#82 Think Like a Pancreas Chapter 10: Resources for Everything and Anything Diabetes with Tamara

Who's ready to think like a pancreas?! This is the tenth episode in our 10 week, Think Like a Pancreas Book Club Series and today I am covering chapter TEN called, Resources for Everything and Anything Diabetes. My guest for this one is Tamara,  a gentle and kind mama of two type 1 warriors.  This chapter offers a wealth of resources for those living with or loving someone with diabetes.  From websites to books to products and more! Take a listen and, as always, let me know what you think!

Listen, if you have type 1 diabetes or your kid has type 1 diabetes or someone you love has diabetes or perhaps you have type 2 diabetes and are taking insulin, I can confidently say you need to own a copy of this book and actually read it. I call it my diabetes bible and refer back to it often! It will teach you how to manage your insulin better and empower you to make all those hundreds of daily diabetes decisions faster and with more confidence. I sure do hope you will follow along with us. See links below to get your copy from Amazon or get your signed copy from the author, Gary Scheiner, on his company's website,  integrateddiabetes.com. Enjoy!

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OTHER INFO MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

Episode with Elizabeth Forrest, founder and CEO of Touched by Type 1!
https://www.sugarmamaspodcast.com/66-touched-by-type-1-with-founder-elizabeth-forrest/

Episode on Children with Diabetes and their Friends for Life conferences!
https://www.sugarmamaspodcast.com/46-children-with-diabetes-and-friends-for-life-with-marissa-and-leigh/

Transcript

Katie: 0:00

Hey everybody. It's episode 82 of the sugar mama's podcast. And today my guest is Tamara. Another awesome type one. Mama. She actually has two boys with type one diabetes. and today, Tamara and I are going to be discussing chapter 10 of think like a pancreas chapter 10 is called resources for everything and anything diabetes. In this chapter, the author talks about associations and organizations, apps, diabetes, experts, financial resources, products, Facebook groups, websites, blogs, and recommended books. That would be helpful for anybody living with diabetes or Who loves someone with diabetes? you guys, this is week 10 of our 10 week series. We got through the whole book series on think like a pancreas. I'm sure you all know by now, but this is definitely my favorite diabetes management book that I have read so far. I call it my diabetes Bible and it has been a huge help to me and my family in helping to manage my daughter's blood sugar better. Don't forget to get your very own copy. So you can follow along with us as we go through this book series. If you're getting ready to start at the beginning, or maybe re-listen starting from the beginning. I love having a hard copy of this book because I go back to it and refer back to it. Often I am going to do one extra bonus episode on this book. It might not be next week. It might be a few weeks from now. We'll just have to see, but way back in chapter. Three, which was called beyond the basics. There was a whole section of that chapter that went over the other diabetes medications, you know, the ones other than insulin, there was just way too much to cover at the time. Chapter three already had so much great information in it that I just didn't think that I had the time to go over all the other medications. But I do think they're important. I think they're very fascinating. Most of them are for type two diabetics. Many of them are for both type one and type two diabetics. And I had a diabetes educator once tell me that. A diabetes educator who had type one herself that she really didn't start to understand how to manage her own diabetes better until she learned about all these other medications that both type one and type two diabetics can take to help manage blood sugar. So I think it's important. So we're gonna do it. So be on the lookout for that in the next couple weeks. All right. I think you guys are really gonna love this episode. Enjoy the conversation between me and Tamara and as always check out the show notes for links to other episodes and products that are mentioned throughout the show. All right. Without further ado, let's get started. You're listening to the sugar mamas podcast, a show designed for moms and caregivers of type one diabetics here. You'll find a community of like-minded people who are striving daily to keep their kids safe, happy, and healthy in the ever-changing world of type one. I'm your host and fellow T one D mom, Katie Roseboro. Before we get started. I need you to know that nothing you hear on the sugar mamas podcast should be considered medical advice. Please be safe, be smart, and always consult your physician before making changes to the way you manage type one diabetes. Thanks. Everybody. I am here with Tamara today and Tamara and I are, we are rounding third and coming into home. This is the last chapter of think like a pancreas. This is chapter 10 and the title of it is resources for everything and anything diabetes. So Tamara came on today just to, to talk with me about chapter 10. It's definitely in my opinion, The easiest chapter to, it was the easiest chapter for me to review and, and outline cuz it's, it's not nearly as medical and technical as the other chapters. Surprisingly though, when I interviewed the author for the first episode, he said it was the hardest chapter for him to write because he just had to do so much research on what was out there and then, you know, write down the lists of, of websites and other resources and books and everything. And he just said, it took him a really long time to write chapter 10. So I thought that was interesting, but I would love it. If you would introduce yourself Taira and just tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and then how you're connected to the world of type one diabetes.

Tamara: 4:32

Okay. So I'm Tamara harden Brook, and I have two boys who actually have type one diabetes. My first chance was diagnosed back in September of 2020. And we don't have anybody in our family that has type one diabetes prior to our kids. We didn't know anything about it. So basically he. Just kind of always thirsty and hungry and that kind of stuff. And then he was wetting the bed multiple times throughout the night. Little did I know those were signs of diabetes? So when we took him in two weeks after noticing these things he was, he was diagnosed with type one with a blood sugar of over 800 on high keytones. So that's how we discovered chance. Was diagnosed. And then eight months later, my second was diagnosed. And basically how we discovered that he had zero signs. I was finger checking all of my kids cuz I was scared to death and we, we checked, we finger checked him Jackson and. Two like two 80. So I knew in my gut and my family thought I was crazy. No, he's fine. He's fine. A few days later he came down and said, can you check, can you finger check me? And he was four 80 and I, I knew my heart broke. We were here. We are again, eight months into it and we have another one. Um, So here we are 20 months with both of them diagnosed and we're. Living every day, you know, it's, it's hard, it's hard. So we do have a four year old who we did do the genetic, the antibody test and he has zero sign, zero antibodies, nothing, everything was negative. But I still freak out.

Katie: 6:17

Yep. Yep. I've had my, I've had done trial net on my two boys. Sarah's in the middle and my oldest son is 11 year older than Sarah. And then my youngest one is eight and I've done trial net for both of them. They were both negative for any of the antibodies, which I know. doesn't necessarily mean they're not a hundred percent out of the woods cuz I've heard of people testing negative and then still getting diagnosed. But it definitely gave me at least peace of mind for the, the time being

Tamara: 6:44

It does. Yeah. A small piece of mind, but it's still, you know, like my little one, he wet the bed the other night, the first time ever. And I panicked, so we finger stuck him. He was 96. I'm like, okay. You know, but still. I think forever, I'm gonna freak out,

Katie: 7:02

oh, no, you're not alone. I do it too. I, my youngest, I actually think this is awful, but I feel like we've given him a little bit of anxiety about going to the bathroom because like anytime he goes to the bathroom more than like a couple, you know, a couple times in a, in a couple hours span, I'm always. You know, I, I start paying attention more and I'll check I'll like check his keytones or every now and then I'll do a finger prick. And he's always been fine. His, his blood sugar's always been like, yeah, like right around 90 or a hundred. And but I feel like he has a little bit of anxiety about it, cuz he has come up to me and he, you know, mommy I've been going to the bathroom more often. Can you check, can you check my keytones? Or I don't know. I'm like, I feel like I've created a complex within him, so I apologize. Youngest son, if you're listening to this, when you're older and you're in therapy for the for the anxiety your mom gave you.

Tamara: 7:54

I, you know, I think I did the same with mine and that's why, you know, Jackson was like, can you check me something doesn't feel right. So, and especially now when my little um, can I have some water? I. Would've thought asking for water is alarming, but yes, now to me, anytime he's thirsty, I panic.

Katie: 8:12

Yeah, no, I'm the same way. I'm the same way. I, how did you how did you go about it when you found out your youngest son was negative? Because we got the results back in the mail and you know, I, my heart was like, oh, okay. You know, Bri, I was able to breathe the sigh relief, but I didn't wanna like announce that in front of everybody. Like, I didn't know how to handle it. So I, I even let a couple weeks go by and I didn't even say anything to them. And then my oldest son asked about it one day. He's like, Hey, did you ever get those test results back? And I just kind of pulled them both to the side quietly. And I was like, Hey, like I don't, I don't really wanna be like celebrating this in front of Sarah. I don't really know how to handle this because like, I don't. I don't know how she would even feel about it. I, I don't know. So I just was like, let's just keep it, keep it low key. You both were negative. But I, I don't wanna be like celebrating that in front of Sarah's face. How did you handle it?

Tamara: 9:00

You know what both my boys Jackson and chance who are the, the T one DS definitely did not. Sawyer our four year old to, to have diabetes have any of the antibodies. So it wasn't something that I was like scared to like hide from them results. You know, we were terrifi I was terrified. I know. I, my husband, he's more, you know, it's gonna be fine, but I was terrified. It was, I think it was the longest two weeks of my life waiting for the results. Um, and they happen happen to actually call my husband to tell him the results. And I heard him on the phone and he's like, okay. So that's it. And like, I remember feeling like my heart San. I don't know what the outcome's gonna be and what he told. He told me everything was negative. I remember crying just, and you know, I can't even tell you right now if it was happy tears or sad tears or what it was mix of everything. So telling the boys, they were, they were just so excited. They did not, they do not want Sawyer to have to, to deal with what they do, what they do with daily. And to, to lead up to that my boys just went to the diabetes camp. This was their first year. And when we dropped them off, Sawyer was like, oh, when I'm eight and I get diabetes, I can come here. And his brothers were like, Sawyer, no, we don't want you to have diabetes. So. It doesn't, it makes them happy to know that he's, he's not in the same boat right now. So for me, it was, you know, we were excited and, a sigh of relief and there was no, I think because the two, my two boys who do have it are 16 months apart. And so they're so close and they just, they didn't want, they don't want Sawyer to have to deal with it. So it was,

Katie: 10:40

Isn't that sweet. Isn't that so sweet. I mean, there's just something so sweet about that for, to see your siblings or your kids looking out for their siblings. I know my oldest son, both my boys honestly, are very sweet and they. They look out for Sarah, like when we were on our trip to Arizona a couple weeks ago and Sarah was so sick, we ended had to end up taking her to the ER. I mean, it was, it was real bad. And she had to get fluids and anyway they were so concerned about her. There, there was even, you know, they would just like, is everything okay? Like, is there anything serious going on? Like, I think they thought she had like cancer or something like that. You know what I mean? Like they, cuz they were like, why are you taking her to the hospital? Like this is crazy. But it's, you know, it's such a scary circumstances, but it's just, so it is so sweet to see your other kids like being so concerned for your. Your Your other type one diabetic or, or just for each other in general? It goes both ways. But even last night I was, we were having a frustrating kind of diabetes afternoon and I was talking on the phone to my mom about it. And my oldest son heard me and he just came up to me later and he's like, mommy, is there anything that I can do to help you? you know, just, I feel like as a whole. Really prefer not to have any type one diabetes in the family, but as a whole, I feel like it's made me and especially my children, like just more empathetic towards and sympathetic towards other people within our family and outside of our family. So that's a, a blessing in disguise, I guess you could say.

Tamara: 12:09

Yes. No, I completely agree. Yeah, definitely.

Katie: 12:12

Okay. I guess we should, I really wanna ask you, like, how was camp for your son? Did they have a good time?

Tamara: 12:17

They had the best time. They, it was such a great experience and I was, I was on the fence of sending them. I was terrified, you know, cuz you don't get to see numbers or anything. And, and I'm the one who manages the 24 7. So this was like, I don't know if I can do this. And, you know, they have, they've spent nights away from us. They've gone out of town for a week, at the time with my parents prior to diabetes. You know, but I was always able to talk to them on the phone, say goodnight or whatever. So it was. So hard for me to do, but they had the best time they made the best friends. It was even though they have each other and they're both T one D it was nice for them to meet other kids and other adults who have it. And just to live normal as a diabetic, it was, it was so great for them. They're they're ready to go back next year.

Katie: 13:07

I was just talking with some other moms about sending Sarah next year, somewhere. I need to research like what is closest to us. But they were on board too. They're like, yeah, we wanna sit, we'll send them together. You know, send them as a group of friends. So where, where, where did they go? What was the name of

Tamara: 13:21

They went to it's AZDA so it was up in Prescott, Arizona.

Katie: 13:26

Oh, okay. Yeah, no, that's nowhere near us, but for anybody in that area, a Z D a look into that one

Tamara: 13:34

Friendly Pines camp. Yes, it was so great.

Katie: 13:38

Friendly Pines. I'm writing it down just so I, I, maybe I should make, start making a list for listeners of camps that are around the country.

Tamara: 13:46

Yeah.

Katie: 13:46

Yeah. Okay, let's talk about chapter 10, so resources for everything and anything diabetes. The author broke down the resources into a little list of different categories. So the categories are associations in organizations. So, you know, and obviously resources. When, when he says resources, he means really anything that would be helpful to a type one diabetic or the caregiver of a type one diabetic. So the first category he starts with is associations and organizations. And then there, he has a category for awesome apps. He has a category for clinical diabetes experts and then financial resources which I thought was great. And then the next category is called kick ass products. Which is fun. Suggested Facebook groups, websites, and blogs. And then the last category he has is recommended books. So I, I'm not gonna, like, I'm gonna flip through as we go along. I'm certainly not gonna sit here and read the list of every single thing under that category. But what I did was kind of under each category, I wrote down. Some of those things that have helped me that he did not have on his list. So, and then I, and then I asked you to do the same, so we'll just kinda chat through it. And I'm curious to know what you have and what's helped you guys, and I will share the same. I am gonna flip to that flip to the beginning of the chapter real quick, just so I can see his list. Yeah. The first the first category associations and organizations, it's, that's probably one of the bigger ones. But there's all sorts. There's like nutritionists, diabetes, educators. There's like stuff for celiac disease, resources for those people. Several Americans associations for like heart association, diabetes association, chronic pain all sorts of stuff. You can definitely even like look Jewish diabetes association. Okay. Like that's quite a, quite a niche, you know, if you're Jewish and you have diabetes. So there's all sorts of associations and organizations. Ones that I wrote down that have been so helpful to us that I did not see on the list was touched by type one. I don't think that's on his list. He has him in alphabetical. But no, I didn't see that on here. At least not in this category, but touch by type one is like it's for, basically for parents really and caregivers of type one diabetics and just how to educate yourself. So you can feel empowered and make better management decisions and, you know, very similar to the podcast, just so people know that they're not alone on this journey. They also have a really awesome dancing for diabetes program that you can. They put on this huge dancing showcase at the end of the year in November. And if you're in the Orlando area, you can go and watch it and buy a ticket. It, we went last year and it's amazing. And then you can stream it online too. So and I have interviewed Elizabeth Forrest, who's the CEO and founder of touch by type one. So that's a really great organization. Um, JDRF JDRF certainly had to be on his list. I. Juvenile. Yeah, of course it is juvenile diabetes research foundation. That's been a huge help to, to us. We just went on our first um, JDRF one walk hooked up with several families there actually just two days ago at my house. I had a group of 10 year old girls that we had met through JDRF over to the house and they, they just swam and hung out and played. It was great. It was beautiful. It was great. We're gonna, and we are, you know, of course are gonna do it again. And then children with diabetes is the other organization that I've really enjoyed following. Again, it's very geared around like parents and caregivers of type one diabetics just. Any resource that would be helpful to them. They have several different, like really good online you know, like virtual webinars that you can tune into frequently that just kind of cover a very wide variety of topics, all about type one diabetes. They have annual conferences too called friends for life that meet. All around the country and, well, not, not all around the country, but like three or four different spots around the country. And those, those conferences are a big hit. I've also interviewed a few people from children with diabetes. I'll have to leave the links to all these episodes I'm mentioning in the show notes. Yeah. But they're great. So what did you have that he did not list in the book

Tamara: 18:03

You know what I,

Katie: 18:05

yeah.

Tamara: 18:05

to be honest with you, the only one that's ever like helped us, that we've been involved with and that helped, helped us was JDRF. You know, and of course he had that listed, but you know, with us being in Tucson, Arizona, there isn't too many. Organizations and stuff. So they happen to be hosting something out here, back in January at the Arizona U of a Arizona Wildcats women's basketball game, they were hosting a little event for kids with type one to, you know, meet each other and stuff because two of the players on the team actually have type one. So we. Knew nothing that they had two players on the team. So we were excited to go. So the boys could meet these players. Of course, when we got there, we, we learned that we wouldn't be able to meet the players because of COVID. But yeah, I know and all of the other, the families who had, who were there were from Phoenix, which is about hour and a half away. But it, it was fun to watch the game and, you know, for our boys to see two players that do have type one. That are living their best life and they're, they're out there. They're athletes. So I actually happened to tag one of the players on my Instagram while we were at the game. And she, she reached out Kate Reese, number 25. She reached out and said, you know what? I'm sorry, we couldn't meet you guys. Come to another game. I'd love to meet your boys.

Katie: 19:27

Oh,

Tamara: 19:27

So we went to the next home game and we actually got to meet her and. Kate Reese is actually one of our best friends. Now we hang out with her all the time. We've gone to so many games. She gets a, you know, the boys adore her and knowing that she has type one and she's been living with it for six years and she's an athlete has been such an amazing. Experience for us just to watch her you know, and how she lives with it and how she manages it is completely different than how we do it because she's all MDI. She does not have any GCM, anything. She does it all,

Katie: 20:05

Oh, really?

Tamara: 20:06

manually. So us, we have, you know, the CGMs, we have the Omnipod, we do it that way. So it's so interesting to see how she does it that way. And. She just lives like she's normal. It's great. And like I said, she's over all the time. She's one of our best friends.

Katie: 20:25

I love that. How cool is that?

Tamara: 20:27

and we would not have known about this if it wasn't for JDRF to host that, you know, I wouldn't have known that there was a player on the team with, with type one.

Katie: 20:36

Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's so cool. That's so awesome. And I love that she does everything the old school way, like that's pretty rare these days, I feel like,

Tamara: 20:44

and she actually, her sister who is 11 months older than her also has, has diabetes as well. So the same thing, you know, the sisters and they both come over. They're both doing it manually. It's, it's, it's very interesting,

Katie: 20:59

Wow. Okay. I, I feel like I need to follow up with you on that. I'm like, why did they, why do they choose that? I mean, Hey, to each their own,

Tamara: 21:06

you know? Kate's reason is just, she doesn't want anything on her body and I get it playing basketball. It could get knocked off and stuff. It her sister, Allie, same thing just doesn't wanna have anything on their body. I guess when you're 22, 23, you don't as a girl, I get it. But still it's, it's crazy to be able to manage it that way and just do it,

Katie: 21:28

yeah. Especially as an athlete. I, I would think if I, if I was an, an athlete, which I'm not that I would wanna be able to at least have a CGM and see my numbers, but,

Tamara: 21:37

Right, but and during games, you know, every 30 minutes you see her go out and do a finger stick and stuff, but it's just, it's crazy.

Katie: 21:45

I love that. I love that. Okay. Yeah, JDRF, I just I've said this a few times on the podcast already, but if you're not connected with a, a group, I mean, JDRF has a chapter. In almost every major city around the country hopefully at least within driving distance of, you know, an hour of driving distance from where people live, but, you know, get connected. And I know a lot of people we've just come out of two very weird years where everybody was kind of hold up in their home. And I feel like people have a little bit lost their motivation to like interact with society. And just, I don't know. It's interesting, but I would even if you feel awkward and, and weird about it, like I would really encourage people, just, just be awkward and be weird, but go to a picnic or go to a walk or go to whatever sort of meetup they're having and introduce yourself, you know, and get connected with people, try to find, you know, parents for, for you that you can connect with. And definitely some, some friends for your kids that they can connect with. Cuz that's made a, it's made a real big difference in Sarah's life.

Tamara: 22:45

Yes. I agree.

Katie: 22:47

Yeah. All right. The next category is awesome apps and he, he listed several the ones that I wanted to highlight that either he mentioned, and I have really benefited from, or that he didn't mention that I, I think are awesome. I wrote down happy, Bob. Which is, it's an app that it, it's kind of like Dexcom, like it'll show you your glucose numbers. But it will send you text messages depending on what your number is. Like, if you're in range, it'll send you like a congratulations, you know, like an encouraging text message. And it's funny. So like, if you have a sense of humor and you have diabetes, This is for you. So if you're low, it'll send you like a funny text message that it says like funny, clever things about having low blood sugar. So it's, it's kind of a funny way to remind you to like, oh, you know, you're doing a great job or you need to treat your low or you're running high. And I've heard that there's different modes. I actually, we have not downloaded happy, Bob, but. I think it's an app I'll put on Sarah's phone when she's like a teenager, but there's a couple modes and I know one of the modes is snarky mode and I've heard that that's very popular with teens because it will happy. Bob will send you very snarky, sarcastic test text messages about your blood sugar. So it's just kind of a fun, funny way to keep a, keep an eye on your numbers and stuff. And then there's sugar mate, which I don't use sugar. I, I have sugar mate on my phone and really the reason why I have it is because sugar mate, you can, first of all, it's only, I it's only on iPhone. Unfortunately you can set it up on a computer if you. Android devices. So you can see it on your computer, but if you want the app, it's only available on iPhone. At the moment, I was told by somebody who works within sugar mate, that they are developing an Android app that hopefully will be out later this year, but sugar. Mate's awesome because you can, sugar mate will call you if your child is out of range, especially low. I love it at night because it. Sometimes I don't, for whatever reason, sometimes Dexcom alerts don't come through. But sugar mate does. And it'll call you to say, your kid is out of your kid is low and you need to treat their low blood sugar. And you can decide what number you want sugar mate to call you at. And then there, we use calorie king app to look up carbs for. All the foods, all the fast foods, all the restaurant foods. I mean, not every single thing is on there, but calorie king really has a huge library of foods and that's been very helpful to us. I do not use my fitness pal, but I've heard a lot of people do use my fitness pal for the same thing to look up carbs and figure out card counts that way to bolus. So what about you? What apps do you guys.

Tamara: 25:25

My husband has had the sugar mate. I don't have that one on my phone. I didn't have patience to set it up. But yes, you know, it will do the, the. You or whatever, especially when your follow app doesn't work calorie king, we all use it. The, the boys, especially chance. He's very good at looking up. If he doesn't know carbs on something, he is gonna look it up. He's gonna find a way to look it up. I do use my fitness P though. I did have it prior to them having diabetes. So it was just something that I knew I could look up something and it would tell me the carbs. So I would say I use that one quite often, to be honest with you. Because it does have a lot, especially a lot of foods that we normally eat that I've already saved in there. So it's just an easy access to look it up.

Katie: 26:11

Nice. So you can save it. You have like a favorites list.

Tamara: 26:13

Yes. Yeah. So, I mean, it has all my things from the past. I'm like, oh, well, they eat that. So I know what it is. Those are, those are our big ones that there isn't anything, you know, the happy Bob, somehow Jackson had it on his phone after he came back from camp, but it's not set up. So it was interesting. So I like how it sends you text. So I have to look into that one. That

Katie: 26:34

yeah.

Tamara: 26:34

sounds kind of fun.

Katie: 26:36

I have not. I love the idea of it. I don't know if there's like annoying in-app purchases or, I mean, I'm pretty sure it's clean. You know what I mean? Like they're not gonna be getting some sort of inappropriate text about diabetes but but anyway, it's one to look

Tamara: 26:52

Cause I don't know if, if your daughter is like my boys, but they tend to ignore their alarms sometimes, or they're too busy and they know they're low until mom says, Hey. Are you gonna do something about it? So just other ways to maybe alarm them to alert them would be kind of, I think,

Katie: 27:08

Yes, absolutely. And entertaining ways. I think kids are respond well to like, you know, something that's fun or, or funny. Yes. I wanted to say too, I didn't write this down, but you reminded me of it. The night scout. App, it's actually really more of a website. But if you have an iPhone, you can also have the night scout app. The only reason I have night scout is because Sarah is doing the DIY loop hybrid closed loop system. And if I wanna monitor her remotely, so if I wanna see. If she did insulin, how much insulin did she do? What's her blood sugar now. I mean, at night scout tells you a lot of information. That's very, very useful. Yeah, so I love it because. You know, if she's at school or something, I'll tell her, do this amount of carbs for lunch. And I can go back in and see, did she actually do it? Did she enter the right amount? Did she enter too much? You know, whatever the case may be. I can see whether or not her loop is. Connected. So if it's like working properly now night Scouts of pain because you have to build it yourself. And the instructions are pretty complicated. I actually did not build my ni I built my, our, our loop app myself which was one of the most stressful things I've ever done in my life, just FYI. But I did it. But then after that I was like, well, now I want night scout, but I really don't think I have it in me to build it. There's actually a service called T one P. That's T one P a L. And they will build a night scout website for you and maintain it and rebuild it if it needs to be rebuilt, because that happens every now and then. And it's like, I think it's like$10 a month, which I know is not in the budget for everybody. But I was like, I'm gonna pay that$10 a month. Like I even, I even went in and like canceled some of my other subscriptions that I had. Cause I'm like, I'm gonna give up this so I can have this instead. uh, Cuz it was, it was worth it to me.

Tamara: 28:55

yes, definitely.

Katie: 28:56

All right. And then of course the book lists several other apps that we didn't mention, but people can take a look. All right. So clinical diabetes experts is the next category and I just listed integrated diabetes services under this one. I have not, I integrated diabetes services is the author of the book. Think like a pancrea, scary Shiner. That is his company. They treat people. In house and virtually worldwide to help them manage their type one diabetes. And I've heard amazing things. I'm actually considering scheduling a few appointments with them to kind of make sure that our DIY loop settings are dialed in. The best that they possibly can be. I haven't done that yet, but I've heard amazing things. Jenny Smith, who is a very frequent guest of the juice box podcast, she also works for integrated diabetes services. So they're very well known in the type one community. I really have not other than just having to call the endocrinologist and talking to the educators there, I really haven't sought out any other. Diabetes experts. But what about you? Do you,

Tamara: 30:02

Nope, we have, I have nothing for you there. No other, you know, other, again, other than your Indo, you know, that's usually my go to, and it, you know, maybe because we're in a smaller area, so we get ahold of them so easily. So that's usually our go-to reaching out to them.

Katie: 30:20

I have found, I guess these would be considered diabetes experts, but I have found reps from companies like whatever gadgets you use, like reps from we I've had to call mostly Omnipod. Those I've had to call Omnipod rep reps several times and Dexcom reps. But they are often like, especially if I'm having an issue with insurance, they, I have found. Are really the most helpful, like I can call insurance all day long and I feel like I'm just running around in circles. But when I actually call like a rep from Omnipod or Dexcom, that's when I feel like, okay, now we're getting somewhere because they will go to bat for you. They will fight. They will fight for you. They will call your insurance for you. They will help you figure things out. So that's worth mentioning. Call your rep from your, whether it's tandem, Medtronic, whatever it is call, call a rep from that company. And they they're usually very helpful. Have you had to reach out to a rep?

Tamara: 31:12

My husband does all of that. So yes, we have several times.

Katie: 31:17

Well, very good. Okay. Um, Financial resources is the next category. We have not had to, we, we have health insurance feel very fortunate to have health insurance. So we haven't had to tap in it. Into any of these financial resources. But I love that he has this category in the chapter because I know that there are a lot of people out there who, who need, you know, need extra support financially when it comes to getting all their diabetes supplies. You know, and this, this, this is something to consider too, like, Not just, if you can't afford your insulin, but like scholarships in the future you know, for kids going into college, there's lots and lots of scholarships out there. You gonna have to do your research to, to find them. I know the website beyond, beyond type one, they have like a whole blog post on all the different scholarships that are out there for type one diabetics. So that's something to keep in mind, but if you are in need of some financial resource take a look at this category. It starts on page 3, 0, 4 of the book. Any thoughts on that?

Tamara: 32:13

I would say you know, we haven't used any or needed any, but I've noticed like, in a lot of the Facebook groups, if you even just explain your situation, they give you so many resources of what's worked for them try this or that. So I would definitely recommend that if you're really in the need for it or our Indo, you know, they've given us ideas. If we need something, you. To help financially. You know, cuz we, our insurance is DME, so it's not prescription. So it's basically all out of pocket until we, we meet our deductible. So, you know, they tell us, you can call your insurance and you can fight it. We haven't had any luck, but you know, I know that there's just always resources. It's just finding them or doing the legwork to get.

Katie: 32:58

Mm-hmm mm-hmm yeah. Yeah. Good point.

Tamara: 33:01

because it's not gonna take five minutes, you know, it's gonna be a lengthy process. So finding the time and just really not giving up, I think is probably key.

Katie: 33:09

Yes. And I've heard just calling insurance in general, like call in the middle of the day on a weekday or in the morning on a weekday. Because if you try to call at like four 30, when you're driving home from work or five o'clock, that's usually when they're the busiest, cuz everybody's has the time to call. So if you

Tamara: 33:27

And Fridays don't do Fridays.

Katie: 33:29

Yes. I've heard Monday in the morning is the best time to call. So mm-hmm yeah, I love that you mentioned the Facebook groups because people are so for the most part, people are so kind and helpful in those groups. And I even I've even seen people get on there and be like, Hey, we're complete. We're getting ready to run out of no vlog or Humalog, like. Anybody near me that has extra, that they could let us have for, you know, until we can re refill our prescription. And people are always so quick to be like I do. I do. I do. You know? It's a very helpful community out there. The type one community. All right. Let's see. So the next category is the products, the kick ass products. He has a whole list of great software, different like products to make injections hurt less. You know, Kind of like more for, for kids or anybody who's scared of needles to kind of make that whole process easier, especially in the beginning. He lists like some really awesome glucose meters glucose monitors, if you're not familiar different injection ports insulin pins and accessories. So kind of all the products that. Helping people take some of the burden off of managing diabetes supply cases. I know our favorite supply case company is sugar medical. We have owned a few sugar medical bags, anybody, any, anytime anybody gets diagnosed and somebody reaches out to me asking, like, what can I do for this family? I always say, get them a sugar medical bag. Cuz somebody got that for Sarah when she was first diagnosed. And I was just the greatest gift. And then another product that we have that I think is awesome is glow glucose. And that's the little, it's like a little bedside lamp that glows different colors, depending on what my daughter's blood sugar is. You like hook it up to her Dexcom data. It doesn't make any noise. It's just quiet and all it does is glow. It doesn't blink. It's not like a strobe light. It's just like this soft glow and the colors change depending on where her number is. And I love that thing. so it's just, I just love. It's behind our couch right now. And I can just peek back there while we're watching TV or if I'm do. Yeah. If I'm doing a workout video, I don't have to like stop and check my phone. I can just look back there and see what the color is. And then one, one other product that has been great that I think is awesome is mial. I actually interviewed the creator of mial on one of my previous episodes, but it is. All natural adhesive remover and it it's a, it's a great product and it smells amazing. It's made with all these different essential oils and it really does work really well. So if you're kind of looking for something that's gentle on the skin to get those sticky devices off and it's all natural then mial is a great product to look at. So what about you? What products have you guys used that you just love?

Tamara: 36:03

I would have to say my, my go to is skin tech, that's, it's a must. In fact, my, my one son, Jackson didn't want to replace his Dexcom at camp when it went, it expired Friday because he knew they didn't have that. And he said, no, I don't want it on without that, because I know it will fall off, which we don't know that it will fall off. We've just always used it from day one. So that is, that's what they know. You know, and of course like the expression, meds, tape, those are fun. But the sugar medical bags. Yes. We love those. They're fun prints. We use all of those, but I really wanna get that lamp.

Katie: 36:40

yeah.

Tamara: 36:40

That sounds so fun. Even though I have boys, it sounds fun. Like, you know, it's not, it's more for me to look at.

Katie: 36:48

Oh yeah. Oh no, it's totally, it's totally more for me. Absolutely. I thought about putting it in Sarah's bedroom, but I, I kind of feel like it might keep her up at night with the. The lights, you know, it's, it's pretty bright, especially if the room is dark. But it's not girly at all. It's just a circle. It's it looks like a crystal ball and the bottom of it is white and the top of it is what glows the different colors. So yeah, checked out glow coast.com. It's a really great product. I'm trying to think of like, we've never used skin tech. But I know some people swear by it. I do love expression, med patches. Those are definitely my favorites for like all the fun designs. I will say though, if you need a patch, that is, I mean, really gonna stick. Through like an Armageddon situation of like heat and sweat and beach and sand the SIM patch patches, which you can just buy on Amazon. I mean, those, I think they'll survive like a nuclear war. They are so. Sturdy. And they work so, so well, we've never had a device fall off, I'm talking water skiing heavy, heavy beach days, heavy water park days. They hold'em on really. The only bad thing is that they're so good that when you do take them off, you have to go through a lot of adhesive remover to get all the stickiness off because it's real sticky, but they do the job. So. Okay. Suggested Facebook groups is the next category. I'm involved in a couple Facebook groups. The podcast has a Facebook group. I'm gonna be perfectly honest. I feel like I'm a lot more active on Instagram than I am in my Facebook group, but the Facebook group is growing and it is becoming more active. So if people wanna check that out but I mean, I'm a part. Moms of type one diabetics on Facebook. There's the looped group is great. If you're thinking about maybe trying out the DIY loop situation, that's a really good group on Facebook. Juice box podcast group is very, very busy. There's like 20,000 people in that group. So you're gonna get all sorts of advice and all sorts of opinions, which, you know, sometimes I appreciate, and sometimes I don't, but it's a, it's a good group. Lots of good info in there. What about you? What groups either Facebook or Instagram, have you found helpful?

Tamara: 38:46

for Facebook, you know, obviously moms of type one, the juice box podcast, Facebook, one I'm on my husband is actually on T N D mod squad. And he likes, he likes that one. And he's gotten some good information from that one. I'm big on Instagram too, obviously how I found you. So there's just such a big community on Instagram that we don't even real, you know, I've found so many just from my. My small business, Instagram, my customers are like, oh, this person has T one D follow this person. And that's how I found, found so many including you. So I think, you know, if you just search T one D so many things pop up, it's just incredible. And then also my boys have a, an Instagram the highs and lows bros, and that's. Just because it's incorporated with T one D we've found so many other, you know, resources and groups through that too.

Katie: 39:44

Mm-hmm oh, wonderful. I I'm not sure. Am I following them? Like, I'm gonna get my phone out right now and see I feel like that would be something I'd be following. Hold on, cuz you're your small business is while I'm looking for them. Tell listeners what you do, cuz I love, I love the name of your tell'em your Instagram handle.

Tamara: 40:01

It's Tam's design jungle and I make customized drinkware shirts, bracelets, all kinds of stuff. Now it's, it's more of a small business to help support T one D my boys, you know, and all of our medical expenses, it started off just something fun for me to do, but now obviously it's a little bit about supporting them and that kind of stuff.

Katie: 40:26

Yeah, that's wonderful. I know you've got some really cute stuff. I was looking at it the other day. I'm now following Jackson and chance at the highs, highs and lows bros. I love the name. So fun. Yeah. You guys check out both of those things. Both of those Instagram handles. All right. I'm trying to, yeah, Instagram. I feel like Instagram is great for the like, Facebook is good. More for like advice. I feel like, like, if you have a question, I go to Facebook. But I feel like just the support and encouragement and like humor and just knowing you're not alone. Like that's where I go more

Tamara: 40:57

Even snack ideas, all kinds of stuff like that, new places to put your Dexcom or Omnipod. Just so many things that, that I wouldn't think about that I can find on Instagram.

Katie: 41:10

Yes. That's very true. Lots of good recipes and yeah, I feel like if your kid needs to see some other kids putting devices in different spots. Yeah. You're right. That's a great place for that. Okay. Websites and blogs. Again, the book lists lots of different websites and blogs. I'm not gonna sit here and read them all, but you know, just kind of glancing at the list. I'm very familiar with some of them. His website integrated diabetes.com is on there. Oh, there's children with diabetes. He listed that one beyond type one. That's obviously very popular. Let's see. I, I feel like anytime I do a Google search for some type one thing, I usually end up on the beyond type one website. I just have like, they have quite a wealth of. Blog posts that cover a lot of different topics. And I just feel like I usually end up there a lot. So that's a great website that I've used a lot. The college diabetes network has some really great information. So what about you? Where do you usually find yourself?

Tamara: 42:05

Probably beyond type one is probably the biggest but you know what, to be honest with you, I try not to search for a lot of things because I feel like I see a lot of negative stuff or what could go wrong. So I kind of leave that up to my husband to do that kind of stuff. If that makes sense. just because I'm, I'm always thinking the worst.

Katie: 42:25

Hmm.

Tamara: 42:26

So if I read something, I start freaking out. So I try to have him be. And do all the research stuff?

Katie: 42:34

He doesn't get freaked out nearly as easily.

Tamara: 42:36

No, not at all.

Katie: 42:38

Okay. That's

Tamara: 42:39

so it's a good that we have that balance, like,

Katie: 42:42

absolutely. I was just gonna say like, you know, your role, he knows his, like, don't tell me what's gonna anything that's gonna make me worry or freak me out. That's a good. That's a very good balance. I like that. I feel it's interesting cuz I feel like my husband is neither of us are big worriers. But I would say if I had to pick one, I would be the more the overthinker worrier person. But when it comes to like my kid's medical conditions, he's more of the worrier I found everything else. I usually am the one that takes. Role, but but he gets, he gets himself pretty worked up and I'm, and maybe it's because I'm in the medical field. I don't know. I'm just like, it's fine. It's gonna be okay. Like, we're gonna figure it out. We're gonna get it figured out. It's gonna be all right. But he gets, he gets a little bit more anxious about just making sure, you know, they are going to all the right appointments that they need to, they're tapping into all the different resources and whatnot. It's interesting. Alright. The last category is recommended books, which. I, I do love a good book. I love to read. I'm more of an audio book book person, and unfortunately, when it comes to diabetes books, there are not very many audio book. Options because a lot of them are very technical and I feel like the more technical a book is the, the less likely they are to have an audio book option, just because, you know, they're not gonna sit there and read a graph to you or describe a chart, you know? So that stinks because that means I actually have to sit down and read the book which I don't have a whole lot of time to do. So the one book that I have read literally three times now is this one, which is think like a pancreas it's been the most helpful. I refer back to it all the time. I highly recommend. If you or someone you love has type one diabetes to get a copy. I currently own a copy of sugar surfing. I've heard great things. I have not read it yet. That's gonna be next on my list. Let's see, diabetes sucks and you can handle it. I've interviewed the author of that book, mark Haman, and that's very new. Like it just came out a couple months ago. Great book. I would say that's a, a really great book. If you are struggling mentally and emotionally and, and more psychologically with all of the diabetes management stuff. That is a great book to take a look at raising teens with diabetes. I have read that one. Actually. I have read that one and that's a fantastic book. If you have a teen or a tween. With diabetes. You're going to want to, to take a look at that one. The author Mora McCarthy is just, she's just a no nonsense kind of mom. She went through lots and lots of struggles with her teen teen daughter going through Many different challenges related to diabetes. And she just has some really great wisdom and insight when it comes to raising teens with diabetes. And then the last one on the list that I haven't actually read, but I love the title and I've interviewed the author. It's the world's worst diabetes mom by Stacy Sims and Stacy Sims has her own podcast called diabetes connections, which is a news podcast. So like, Anything that's coming out in the news related to diabetes and diabetes technology and research and all that. She, her podcast specializes in that and she wrote a book called the world's worst diabetes mom, which I think we can all relate to that if you're the mother of a type one diabetic. So I, I feel like that would be a good read too. What about you? Do you have any books that he didn't list or that have been really helpful to.

Tamara: 45:58

So I don't have any diabetes books and I'm like, you I'd love to listen to audio books. So I have researched on there and there was never any, so it's good to know the reasons why. So. I am actually gonna check out a few of the books that you've recommended because now that it's summertime have a little bit more free time. Cuz I do, I do think that all of those resources would be good.

Katie: 46:23

yeah, yeah. Especially like the raising teens. Like I said, that one that one's a little out of date to be, to be honest, like not, not completely, but like the chapter that's on tech, on the diabetes tech you know, she wrote that book. 10 years ago or something. And so that's almost completely that one needs to be updated, but but everything else in the book still holds true. You know, everything else like dealing with the emotional challenges of raising a teen with diabetes and kind of some of the more like social challenges and stuff like that. Driving, drinking, she covers that You know, giving, launching your kid into adulthood, giving them more freedom. Like that's all in the book and that's still, that's not out of date. But that, that was a great book. I really liked that one. And I actually had my Kindle read that one to me, cuz that's an option. I don't know if you guys know this, if you, if you have a certain type of Kindle and I forget what it is and actually my, it wasn't even mine. It was my kids, but I downloaded that book to my Ken kids Kindle and then there, I had the option. To read it to me. So I could do that while I was cleaning or washing dishes or whatever it might be. It's not the best because it sounds pretty robotic reading it to me, but it gets the job done. All right. Well that is it for the discussion on resources for everything in anything diabetes. I mean, there was, there is a ton more in the book than what we talked about today. So again, encourage people to get your own copy. So you have those resources at your fingertips. You know, and it it's kind of resources for like you and I are parents of younger type one diabetics, but the resources that he lists in the books are for anybody of any age living with type one diabetes. So what we think was great and important to us and what we use might be totally different than what somebody else would find helpful and what they would use. So check out. The chapter. It's a, it's a quick, easy to skim through that one for sure. Well, is there anything else you'd like to, to say or add before we, before we sign off?

Tamara: 48:23

Nope. I think, I think you covered a lot of stuff with a lot of good information that I'm gonna go and add to my notes and. Start doing some more research and get some books.

Katie: 48:35

I'm gonna be honest. I didn't know you had two type one diabetics when you, when we started the interview. So that was a surprise. My hat's off to you. I can't imagine having more than one. I know that lots and lots of people do it. Some people have more than, you know, two some people have three or four and I, I truly cannot imagine. But I know that you are a very hard working mama and thanks for taking the time to out of your I'm. Sure. Busy schedule, come and chat with me.

Tamara: 49:01

Thank you so much for having me. Bye.

Katie: 49:05

All right. You guys, that is it for our show today. I just wanted to mention again, the summer camp that Tamara said her boys went to was called friendly Pines in Arizona. I will leave a link to that in the show notes. There were two episodes. That I had mentioned in this show, uh, two previous episodes that I had recorded that you might wanna go back and take a listen to the touched by type one episode with Elizabeth for as well as the children with diabetes episode, where we talk all about their friends for life conferences. there were obviously lots and lots of products and websites mentioned in this show. I am not gonna link to every single one of them in the show notes. Again, another reason to have your own copy of the book, because it lists them all out for you there. All right. You guys have a fabulous week. I will chat with you soon, but until then stay calm and on.