year old seriously led to you learning so much about your diabetes, because you were able to just say, Hey, I did this, and this happened, or I did this, I should have done that and pick and figure your way through it. Because you weren't at 13 thinking, if I mess this up, I'm gonna have a seizure and fall on the floor. You weren't, you weren't thinking about that. You were like, 13 you were like, I gotta get through my day, I got to go to my locker and get my stuff I have to do it. I think that there's seriously a huge lesson in the story of how you started taking care of yourself like it there is. People should wonder how much of the impediments they're seeing are self inflicted? Like, because that's what I got out of this. Is that is that a lot of the fear I had at one point I may have put on myself. That's it.
Emily 1:03:07
But the fear is inevitable, right? Like, it's natural. But it's
Scott Benner 1:03:13
I think it's how you respond to it is the question.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:15
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like,
Scott Benner 1:03:16
do you look at it and just throw your hands up and go, I'm just gonna leave my blood sugar at 11.3.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:23
Because
Scott Benner 1:03:24
I because I don't want to worry about a low blood sugar today. But you didn't think about that. And so you were able to really figure things out because you were. I don't know you had the you just got to do it. Yeah. And you were naive, like a 13 year old. So you just weren't you weren't worried about? myself? Yeah. But yeah, right. You're just like, Here, I'll just jam this thing in here. And it'll be fine. I'll do it again. If I have to do it. No worries. It's all gonna be good. Blah, blah, blah. It seriously that if people didn't take that from this, I don't think they were listening to you. So I think that's what I'm gonna remember from this is the next time I feel scared from something. Maybe the thing to do is just not to, not to overthink it.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:03
Yeah. You really can't. No, no
Scott Benner 1:04:05
kidding me. You're fantastic. I wish you were my daughter. Oh, no. Yeah. All right. Before we go, Why do I not want you to be my daughter? What is what what's your big what do you do that that I would be like, Oh my God, why was this kid mouse?
Emily 1:04:20
No, this was like, I had a job interview. The other day lady was asking me like, what my or my boss I guess was asking me like, what my biggest weaknesses. I was like, I don't know. Like,
Scott Benner 1:04:30
you should have said like, I can't think of my weaknesses. It's my biggest weakness.
Emily 1:04:35
Yeah, actually, I did say that as a joke first and then quickly found something and
Scott Benner 1:04:39
then you were like, I need a job. I better say something. And so you are now assistant to the queen or what? What
Unknown Speaker 1:04:47
is it? You're doing? Um,
Emily 1:04:50
I'm just working at a bakery now. So nice.
Scott Benner 1:04:52
There's a better place for a person with diabetes. I know. So are you like out front, are you making the food I'm now interested in this.
Emily 1:05:03
Um, I just serve customers and like she was she was actually making me go through like my training and she was like, making me memorize all the different names of all the cookies and stuff. So yeah, I just started customers.
Scott Benner 1:05:16
That's cool. And and now it'd be interesting for you to because you're going to be walking around a lot more all of a sudden. And that's true. Yeah, at least if you get low, you'll be good with. Yeah, handled, they're probably powdered sugar in a giant pile somewhere.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:28
So Exactly. I have a handful of cookies.
Scott Benner 1:05:31
I actually worked in a bakery when I was like, 19. But I was making the food. And the job started at 2am. And I did it for a very short amount of time. And I was like, I am not a person who couldn't go to work at two o'clock in the morning. So I stopped. But I wish you a lot of luck with your job. I know you're probably saving up money to travel truck. Really? Where do you wanna go? Ah,
Emily 1:05:54
I don't know. Maybe France or something like that. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:05:57
by yourself. Do you imagine Are you gonna let some
Emily 1:06:00
I don't know. Just like after high school or whatever. Just saving money
Scott Benner 1:06:04
for the sake of enough money so that you can travel after high school? Mm hmm. I'm back to want you to be my daughter. That was pretty good answer. All right, Emily, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast and being interested in doing this. Thank you so very much for taking the time.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:17
Oh, thank you.
Scott Benner 1:06:19
It was great. I knew when so quickly. I feel bad for ending it because I was like, I feel like we can keep talking. Maybe we'll have to do a part two sometime. Okay, sounds good. The Juicebox Podcast is proudly sponsored by Omnipod and Dexcom. And I want to implore you to click on the link in the show notes and find out more about them. Let's thank Emily for coming on and being so fantastic, honest, open and for just sharing with us her attitude that I think is the basis for like I said earlier for getting rid of your fear. There is something pure and intrinsically important about how she spoke about her diabetes. And really if you take one thing away from this episode, it should be that feeling. I will see you next week with another episode that Juicebox Podcast
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