October 28, 2025 • 35 mins
In Episode 58 of Think Like a Pancreas—The Podcast, we pull back the curtain on the final three clinicians!
Enjoy a candid conversation with Kathryn Gentile-Alvarez, Jennifer Smith, and Dana Roseman.
THE CLINICIANSKathryn Gentile-Alvarez, MS, ACSM-CEP, EIM II, CPT, CSNC, CDCES is the Director of Exercise Physiology, Teen/Young Adult Specialist for Integrated Diabetes Services. As a Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist and Exercise Physiologist, she specializes in sports performance, technology integration—including open-source and DIY systems—and counseling young people and families affected by type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed herself at age twelve, Kathryn holds degrees in Exercise Physiology from Ave Maria University and West Chester University, and certifications from ACSM and ISSA. Her work focuses on using advanced technology and personalized exercise prescriptions to help people with diabetes manage their health and thrive.
Jennifer Smith, RD, LD, CDCES is the Director of Lifestyle and Nutrition for Integrated Diabetes Services. She is renowned for her expertise in nutrition, diabetes education, and athletic performance. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Nutrition and Biology from the University of Wisconsin, Jennifer is a Registered Dietitian, Licensed Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist, a certified trainer for insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, as well as a published author. Having lived with type 1 diabetes since childhood, Jennifer offers unique insight into day-to-day diabetes management, pregnancy, sports nutrition, and technology integration.
Dana Roseman, MPH, CDCES, RDN, LDN, is the Director of Technology and Applied Research for Integrated Diabetes Services. She is a Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist and Registered Dietitian with a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Bachelor’s in Science from the University of Texas at Austin, and clinical nutrition training from UT Southwestern Medical Center. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, she has spent nearly 20 years improving diabetes care through technology, research, and patient education—including expertise with insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and hybrid closed-loop systems. Dana serves as Research Information Liaison for the Dallas JDRF, is active on nonprofit boards, and empowers people with diabetes to thrive physically and mentally, making her a leading voice in diabetes innovation.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
✔️ Who wanted to be Gary Scheiner when they grew up.
✔️ How they found their way to using open-sourced insulin delivery systems.
✔️ Who has never been on ice skates.
✔️ Which team members wanted to be veterinarians when they were small.
✔️ How diabetes devices could be dangerous in a Zombie apocalypse.
CHAPTERS
00:14 Welcome and introductions
00:54 Kathryn, Jenny, and Dana's Personal Journeys to Diabetes Education
05:26 Very different paths to surviving the college years with diabetes
09:50 The Aha moment in their diabetes care
12:30 How they found their way to use DIY Looping technology
16:06 Where in the world are the Integrated Diabetes Team clinicians?
16:30 Sports and Physical Activities they enjoy
18:41 When muscle memory failed Kathryn and Dana
20:53 The love...and hate for running
24:38 Gravy, the part-time Diabetes Alert Dog
25:08 The power of the Trynamic Trio
28:55 Everyone experiences diabetes mistakes
31:57 Noises that will get you killed in an apocalypse
RESOURCES MENTIONEDIDS Diabetes Experts, The Trynamic Trio Share Personal Experiences with Open-Source Application
https://youtu.be/peMzQHn1j9w?si=-oe74TUOIWGy287w
https://integrateddiabetes.com/diy-services-support/
CONNECT WITH US🔵Website: integrateddiabetes.com
🔵 Follow on Social Media: @integrated_diabetes_services and @ integrateddiabetesservices on Facebook
🔵To work with the Integrated Diabetes Services Team , visit https://integrateddiabetes.com/how-to-start-the-process/ , or email info@integrateddiabetes.com
SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEWIf you enjoyed this episode subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform to ensure that you never miss an episode.
Also, leave a review to let us kn
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Welcome to Think Like a Pancreas,the podcast where our goal is to keep
you informed, inspired, and a littleentertained on all things diabetes.
The information contained in thisprogram is based on the experience
and opinions of the IntegratedDiabetes Services clinical team.
Please discuss any changes to yourtreatment plan with your personal
(00:33):
healthcare provider before implementing.
Hi guys.
Welcome back to the ThinkLike a Pancreas Podcast.
I am Kathryn Alvarez and I'm goingto be hosting today talking to
my two friends, Dana and Jenny.
And you guys will get to know us.
So you get to-- like the wholeinside scoop of who we are.
Yay.
Let's kick it off.
Dana, like what brought you to IDS?
(00:55):
Why are you a diabetes educator?
Why did you do that?
My gosh.
Um, so when I was diagnosedwith diabetes, I was in my early
twenties and had so many plans.
So many plans for being active.
So many plans for starting a family.
So many plans for just all thethings I wanted to accomplish
(01:15):
in the world and on a differenttrajectory in terms of education.
But the diabetes educator that Iworked with was just so profound
in my diabetes education.
Because I think when you're, you'renot diagnosed as a young child, but
you know, you're kind of taking onyour diabetes management as yourself.
(01:37):
It can be super lonely.
You know, you don't go to diabetes camp.
You don't have your parents, youknow, necessarily as involved because
you're not living with them so much.
And so this woman, her name isDeanna, ironically, close to Dana.
She was fantastic.
And so she was the one who kindof started me thinking about,
um, becoming a diabetes educator.
(01:59):
I have a master's in public health.
I had a totally differentdirection in terms of career.
I did public policy and lobbyingfor a little bit, and then I decided
to make lemonade out of lemons.
And that's kind of the silverlining of my diabetes story.
I feel like she really was the onewho just showed me that you could be
impactful on someone's life and diagnosisin like a low point of their life,
(02:22):
and then just start to show them thatdiabetes is not a limiting factor at all.
It can be your superpower,is what I like to say.
Cool.
How 'bout that!
How about you, Jenny?
I'm one of, well, you know,prior to diagnosis, I really
wanted to be a veterinarian.
I think all young girls do.
Right?
I remember being that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just, um, and I actually had,we, our, I grew up with cats and
(02:45):
so, um, our veterinary servicewas not too far from my house.
It was only like a half a mile away.
And so I had even done, from about fifthgrade until my diagnosis, I had done
some summer just volunteer work withthe pets that were there while they
were, you know, overnight for a coupleof days or whatever for surgeries.
(03:06):
Really got to know it.
And I really, reallylike, I really liked it.
That's what I thought.
So, and I've always been moreinterested in math and science.
I really have always likedthose kinds of things.
So then I was diagnosed with typeone and kind of like you, Dana, I
had a really good education team.
I mean, I spent.... you know, yearsago they used to have you spend
(03:28):
like an a week in the hospital
Yeah.
With diagnosis.
And 37 years ago, that waskind of the, the thing,
the standard
that they did.
Like you just got to sit in the hospitaland learn all the things that you were
gonna learn and make sure you could takean injection and you know, whatever.
But I had
Into the orange.
Pinch the orange!
Which it's not pinchable likeunless you remove the skin,
you cannot pinch an orange.
Right, right.
(03:50):
Um, anyway, it's kind of funny.
In the hospital, I actually, I had astuffed animal with me and I asked if
like, there was no Rufus at that time.
There was, there wasnothing except the orange.
Yeah.
So
I asked if I could actually usemy stuffed animal because it was
pinchable and the orange wasn't.
Already ahead of the curve, Jenny.
Ahead of the curve.
There you go.
(04:10):
Yeah.
I should have designed Rufuss, man.
Yeah.
But yeah, I, I really good team.
Uh, gosh, I still remember my diabeteseducator was a nurse, and once I got to
high school, I actually found out that shewas the, the mom of one of my classmates.
I didn't know them in gradeschool, but once I got to high
school, you meet more people and
Yeah.
Um, her name was Nan.
(04:31):
She was fantastic.
Really, really patient.
Like, listened to me even as,like the age that I was at.
And then the dieticianeducator that worked with her
was also just as fantastic.
Interestingly, I don't rememberher name, which is odd because
they were really awesome together.
But after that just kind of startedthinking more, especially once I got into
(04:53):
high school about, gosh, I really like,I really like the nutrition part of this.
I really like learning about what fooddoes, and I think that was my early
learning of the macronutrients andthe value to what they do in my body.
And I was an athlete and they, as ateam, were really good at explaining
that for me, which, I mean, itclicked in my brain, at that age.
(05:18):
Right?
Um, so I kind of changed courses,not in college, but I changed courses
and was again, one of the weirdones who goes to college kind of
knowing what I really wanted to do.
So yeah, that's kind of, and then I wentto school obviously for, um, biology.
Then just did emphasis in humanbiology and nutrition, um, as my
(05:40):
track and all the fun things thatyou end up learning along the way.
Mine was like completely unorganized.
So I, uh, when I was little, I wantedto be a bone doctor is what I would say.
So I thought I would bean orthopedic surgeon.
Is that because you werebreaking a lot of bones?
Yes, it was.
I sure was.
Okay.
And so, yep, I was in that.
(06:02):
You in your crooked elbow?
Yep.
My elbow is crooked to this day.
It's great.
Yes.
And it's still very painful, butyeah, that's what I wanted to do.
And when I went away to college,by that time I had shifted.
I wanted to be an endocrinologist, so Istarted with biology and then I was like,
wow, I really don't like these classes.
(06:24):
It literally just took likeintro to bio, like this terrible.
Then I was gonna be a nurse and thenI was gonna be a sports psychiatrist
or something in that realm.
And then I read Think like a Pancreasrandomly, because my endocrinologist
recommended it and I was like, no.
(06:46):
I'm gonna be Gary Scheiner!
Which is
Wow.
Yeah.
Um, so I literally decided
a way prettier version.
Yeah.
Yes.
Thank you.
So that's what I, so I went forexercise physiology and then I.
I did my Master's in exercisephysiology and prior to going for my
master's, I got to connect with Gary.
(07:08):
And so we sat down at this cafe closeto the Integrated Diabetes Services'
office 'cause I was from Pennsylvania.
I'm from Lancaster, and I got towork in the office for a while as the
little intern while I went to school,which was pretty close as well to
the IDS office and did my master's.
(07:28):
But exercise physiology?
I feel like that was definitelythe path I was meant to go down.
It really impacted my life in apositive way and it was like a hard.
College was a very, verydifficult time for me.
Uh, just, you know, emotionally, andI'm surprised sometimes that I even got
through it 'cause my blood, um, well,my blood sugars, like I didn't pay
(07:50):
attention to very much until later onI was like the, I barely have diabetes.
I think that's so common for college kidsthat are so busy and trying to figure
out how to manage life independently,much less diabetes independently.
So I've seen that so often.
I think that's a good point.
And I think kids, like I alsowent a bit in that direction.
(08:13):
I mean, I don't know, were youon a pump in college, Kathryn?
No way.
So neither was I. And therewere no CGMs at the time.
Right?
And so, and pumps... I did... therewere pumps, but I didn't want a pump.
Right.
I mean, those initialpumps were just huge and
Not to me!
Yeah.
I mean, and they were.
(08:33):
So, I, I don't, I did it alittle bit more like, I just know
the things that I need to do.
And I, you know, at the time that I wasin college, I still had R and L insulin.
So, I mean, I didn't, it wasn't untila couple years into college that
Lantus came out as well as Humalog.
(08:54):
You know, a rapid insulin.
I was, God, I had read an article and,and I went to my endocrinologist and I
said, this is, this is what I want, right?
Like, this is what I clearlyneed and it'll help me.
But up to that point I was.
I've always been a little bit more oflike the rule follower as a first child.
So I did it like I was told todo, you know, and so I think I got
(09:15):
through college a little bit easiermaybe, because I just like, I always
volunteered to be the designated driver.
Mm-hmm.
I, I think in the back of my head I wasmore worried about what would happen and
nobody else would really know what to do.
So I don't know how yoursdiffered than what I did.
I didn't think about it.
I dunno how, it's, Idunno how I survived.
(09:36):
So like, not until like my senior yearafter reading Think like a Pancreas,
that I even realized like, whatwould be... so I didn't wear a CGM.
Well, I think that a lot of peopledo have that one moment of aha.
Perhaps maybe Jenny you didn't,but that one moment of like, oh,
I need to change the way I managethis, or this is like needing to
be a bigger character in my story.
(09:58):
I don't know.
I think for me it was trying to figureout how to do all of the activities
that I wanted to do, you know, whetherit's a marathon or climb mountains or
hike and just kind of try to figureout how to make diabetes fit into
that activity that I wanted to do.
Right.
I think that's the reason I, when I foundthose articles about the newer insulins.
(10:19):
Yeah.
Because I, I think at that point I wasalready like, washed out in doing it
the way that I was doing it and seeing,I, I didn't really feel like I was
missing out, but I felt like I alsowasn't just allowing myself maybe the
freedom that you gave yourself, Kathryn.
Right?
I was a little bit more stringent and Iwas like, gosh, this might make a little
(10:39):
bit like... allowance for variability.
I started a pump was because I wannaget pregnant and at the, you know, and,
and that was kind of the deal that Iguess I made myself is that, you know,
I'll get on a pump and then maybe,
and then it'll be fancy, right?
Yeah.
It'd be fancy.
Yeah.
I got on a pump because, uh, when I metGary, he bolus from his phone and I was
(11:03):
like, nobody told me you could do that.
How'd you just bolus from your phone?
Of course it was open.
Oh, so he was already looping?
I was like thinking several years ago.
Mm-hmm.
So that's where I sawit for the first time.
Yeah.
And then I think like amonth later I'm looping.
Yeah.
That's what brought me to it.
Was he looping with a Medtronicor was he looping with Omnipod?
Omnipod.
(11:24):
Yeah.
I think I was the first one inour practice actually to loop.
Really?
Really and it was, but I me and
Jenny, you and I started loopingaround the same time, almo, I
think just almost nine years now.
I think around
I
Halloween time is when, I thinkI'm coming up on nine years.
Yeah.
My Halloween, Halloween is actuallythe renewal for my Apple developer.
(11:47):
Yeah.
That's how I always remember it.
And I started looping on Halloweenin, I don't think my, you must maybe
a year out from, maybe a year soonerthan me, Dana, because mine was,
I may have also lost track.
2017.
That's right.
October 31st, 2017 was my first loop.
And it was not Omnipod connected yet.
(12:07):
They were still workingon the communication key.
Yeah.
No, I think I had my old Medtronicwith Loop for like two or three years.
Okay.
So you were definitelylooping longer than I was.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, I mean, I, and I can'tremember when you started with Integrated.
Um, 2020.
2020. Yeah.
So yeah, I had been, again, Imean it was just Gary, myself and
(12:29):
Alicia in the office at the time.
So I had a client I was working withthrough her pregnancy and she had,
previous to being a nurse, she hadactually, um done um, like computer, like
coding, development, that kind of thing.
So she really understood, andI was working with her and I'm
like, why am I not doing this?
(12:49):
So she offered to like meet up with me ona Saturday via Zoom, and I like, she wa it
was hours, it's like hours that she was,
Oh, mine took three weekends, I remember.
And the person that helped me, we Skyped.
I mean, remember Skype?
Oh, so it was Skype!
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were on Skype for likethree Friday evenings.
(13:10):
I mean, just trying to create this thing.
How did you find it, Dana?
What was your introduction?
Okay, so.
I'm gonna say it and don't tellanybody, but it was at the time,
the medical director for Omnipod.
I went to a dinner and she, youknow, it was obviously long before
Omnipod five, long before any of theautomated systems were commercialized.
(13:32):
Um, and she was, she was justtelling me about this, and then
as I learned more, I was like,well, how do I find out about this?
She gave me a couple people'semails to reach out to.
It was like a whole, like written onthe back of an envelope, literally, and
trying to go through the back channelsof the internet and so, yeah, but it was
like this Omnipod dinner that I went to.
(13:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean it's a really interesting...eons ago, it was really interesting
how you got connected with theright people, almost by chance.
Yes.
To hear about it because again, Imean our internet and our online
community presence has grown somuch even in the past three years.
Absolutely.
(14:14):
That when, you know, I startedlooping, when you started looping,
there really was a connected-- youstill had to go through like knowing
somebody and texting with that.
I mean, there wasn't a websitewith directions, right?
I mean that came much, much laterand um, and so beautifully done.
The community just,
And the directions they were likereading hieroglyphics on the wall.
Really!
(14:35):
The directions were, and that was why Iwas so glad she was walking me through it.
'cause she had already beenlike built it and used it.
And I was like, she knows that,she knows how to set it up.
I'm not gonna kill myself.
I didn't even attempt to do it by myself.
That's how confusing it was, you know?
Yeah.
I just, there was no way thatI could have figured it out.
Yeah.
So you came at a goodtime, Kathryn, you came in
Absolutely.
(14:56):
2019 and X code.
I went in.
I terminal.
I don't remember it being too, itwas definitely more difficult than
what it is now with building withFX code, but I don't remember.
Now it's just so beautifully easy now.
It is.
Yep.
And I, I, we clearly we're all, we'reall using it and that's the reason
(15:17):
that we're not only colleagues,but we're like, we're text friends.
Like what about this?
Right, right.
We talk all things, which is great.
So its great.
Now a word from our sponsor.
Byram Healthcare understands thatmanaging diabetes isn't one size fits all.
With a full range of CGMs insulinpumps and diabetes supplies from top
(15:38):
brands, Byram makes it easy to getwhat you need hassle-free, shipped
right to your door, and Byram's teamof experts helps navigate insurance so
you can focus on living your best life.
Ready for better diabetes care?
Visit byramhealthcare.com/podcast.
Or call 8 6 6 6 9 2 8 0 24 and select option three.
(16:03):
And now back to our program.
You guys wanna tell ourlisteners where you live?
Because I think that's something that likeso many people don't even know that...
like people assume we're in Pennsylvania.
We're not in Pennsylvania.
Yeah.
None of us.
None of us.
None of us.
Yep.
And I'm in, now I'm in Madison, Wisconsin.
And I'm in Jacksonville, Florida.
Um, of course from Pennsylvaniacan hear it in my voice and
(16:24):
I'm a big Eagles fan, Dana.
We're still friends, eventhough I'm a Cowboys fan.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not really a fan.
I mean, technically I shouldbe a Packer fan, I guess.
I mean, I grew up in Wisconsin.
My husband and I movedaway for a long time.
We were in DC before we moved back toWisconsin in a coup.. Number of years ago.
(16:45):
But, um, I mean, I really, I don'tcare that much about football.
So there's a little fact.
Yay.
I'd rather watch college
Maybe when your boysget a little bit older.
I found that me becoming a Cowboysfan just opened up a lot of good
conversation with me and my boys.
So I've got two sons and a daughter.
My daughter's not so mucha fan, but my boys are.
(17:06):
So it's fun to watch games together.
And they definitely, I mean, myhusband watches with them all the time.
They love watching together.
The sport that we all watchas a family is hockey.
I love watching hockey.
It's super fun.
We've been a very big FloridaPanthers fan, especially since
they've been in the Stanley Cup thepast two years at least, that we've
(17:27):
really been watching everything.
That's the kind of sport I candefinitely get into and cheer
for and stand up and yell.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I don't think I've ever watched a hockeygame on tv, so maybe I'll have to do that.
Yeah.
They're definitely more fun in person.
Yeah, they are fun in person.
Yeah.
We go to see, uh, the Badgers here duringthe winter, usually a couple of times.
(17:49):
Um, they're super fun games tokind of just get into, so yeah.
Dana, can't you ice skate?
I was a competitive figure skater growingup and, and then I coached for a while
through college to make extra money andso definitely knew a lot of hockey players
in my life and, but there was always thefigure skaters needed to finish working
out before the hockey players could come.
(18:11):
And so I have lots of memories of hockeyplayers just like on the sides, just
waiting, you know, tapping there thumbs.
Come on.
Come on ladies.
Let's get off.
Let's ...I spent a lot of time on the ice.
I don't think I've, I'venever been ice skating.
I broke my arm rollerskating, so I think I was
Okay.
Well, I feel like I need to teach you.
I'm a very good teacher.
Yeah.
So we'll need to figure outa meetup and, and skate.
(18:34):
Nice.
I haven't been skating in a long time, but
The last time I skated, Irefused to get off the ice.
We went for Mother'sDay several years ago.
Oh.
And I refused to get off the ice withoutdoing an axle, which is, you know, jump.
It's like muscle memory comes back,but I fell so many times that I
ended up having to get a hip MRI.
So I needed to remember, I'm likeway too old to be doing that.
(18:57):
That's like me.
I mean, I don't understandhow it happened.
I was like, there's no way ever in mylife, 'cause I did cheerleading, I was
like, there's no way ever in my life Iwill not be able to do a back handspring.
Right.
That is just muscle... I'll never lose it.
Sure.
And I did it.
Uh, the CWD conference two yearsago and I swear like my body
(19:18):
just ripped into two pieces.
Like that wasn't a good idea.
Yeah, I know.
It's really a tough pill to swallow.
I was like, I'm not getting off ice.
I'm gonna land this thing.
And my husband did get it on video though.
I did land it and um, it wasn't pretty.
Yeah,
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of funny when you getinto sports that you were into and then
(19:43):
potentially, like Dana, did some coaching.
I know Kathryn, you probably did some withlike your cheerleading stuff too, right?
Um, now having kiddos in sports, youdo, like, you have memory of how to
do it and how your body functionedand then you get into doing it and
you're like, yeah, that doesn't feelthe same as it used to feel at all.
(20:03):
I mean, I'm even careful.
My boys are both like into soccer.
Right.
I can play soccer.
I never really play played on teams, butI can play it and I feel like I'm a little
bit more like careful with how I turnand how I kick and how I move my body.
I would never, ever try to coach.
I was a cheerleader for years.
I would never try tocoach that at this point.
(20:25):
The flips and the turns and the movesand the going up in the pyramids?
No, no.
That's a good idea anymore.
You see, I haven't tried stuntingin a long time, so in my mind I'm
still so good at that and it's fine.
Like.
I got it.
It's good to have the memory ofit and know that you did do it.
Yeah.
Like I can do it.
I can do it still.
It's fine.
(20:45):
I can do it still.
Yeah, exactly.
You're just not gonna do it to find out.
I'm just gonna say it.
Yeah.
I think I found, and Dana,I mean, you're a runner.
I don't, Kathryn, do you run?
That's not even something I know.
You don't run?
No, no it's, It's a hard no.
It's a hard no.
Well, it was for mefor a really long time.
I never did cross country.
(21:05):
I never did track inhigh school or anything.
And it wasn't until I got married andmy husband was a runner and he's like,
why don't you go for a run with me?
And I was like, I don't run.
Like you should knowthat about me already.
Like I do not run.
Just a hard no.
It's a hard no.
Right.
And then I got going, doing it,and I found it like it's one of
my favorite things to do now,and I've done marathons and I,
(21:29):
I hear people say thatlike, but for me, nope.
Like, let me just like give you someexamples of how bad I am at running
and I don't know what it is like,but it's been since I was a kid.
When I was a kid, I ran a milewith, like my dad put me and
my brother into this mile race.
And we finished dead last outta this likemassive group of kids and like everyone
(21:53):
else had finished and they were eightminutes done before we finally came,
came down the hill and finished our mile.
And it was a downhill, it sounds like.
It was downhill, yes.
And for high school cheerleadingwe had, we absolutely had
to run an eight minute mile.
Yeah.
To be allowed to cheer forthe Friday night games.
Did I ever do it?
(22:14):
No.
But they were like, well, just.
They just made an allowance for you?
Sweet Katherine gotta go.
Gotta go anyway.
Katherine's good at all thegymnastics, so we'll just let her.
Leave her.
Yeah.
And then like Kenny would run sometimes,like in preparation for his bodybuilding
shows, so I'm like, I'm, yeah, I got this.
I'm, you know, I'm exercise physiologist.
I know how to breathe now.
Like I can, I can run now.
(22:35):
So we went out and he lappedme five times I think.
Okay.
We won't tell anybody, Kathryn.
It's all good.
Yeah, I think you shouldto yourself, Kathryn.
Yeah.
It makes you more lovable.
It's all good.
Absolutely.
There's lots of activitiesthat you shine at.
Yeah, it's fine.
It's totally fine.
Absolutely.
I will say, i've had a few injuriesthat have, um, caused me not to
(22:57):
have to, not to be able to runrecently, and I miss it all the time.
It's, um, so yeah, walkingother activities just don't
scratch that itch for me, sadly.
Yeah.
Yoga though.
Yoga.
Yeah.
Yoga.
Yoga's, yes.
I mean, I do all the things, but Idon't know, there's something really
about just running by yourself.
It's just such a good mental health.
There is.
(23:18):
I've always said, I was talking to my, um.
Kathryn's like, no way.
Kathryn's like, no, not for me.
I was talking to my, the, the woman whodoes my hair a number of years ago, um,
and we were talking about like meditationand that kinda stuff, and I just like,
my brain can't meditate that way.
I can't just sit still because Ithink about too many other things.
(23:40):
Whereas when I run, I'mlike a moving meditator.
Yeah.
I can get into something and workthrough it, and by the end of the
run I'm like, I've got the solution.
Like, I,
I love that.
I know what to do about that and so yeah,it's, it's definitely my like, mental
time to just breathe and whatever it is.
So it works well and I'm gladthat I was introduced to it.
(24:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, all the same things.
Yeah.
Walking, not running.
Does Gravy always walk with you?
Yeah, Gravy loves her walks.
Aw.
Yeah.
I miss running with my, I have abig chocolate lab and he used to
go on, um, runs with me, but he's.
He's 11 now.
So
Yeah, my two dogs willnot go very far anymore.
(24:23):
They like to go outside, butthey've got the limits for for sure.
So I like, so if I go toofast Gravy nips at me.
So like, I don't know if that's like,because she has some kind of hurting dog
in her, but like I can't, I can't pickup the pace, which, you know, it's great
because I'm not going to anyway, but
Have y'all ever had an animal thatpicks up on your blood sugar levels?
I have not.
No.
Yeah, I tried.
I taught Gravy.
So what I did was every timemy blood sugar went low, I
(24:48):
would give her some chicken.
It's like the Stella andChewy, not like real chicken.
Sure.
She's obsessed with Stella and Chewy.
So yeah, she'll come andshe'll like, hit me just from
So she, she really learned.
Yeah.
But not at night.
At nighttime, she's sleeping.
She's done.
Which, you know, with, with Trioand everything, it's like, I
don't really have overnight lows.
You're back to Trio from Loop?
(25:10):
Yes, I am back to Trio.
Yeah, I think all three of us thenare, are using Trio at the moment.
Yes.
Yeah.
I didn't, the only, I went off of itonce the Loop option for having it
look up the carbs and kind of populatethem in just to give that a try.
But very quickly wasglad to go back to Trio.
I just, um.
(25:30):
I don't know.
It's been definitely a helper.
You know, fun, female hormonalstuff, weirdness that trio just does
better with, as well as, I think itnavigates food a lot better as well.
Mm-hmm.
I agree.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
Once it's like dialed in, it's so, youjust have to pay attention so much less.
It's so nice.
I know it's uh, and it's nice againthat we have each other to kind
(25:55):
of reach out and talk to about it.
If I was doing it by myself, I don't knowif I would've stuck out as long as I did.
I think I would've reverted back to Loop.
But us doing it together was sosupportive and helpful for me.
Yeah, I mean, I can think evenback to eons ago of things that
I've done and enjoyed doing.
(26:16):
Like even my first marathon thatI did, I actually was on loop.
I had started,
Oh, I'm trying to rememberwhat I was on for my first, I
think it was a old Medtronic
An old Medtronic?
It was a, no, you know what it was,um, it was an Animas pump because,
well, my, it was a half marathon Iwas doing from the base of, um, Vail
(26:39):
Village to the top of Vail Mountain.
Wow.
Which was a big climb and myAnimas pump broke the night before.
And I was thinking all thistraining, how am I gonna do this run?
And I don't remember the person'sname, so forgive me, but whoever
was the Animas rep back then in theDenver area met me at a parking lot.
So if you're listening, I mean,it was the best thing ever.
(27:02):
And I was able to run thenext day with my replacement.
Yeah.
It's, and you know.
I had done before the marathon, likeyou, I had done many, many half marathons
already and hadn't had access toanything that was, I was the manipulator.
I was the one who knew where andwhen to make an adjustment and
what to do and where to fuel andall of those kinds of things.
(27:23):
And then the morning, so my firstmarathon was the Disney Marathon.
That's fun.
In Orlando, which was phenomenal,but you know, with Loop the
connectivity is what it is.
And at that time, loop was with RileyLink and the old Aeros pods and I
got to the start at like 3:30 inthe morning and I'm standing around
(27:43):
and like, there's no communication.
Like my loop is redand I'm thinking, what?
What am I gonna do now?
Yeah.
I trained for this entire, like severalhour long thing, and now my loop is red.
So you know, in the moment, likewe all do, it's kind of like,
well, you piece together a plan.
I went to open loop.
I went back to managing just with like atemp basil and all those kinds of things.
(28:07):
And then once I got running andit cleared out the people, my loop
turned green again and I went back toautomation and then my plan worked.
I mean, it was lovely.
It was absolutely the mostfantastic thing that I had.
I would say, that feeling where yourdiabetes technology loses connection
and then the moment it reconnects,whether it's a Dexcom signal or your
(28:29):
pump, you're like, thank goodness.
Like the day is not ruined.
You know?
Like, thank God.
Right.
Yeah.
It's like the best feeling.
What's the like the weirdest place thatyou guys have had a failure of something?
No, I don't go anywhere weird.
I mean, I've had plenty of like mistakes.
Um, one of the worst mistakes I ever did,
Hi Gravy!
What's a podcast if you don't meetGravy about meeting us, right?
(28:51):
Yes.
Right.
I took a pump vacation because I wasgoing scuba diving and I mixed up my
short acting and long-acting insulinright before a dive, and I was like,
you know, juicing and drinking andeating and had such a stomach ache.
That was not a technology problem.
That was a Dana problem.
(29:11):
Yeah, that was a self brain problem.
Yeah, that was just, thatwas just an awful problem.
Yeah.
I don't even.
We all have done it, right?
We all have.
One time, that was a little alongthe lines of not good, but it's
completely not what you asked, Jenny.
So, one time I was taking a test forItalian in college and I, my blood
sugar, I wasn't actually low, butyou know, you have like a fake low.
(29:35):
So I took my phone and put it outsidethe door so that it wouldn't make
noise 'cause this was before youcould like turn alarm off or anything.
So I put it outside the door and Ifinished the test and when I left
the classroom, my phone was gone.
Oh.
Someone had picked it up and went away.
So then I had no Dexcomconnection whatsoever.
(29:56):
It's not like I was using apump, so at least I wasn't like
relying on it for that, but.
Still, I guarantee that that's whatyou were using and you probably didn't
have the old school finger stick, beable to check your blood sugar, right?
No, I, I had my meter in my room.
Oh, you did?
Yeah.
Good job me!
Because I, I didn't get theCGM until of the senior year.
(30:16):
Um, so yeah, I, I still had the meter.
I probably hadn't used itin a very, very long time.
And who knows if I lost it and,or who knows if I used it when I
lost the phone, but I don't know.
I don't know what I did.
You know, diabetes goes with us everyday 24/7, but I always think back
to the times of when I've reallylike noticeably paid attention to
(30:38):
kind of carrying it with me, right?
Especially if I'm on my own and I amthe only one that can navigate me right?
In travel or all of thosedifferent kinds of things.
I think the, the most interestingthing that I had to do in terms
of navigating was when we.
Have you, Dana, have you been to Peru?
(30:58):
Have you done Machu Picchu?
And
It's definitely on my list.
Okay.
I mean, that was definitely a traveltrip that I had to think and plan
for because when you hike the IncaTrail, like there's no refrigeration.
Oh, sure.
Right.
There's no refrigeration.
Depending on what day travel you plan todo you stop along the way and you camp and
(31:21):
you like get cooked food, that there's,there's no way to look up the information
when you're on the top of a mountainside.
Right.
There's no Chat GPT help there.
Um, I know it just makes me grateful forall of the, kind of, all the technology
we have, but also being able to go backto the old school ideas that I learned
(31:43):
when I was first diagnosed because Ithink those are a really good like base
Absolutely.
To be able to adjust from
And that we don't freak out ifthe technology's not gonna work
because we've been there before.
Right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If that apocalypse does come.
Exactly.
Who's gonna win?
Who's gonna, who's gonna travelthe farthest and do the best
in the apocalypse of all of it?
(32:04):
No, I mean, I'm dying right away.
Like, freak,
You're gonna run toward the zombieand be like, yes, please eat my brain.
Just take me.
Take me.
I'm like, uh, yeah, no, I'lltry to run away and like trip
and fall or I'll pass out.
'cause like fight orflight, I literally die.
It's like a fainting goat.
I think my, my thing that I always think--the fainting goat, oh my gosh, that's,
I love those fainting goats.
(32:25):
Oh my god.
Or like a, the possum like play dead.
Yeah.
I'm already dead.
You don't want me like, right.
Yeah.
Old meat.
Me, I always think about that when, whenyou're thinking about the silly things.
I'm like, I would definitely bethe one who would try to hide and
then my Dexcom alarm would go off.
Oh, sure.
Or my pod would fail and I'dbe like, the dead giveaway.
(32:45):
I'd be like, it wasn't me.
I didn't give myself away.
That's a conversation weneed to have another time.
Is the worst place that yourDexcom alarm has gone off?
'cause that, I mean,
Yep.
Absolutely.
You know what gets me a lotnow is the night scout tune.
Like I bring my computer with me.
It's everywhere.
Yeah.
And sometimes Iaccidentally leave it open.
Everyone's just like
(33:06):
That thing is loud.
Yeah.
And it's horrible.
And you can't change.
It's the one noise that youcan't change and it's horrible.
It's like an alien like takeover sound.
It is and nobody knows what it is.
Yeah, no.
Nobody knows.
So it is a really unique sound.
Well, it was nice talking with you guys.
I know this was fun.
Yeah.
Our little meetups.
Forever.
(33:26):
Thank you for listening to thepodcast and I hope you enjoyed,
uh, some of our conversation justgetting to know us as people.
Yeah.
We're normal-ish.
For the most part.
For the most part, yeah.
Thanks for tuning in to ThinkLike A Pancreas--The Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don'tforget to like, follow or subscribe
on your favorite podcast app.
(33:49):
Think Like a Pancreas--The Podcast isbrought to you by Integrated Diabetes
Services where experience meets expertise,passion meets compassion, and diabetes
care is personal because we live it too.
Our team of clinicians, all livingwith type one diabetes understands
the challenges firsthand.
We're here to help no matterwhere you are in the world.
(34:10):
From glucose management to self-carestrategies, the latest tech,
sports and exercise, weight loss,type one pregnancy and emotional
wellbeing, we've got you covered.
We offer consultations inEnglish and Spanish via phone,
video, chat, email and texting.
Wanna learn more?
Visit integrateddiabetes.com oremail info@integrateddiabetes.com
(34:35):
to schedule a consultation.
On behalf of Think Likea Pancreas--The Podcast.
I'm Gary Scheiner, wishingyou a fantastic week ahead.
And don't forget to think like a pancreas.
Welcome to Think Like a Pancreas,the podcast where our goal is to keep
you informed, inspired, and a littleentertained on all things diabetes.
The information contained in thisprogram is based on the experience
and opinions of the IntegratedDiabetes Services clinical team.
Please discuss any changes to yourtreatment plan with your personal
(00:33):
healthcare provider before implementing.
Hi guys.
Welcome back to the ThinkLike a Pancreas Podcast.
I am Kathryn Alvarez and I'm goingto be hosting today talking to
my two friends, Dana and Jenny.
And you guys will get to know us.
So you get to-- like the wholeinside scoop of who we are.
Yay.
Let's kick it off.
Dana, like what brought you to IDS?
(00:55):
Why are you a diabetes educator?
Why did you do that?
My gosh.
Um, so when I was diagnosedwith diabetes, I was in my early
twenties and had so many plans.
So many plans for being active.
So many plans for starting a family.
So many plans for just all thethings I wanted to accomplish
(01:15):
in the world and on a differenttrajectory in terms of education.
But the diabetes educator that Iworked with was just so profound
in my diabetes education.
Because I think when you're, you'renot diagnosed as a young child, but
you know, you're kind of taking onyour diabetes management as yourself.
(01:37):
It can be super lonely.
You know, you don't go to diabetes camp.
You don't have your parents, youknow, necessarily as involved because
you're not living with them so much.
And so this woman, her name isDeanna, ironically, close to Dana.
She was fantastic.
And so she was the one who kindof started me thinking about,
um, becoming a diabetes educator.
(01:59):
I have a master's in public health.
I had a totally differentdirection in terms of career.
I did public policy and lobbyingfor a little bit, and then I decided
to make lemonade out of lemons.
And that's kind of the silverlining of my diabetes story.
I feel like she really was the onewho just showed me that you could be
impactful on someone's life and diagnosisin like a low point of their life,
(02:22):
and then just start to show them thatdiabetes is not a limiting factor at all.
It can be your superpower,is what I like to say.
Cool.
How 'bout that!
How about you, Jenny?
I'm one of, well, you know,prior to diagnosis, I really
wanted to be a veterinarian.
I think all young girls do.
Right?
I remember being that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just, um, and I actually had,we, our, I grew up with cats and
(02:45):
so, um, our veterinary servicewas not too far from my house.
It was only like a half a mile away.
And so I had even done, from about fifthgrade until my diagnosis, I had done
some summer just volunteer work withthe pets that were there while they
were, you know, overnight for a coupleof days or whatever for surgeries.
(03:06):
Really got to know it.
And I really, reallylike, I really liked it.
That's what I thought.
So, and I've always been moreinterested in math and science.
I really have always likedthose kinds of things.
So then I was diagnosed with typeone and kind of like you, Dana, I
had a really good education team.
I mean, I spent.... you know, yearsago they used to have you spend
(03:28):
like an a week in the hospital
Yeah.
With diagnosis.
And 37 years ago, that waskind of the, the thing,
the standard
that they did.
Like you just got to sit in the hospitaland learn all the things that you were
gonna learn and make sure you could takean injection and you know, whatever.
But I had
Into the orange.
Pinch the orange!
Which it's not pinchable likeunless you remove the skin,
you cannot pinch an orange.
Right, right.
(03:50):
Um, anyway, it's kind of funny.
In the hospital, I actually, I had astuffed animal with me and I asked if
like, there was no Rufus at that time.
There was, there wasnothing except the orange.
Yeah.
So
I asked if I could actually usemy stuffed animal because it was
pinchable and the orange wasn't.
Already ahead of the curve, Jenny.
Ahead of the curve.
There you go.
(04:10):
Yeah.
I should have designed Rufuss, man.
Yeah.
But yeah, I, I really good team.
Uh, gosh, I still remember my diabeteseducator was a nurse, and once I got to
high school, I actually found out that shewas the, the mom of one of my classmates.
I didn't know them in gradeschool, but once I got to high
school, you meet more people and
Yeah.
Um, her name was Nan.
(04:31):
She was fantastic.
Really, really patient.
Like, listened to me even as,like the age that I was at.
And then the dieticianeducator that worked with her
was also just as fantastic.
Interestingly, I don't rememberher name, which is odd because
they were really awesome together.
But after that just kind of startedthinking more, especially once I got into
(04:53):
high school about, gosh, I really like,I really like the nutrition part of this.
I really like learning about what fooddoes, and I think that was my early
learning of the macronutrients andthe value to what they do in my body.
And I was an athlete and they, as ateam, were really good at explaining
that for me, which, I mean, itclicked in my brain, at that age.
(05:18):
Right?
Um, so I kind of changed courses,not in college, but I changed courses
and was again, one of the weirdones who goes to college kind of
knowing what I really wanted to do.
So yeah, that's kind of, and then I wentto school obviously for, um, biology.
Then just did emphasis in humanbiology and nutrition, um, as my
(05:40):
track and all the fun things thatyou end up learning along the way.
Mine was like completely unorganized.
So I, uh, when I was little, I wantedto be a bone doctor is what I would say.
So I thought I would bean orthopedic surgeon.
Is that because you werebreaking a lot of bones?
Yes, it was.
I sure was.
Okay.
And so, yep, I was in that.
(06:02):
You in your crooked elbow?
Yep.
My elbow is crooked to this day.
It's great.
Yes.
And it's still very painful, butyeah, that's what I wanted to do.
And when I went away to college,by that time I had shifted.
I wanted to be an endocrinologist, so Istarted with biology and then I was like,
wow, I really don't like these classes.
(06:24):
It literally just took likeintro to bio, like this terrible.
Then I was gonna be a nurse and thenI was gonna be a sports psychiatrist
or something in that realm.
And then I read Think like a Pancreasrandomly, because my endocrinologist
recommended it and I was like, no.
(06:46):
I'm gonna be Gary Scheiner!
Which is
Wow.
Yeah.
Um, so I literally decided
a way prettier version.
Yeah.
Yes.
Thank you.
So that's what I, so I went forexercise physiology and then I.
I did my Master's in exercisephysiology and prior to going for my
master's, I got to connect with Gary.
(07:08):
And so we sat down at this cafe closeto the Integrated Diabetes Services'
office 'cause I was from Pennsylvania.
I'm from Lancaster, and I got towork in the office for a while as the
little intern while I went to school,which was pretty close as well to
the IDS office and did my master's.
(07:28):
But exercise physiology?
I feel like that was definitelythe path I was meant to go down.
It really impacted my life in apositive way and it was like a hard.
College was a very, verydifficult time for me.
Uh, just, you know, emotionally, andI'm surprised sometimes that I even got
through it 'cause my blood, um, well,my blood sugars, like I didn't pay
(07:50):
attention to very much until later onI was like the, I barely have diabetes.
I think that's so common for college kidsthat are so busy and trying to figure
out how to manage life independently,much less diabetes independently.
So I've seen that so often.
I think that's a good point.
And I think kids, like I alsowent a bit in that direction.
(08:13):
I mean, I don't know, were youon a pump in college, Kathryn?
No way.
So neither was I. And therewere no CGMs at the time.
Right?
And so, and pumps... I did... therewere pumps, but I didn't want a pump.
Right.
I mean, those initialpumps were just huge and
Not to me!
Yeah.
I mean, and they were.
(08:33):
So, I, I don't, I did it alittle bit more like, I just know
the things that I need to do.
And I, you know, at the time that I wasin college, I still had R and L insulin.
So, I mean, I didn't, it wasn't untila couple years into college that
Lantus came out as well as Humalog.
(08:54):
You know, a rapid insulin.
I was, God, I had read an article and,and I went to my endocrinologist and I
said, this is, this is what I want, right?
Like, this is what I clearlyneed and it'll help me.
But up to that point I was.
I've always been a little bit more oflike the rule follower as a first child.
So I did it like I was told todo, you know, and so I think I got
(09:15):
through college a little bit easiermaybe, because I just like, I always
volunteered to be the designated driver.
Mm-hmm.
I, I think in the back of my head I wasmore worried about what would happen and
nobody else would really know what to do.
So I don't know how yoursdiffered than what I did.
I didn't think about it.
I dunno how, it's, Idunno how I survived.
(09:36):
So like, not until like my senior yearafter reading Think like a Pancreas,
that I even realized like, whatwould be... so I didn't wear a CGM.
Well, I think that a lot of peopledo have that one moment of aha.
Perhaps maybe Jenny you didn't,but that one moment of like, oh,
I need to change the way I managethis, or this is like needing to
be a bigger character in my story.
(09:58):
I don't know.
I think for me it was trying to figureout how to do all of the activities
that I wanted to do, you know, whetherit's a marathon or climb mountains or
hike and just kind of try to figureout how to make diabetes fit into
that activity that I wanted to do.
Right.
I think that's the reason I, when I foundthose articles about the newer insulins.
(10:19):
Yeah.
Because I, I think at that point I wasalready like, washed out in doing it
the way that I was doing it and seeing,I, I didn't really feel like I was
missing out, but I felt like I alsowasn't just allowing myself maybe the
freedom that you gave yourself, Kathryn.
Right?
I was a little bit more stringent and Iwas like, gosh, this might make a little
(10:39):
bit like... allowance for variability.
I started a pump was because I wannaget pregnant and at the, you know, and,
and that was kind of the deal that Iguess I made myself is that, you know,
I'll get on a pump and then maybe,
and then it'll be fancy, right?
Yeah.
It'd be fancy.
Yeah.
I got on a pump because, uh, when I metGary, he bolus from his phone and I was
(11:03):
like, nobody told me you could do that.
How'd you just bolus from your phone?
Of course it was open.
Oh, so he was already looping?
I was like thinking several years ago.
Mm-hmm.
So that's where I sawit for the first time.
Yeah.
And then I think like amonth later I'm looping.
Yeah.
That's what brought me to it.
Was he looping with a Medtronicor was he looping with Omnipod?
Omnipod.
(11:24):
Yeah.
I think I was the first one inour practice actually to loop.
Really?
Really and it was, but I me and
Jenny, you and I started loopingaround the same time, almo, I
think just almost nine years now.
I think around
I
Halloween time is when, I thinkI'm coming up on nine years.
Yeah.
My Halloween, Halloween is actuallythe renewal for my Apple developer.
(11:47):
Yeah.
That's how I always remember it.
And I started looping on Halloweenin, I don't think my, you must maybe
a year out from, maybe a year soonerthan me, Dana, because mine was,
I may have also lost track.
2017.
That's right.
October 31st, 2017 was my first loop.
And it was not Omnipod connected yet.
(12:07):
They were still workingon the communication key.
Yeah.
No, I think I had my old Medtronicwith Loop for like two or three years.
Okay.
So you were definitelylooping longer than I was.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, I mean, I, and I can'tremember when you started with Integrated.
Um, 2020.
2020. Yeah.
So yeah, I had been, again, Imean it was just Gary, myself and
(12:29):
Alicia in the office at the time.
So I had a client I was working withthrough her pregnancy and she had,
previous to being a nurse, she hadactually, um done um, like computer, like
coding, development, that kind of thing.
So she really understood, andI was working with her and I'm
like, why am I not doing this?
(12:49):
So she offered to like meet up with me ona Saturday via Zoom, and I like, she wa it
was hours, it's like hours that she was,
Oh, mine took three weekends, I remember.
And the person that helped me, we Skyped.
I mean, remember Skype?
Oh, so it was Skype!
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were on Skype for likethree Friday evenings.
(13:10):
I mean, just trying to create this thing.
How did you find it, Dana?
What was your introduction?
Okay, so.
I'm gonna say it and don't tellanybody, but it was at the time,
the medical director for Omnipod.
I went to a dinner and she, youknow, it was obviously long before
Omnipod five, long before any of theautomated systems were commercialized.
(13:32):
Um, and she was, she was justtelling me about this, and then
as I learned more, I was like,well, how do I find out about this?
She gave me a couple people'semails to reach out to.
It was like a whole, like written onthe back of an envelope, literally, and
trying to go through the back channelsof the internet and so, yeah, but it was
like this Omnipod dinner that I went to.
(13:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean it's a really interesting...eons ago, it was really interesting
how you got connected with theright people, almost by chance.
Yes.
To hear about it because again, Imean our internet and our online
community presence has grown somuch even in the past three years.
Absolutely.
(14:14):
That when, you know, I startedlooping, when you started looping,
there really was a connected-- youstill had to go through like knowing
somebody and texting with that.
I mean, there wasn't a websitewith directions, right?
I mean that came much, much laterand um, and so beautifully done.
The community just,
And the directions they were likereading hieroglyphics on the wall.
Really!
(14:35):
The directions were, and that was why Iwas so glad she was walking me through it.
'cause she had already beenlike built it and used it.
And I was like, she knows that,she knows how to set it up.
I'm not gonna kill myself.
I didn't even attempt to do it by myself.
That's how confusing it was, you know?
Yeah.
I just, there was no way thatI could have figured it out.
Yeah.
So you came at a goodtime, Kathryn, you came in
Absolutely.
(14:56):
2019 and X code.
I went in.
I terminal.
I don't remember it being too, itwas definitely more difficult than
what it is now with building withFX code, but I don't remember.
Now it's just so beautifully easy now.
It is.
Yep.
And I, I, we clearly we're all, we'reall using it and that's the reason
(15:17):
that we're not only colleagues,but we're like, we're text friends.
Like what about this?
Right, right.
We talk all things, which is great.
So its great.
Now a word from our sponsor.
Byram Healthcare understands thatmanaging diabetes isn't one size fits all.
With a full range of CGMs insulinpumps and diabetes supplies from top
(15:38):
brands, Byram makes it easy to getwhat you need hassle-free, shipped
right to your door, and Byram's teamof experts helps navigate insurance so
you can focus on living your best life.
Ready for better diabetes care?
Visit byramhealthcare.com/podcast.
Or call 8 6 6 6 9 2 8 0 24 and select option three.
(16:03):
And now back to our program.
You guys wanna tell ourlisteners where you live?
Because I think that's something that likeso many people don't even know that...
like people assume we're in Pennsylvania.
We're not in Pennsylvania.
Yeah.
None of us.
None of us.
None of us.
Yep.
And I'm in, now I'm in Madison, Wisconsin.
And I'm in Jacksonville, Florida.
Um, of course from Pennsylvaniacan hear it in my voice and
(16:24):
I'm a big Eagles fan, Dana.
We're still friends, eventhough I'm a Cowboys fan.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not really a fan.
I mean, technically I shouldbe a Packer fan, I guess.
I mean, I grew up in Wisconsin.
My husband and I movedaway for a long time.
We were in DC before we moved back toWisconsin in a coup.. Number of years ago.
(16:45):
But, um, I mean, I really, I don'tcare that much about football.
So there's a little fact.
Yay.
I'd rather watch college
Maybe when your boysget a little bit older.
I found that me becoming a Cowboysfan just opened up a lot of good
conversation with me and my boys.
So I've got two sons and a daughter.
My daughter's not so mucha fan, but my boys are.
(17:06):
So it's fun to watch games together.
And they definitely, I mean, myhusband watches with them all the time.
They love watching together.
The sport that we all watchas a family is hockey.
I love watching hockey.
It's super fun.
We've been a very big FloridaPanthers fan, especially since
they've been in the Stanley Cup thepast two years at least, that we've
(17:27):
really been watching everything.
That's the kind of sport I candefinitely get into and cheer
for and stand up and yell.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I don't think I've ever watched a hockeygame on tv, so maybe I'll have to do that.
Yeah.
They're definitely more fun in person.
Yeah, they are fun in person.
Yeah.
We go to see, uh, the Badgers here duringthe winter, usually a couple of times.
(17:49):
Um, they're super fun games tokind of just get into, so yeah.
Dana, can't you ice skate?
I was a competitive figure skater growingup and, and then I coached for a while
through college to make extra money andso definitely knew a lot of hockey players
in my life and, but there was always thefigure skaters needed to finish working
out before the hockey players could come.
(18:11):
And so I have lots of memories of hockeyplayers just like on the sides, just
waiting, you know, tapping there thumbs.
Come on.
Come on ladies.
Let's get off.
Let's ...I spent a lot of time on the ice.
I don't think I've, I'venever been ice skating.
I broke my arm rollerskating, so I think I was
Okay.
Well, I feel like I need to teach you.
I'm a very good teacher.
Yeah.
So we'll need to figure outa meetup and, and skate.
(18:34):
Nice.
I haven't been skating in a long time, but
The last time I skated, Irefused to get off the ice.
We went for Mother'sDay several years ago.
Oh.
And I refused to get off the ice withoutdoing an axle, which is, you know, jump.
It's like muscle memory comes back,but I fell so many times that I
ended up having to get a hip MRI.
So I needed to remember, I'm likeway too old to be doing that.
(18:57):
That's like me.
I mean, I don't understandhow it happened.
I was like, there's no way ever in mylife, 'cause I did cheerleading, I was
like, there's no way ever in my life Iwill not be able to do a back handspring.
Right.
That is just muscle... I'll never lose it.
Sure.
And I did it.
Uh, the CWD conference two yearsago and I swear like my body
(19:18):
just ripped into two pieces.
Like that wasn't a good idea.
Yeah, I know.
It's really a tough pill to swallow.
I was like, I'm not getting off ice.
I'm gonna land this thing.
And my husband did get it on video though.
I did land it and um, it wasn't pretty.
Yeah,
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of funny when you getinto sports that you were into and then
(19:43):
potentially, like Dana, did some coaching.
I know Kathryn, you probably did some withlike your cheerleading stuff too, right?
Um, now having kiddos in sports, youdo, like, you have memory of how to
do it and how your body functionedand then you get into doing it and
you're like, yeah, that doesn't feelthe same as it used to feel at all.
(20:03):
I mean, I'm even careful.
My boys are both like into soccer.
Right.
I can play soccer.
I never really play played on teams, butI can play it and I feel like I'm a little
bit more like careful with how I turnand how I kick and how I move my body.
I would never, ever try to coach.
I was a cheerleader for years.
I would never try tocoach that at this point.
(20:25):
The flips and the turns and the movesand the going up in the pyramids?
No, no.
That's a good idea anymore.
You see, I haven't tried stuntingin a long time, so in my mind I'm
still so good at that and it's fine.
Like.
I got it.
It's good to have the memory ofit and know that you did do it.
Yeah.
Like I can do it.
I can do it still.
It's fine.
(20:45):
I can do it still.
Yeah, exactly.
You're just not gonna do it to find out.
I'm just gonna say it.
Yeah.
I think I found, and Dana,I mean, you're a runner.
I don't, Kathryn, do you run?
That's not even something I know.
You don't run?
No, no it's, It's a hard no.
It's a hard no.
Well, it was for mefor a really long time.
I never did cross country.
(21:05):
I never did track inhigh school or anything.
And it wasn't until I got married andmy husband was a runner and he's like,
why don't you go for a run with me?
And I was like, I don't run.
Like you should knowthat about me already.
Like I do not run.
Just a hard no.
It's a hard no.
Right.
And then I got going, doing it,and I found it like it's one of
my favorite things to do now,and I've done marathons and I,
(21:29):
I hear people say thatlike, but for me, nope.
Like, let me just like give you someexamples of how bad I am at running
and I don't know what it is like,but it's been since I was a kid.
When I was a kid, I ran a milewith, like my dad put me and
my brother into this mile race.
And we finished dead last outta this likemassive group of kids and like everyone
(21:53):
else had finished and they were eightminutes done before we finally came,
came down the hill and finished our mile.
And it was a downhill, it sounds like.
It was downhill, yes.
And for high school cheerleadingwe had, we absolutely had
to run an eight minute mile.
Yeah.
To be allowed to cheer forthe Friday night games.
Did I ever do it?
(22:14):
No.
But they were like, well, just.
They just made an allowance for you?
Sweet Katherine gotta go.
Gotta go anyway.
Katherine's good at all thegymnastics, so we'll just let her.
Leave her.
Yeah.
And then like Kenny would run sometimes,like in preparation for his bodybuilding
shows, so I'm like, I'm, yeah, I got this.
I'm, you know, I'm exercise physiologist.
I know how to breathe now.
Like I can, I can run now.
(22:35):
So we went out and he lappedme five times I think.
Okay.
We won't tell anybody, Kathryn.
It's all good.
Yeah, I think you shouldto yourself, Kathryn.
Yeah.
It makes you more lovable.
It's all good.
Absolutely.
There's lots of activitiesthat you shine at.
Yeah, it's fine.
It's totally fine.
Absolutely.
I will say, i've had a few injuriesthat have, um, caused me not to
(22:57):
have to, not to be able to runrecently, and I miss it all the time.
It's, um, so yeah, walkingother activities just don't
scratch that itch for me, sadly.
Yeah.
Yoga though.
Yoga.
Yeah.
Yoga.
Yoga's, yes.
I mean, I do all the things, but Idon't know, there's something really
about just running by yourself.
It's just such a good mental health.
There is.
(23:18):
I've always said, I was talking to my, um.
Kathryn's like, no way.
Kathryn's like, no, not for me.
I was talking to my, the, the woman whodoes my hair a number of years ago, um,
and we were talking about like meditationand that kinda stuff, and I just like,
my brain can't meditate that way.
I can't just sit still because Ithink about too many other things.
(23:40):
Whereas when I run, I'mlike a moving meditator.
Yeah.
I can get into something and workthrough it, and by the end of the
run I'm like, I've got the solution.
Like, I,
I love that.
I know what to do about that and so yeah,it's, it's definitely my like, mental
time to just breathe and whatever it is.
So it works well and I'm gladthat I was introduced to it.
(24:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, all the same things.
Yeah.
Walking, not running.
Does Gravy always walk with you?
Yeah, Gravy loves her walks.
Aw.
Yeah.
I miss running with my, I have abig chocolate lab and he used to
go on, um, runs with me, but he's.
He's 11 now.
So
Yeah, my two dogs willnot go very far anymore.
(24:23):
They like to go outside, butthey've got the limits for for sure.
So I like, so if I go toofast Gravy nips at me.
So like, I don't know if that's like,because she has some kind of hurting dog
in her, but like I can't, I can't pickup the pace, which, you know, it's great
because I'm not going to anyway, but
Have y'all ever had an animal thatpicks up on your blood sugar levels?
I have not.
No.
Yeah, I tried.
I taught Gravy.
So what I did was every timemy blood sugar went low, I
(24:48):
would give her some chicken.
It's like the Stella andChewy, not like real chicken.
Sure.
She's obsessed with Stella and Chewy.
So yeah, she'll come andshe'll like, hit me just from
So she, she really learned.
Yeah.
But not at night.
At nighttime, she's sleeping.
She's done.
Which, you know, with, with Trioand everything, it's like, I
don't really have overnight lows.
You're back to Trio from Loop?
(25:10):
Yes, I am back to Trio.
Yeah, I think all three of us thenare, are using Trio at the moment.
Yes.
Yeah.
I didn't, the only, I went off of itonce the Loop option for having it
look up the carbs and kind of populatethem in just to give that a try.
But very quickly wasglad to go back to Trio.
I just, um.
(25:30):
I don't know.
It's been definitely a helper.
You know, fun, female hormonalstuff, weirdness that trio just does
better with, as well as, I think itnavigates food a lot better as well.
Mm-hmm.
I agree.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
Once it's like dialed in, it's so, youjust have to pay attention so much less.
It's so nice.
I know it's uh, and it's nice againthat we have each other to kind
(25:55):
of reach out and talk to about it.
If I was doing it by myself, I don't knowif I would've stuck out as long as I did.
I think I would've reverted back to Loop.
But us doing it together was sosupportive and helpful for me.
Yeah, I mean, I can think evenback to eons ago of things that
I've done and enjoyed doing.
(26:16):
Like even my first marathon thatI did, I actually was on loop.
I had started,
Oh, I'm trying to rememberwhat I was on for my first, I
think it was a old Medtronic
An old Medtronic?
It was a, no, you know what it was,um, it was an Animas pump because,
well, my, it was a half marathon Iwas doing from the base of, um, Vail
(26:39):
Village to the top of Vail Mountain.
Wow.
Which was a big climb and myAnimas pump broke the night before.
And I was thinking all thistraining, how am I gonna do this run?
And I don't remember the person'sname, so forgive me, but whoever
was the Animas rep back then in theDenver area met me at a parking lot.
So if you're listening, I mean,it was the best thing ever.
(27:02):
And I was able to run thenext day with my replacement.
Yeah.
It's, and you know.
I had done before the marathon, likeyou, I had done many, many half marathons
already and hadn't had access toanything that was, I was the manipulator.
I was the one who knew where andwhen to make an adjustment and
what to do and where to fuel andall of those kinds of things.
(27:23):
And then the morning, so my firstmarathon was the Disney Marathon.
That's fun.
In Orlando, which was phenomenal,but you know, with Loop the
connectivity is what it is.
And at that time, loop was with RileyLink and the old Aeros pods and I
got to the start at like 3:30 inthe morning and I'm standing around
(27:43):
and like, there's no communication.
Like my loop is redand I'm thinking, what?
What am I gonna do now?
Yeah.
I trained for this entire, like severalhour long thing, and now my loop is red.
So you know, in the moment, likewe all do, it's kind of like,
well, you piece together a plan.
I went to open loop.
I went back to managing just with like atemp basil and all those kinds of things.
(28:07):
And then once I got running andit cleared out the people, my loop
turned green again and I went back toautomation and then my plan worked.
I mean, it was lovely.
It was absolutely the mostfantastic thing that I had.
I would say, that feeling where yourdiabetes technology loses connection
and then the moment it reconnects,whether it's a Dexcom signal or your
(28:29):
pump, you're like, thank goodness.
Like the day is not ruined.
You know?
Like, thank God.
Right.
Yeah.
It's like the best feeling.
What's the like the weirdest place thatyou guys have had a failure of something?
No, I don't go anywhere weird.
I mean, I've had plenty of like mistakes.
Um, one of the worst mistakes I ever did,
Hi Gravy!
What's a podcast if you don't meetGravy about meeting us, right?
(28:51):
Yes.
Right.
I took a pump vacation because I wasgoing scuba diving and I mixed up my
short acting and long-acting insulinright before a dive, and I was like,
you know, juicing and drinking andeating and had such a stomach ache.
That was not a technology problem.
That was a Dana problem.
(29:11):
Yeah, that was a self brain problem.
Yeah, that was just, thatwas just an awful problem.
Yeah.
I don't even.
We all have done it, right?
We all have.
One time, that was a little alongthe lines of not good, but it's
completely not what you asked, Jenny.
So, one time I was taking a test forItalian in college and I, my blood
sugar, I wasn't actually low, butyou know, you have like a fake low.
(29:35):
So I took my phone and put it outsidethe door so that it wouldn't make
noise 'cause this was before youcould like turn alarm off or anything.
So I put it outside the door and Ifinished the test and when I left
the classroom, my phone was gone.
Oh.
Someone had picked it up and went away.
So then I had no Dexcomconnection whatsoever.
(29:56):
It's not like I was using apump, so at least I wasn't like
relying on it for that, but.
Still, I guarantee that that's whatyou were using and you probably didn't
have the old school finger stick, beable to check your blood sugar, right?
No, I, I had my meter in my room.
Oh, you did?
Yeah.
Good job me!
Because I, I didn't get theCGM until of the senior year.
(30:16):
Um, so yeah, I, I still had the meter.
I probably hadn't used itin a very, very long time.
And who knows if I lost it and,or who knows if I used it when I
lost the phone, but I don't know.
I don't know what I did.
You know, diabetes goes with us everyday 24/7, but I always think back
to the times of when I've reallylike noticeably paid attention to
(30:38):
kind of carrying it with me, right?
Especially if I'm on my own and I amthe only one that can navigate me right?
In travel or all of thosedifferent kinds of things.
I think the, the most interestingthing that I had to do in terms
of navigating was when we.
Have you, Dana, have you been to Peru?
(30:58):
Have you done Machu Picchu?
And
It's definitely on my list.
Okay.
I mean, that was definitely a traveltrip that I had to think and plan
for because when you hike the IncaTrail, like there's no refrigeration.
Oh, sure.
Right.
There's no refrigeration.
Depending on what day travel you plan todo you stop along the way and you camp and
(31:21):
you like get cooked food, that there's,there's no way to look up the information
when you're on the top of a mountainside.
Right.
There's no Chat GPT help there.
Um, I know it just makes me grateful forall of the, kind of, all the technology
we have, but also being able to go backto the old school ideas that I learned
(31:43):
when I was first diagnosed because Ithink those are a really good like base
Absolutely.
To be able to adjust from
And that we don't freak out ifthe technology's not gonna work
because we've been there before.
Right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If that apocalypse does come.
Exactly.
Who's gonna win?
Who's gonna, who's gonna travelthe farthest and do the best
in the apocalypse of all of it?
(32:04):
No, I mean, I'm dying right away.
Like, freak,
You're gonna run toward the zombieand be like, yes, please eat my brain.
Just take me.
Take me.
I'm like, uh, yeah, no, I'lltry to run away and like trip
and fall or I'll pass out.
'cause like fight orflight, I literally die.
It's like a fainting goat.
I think my, my thing that I always think--the fainting goat, oh my gosh, that's,
I love those fainting goats.
(32:25):
Oh my god.
Or like a, the possum like play dead.
Yeah.
I'm already dead.
You don't want me like, right.
Yeah.
Old meat.
Me, I always think about that when, whenyou're thinking about the silly things.
I'm like, I would definitely bethe one who would try to hide and
then my Dexcom alarm would go off.
Oh, sure.
Or my pod would fail and I'dbe like, the dead giveaway.
(32:45):
I'd be like, it wasn't me.
I didn't give myself away.
That's a conversation weneed to have another time.
Is the worst place that yourDexcom alarm has gone off?
'cause that, I mean,
Yep.
Absolutely.
You know what gets me a lotnow is the night scout tune.
Like I bring my computer with me.
It's everywhere.
Yeah.
And sometimes Iaccidentally leave it open.
Everyone's just like
(33:06):
That thing is loud.
Yeah.
And it's horrible.
And you can't change.
It's the one noise that youcan't change and it's horrible.
It's like an alien like takeover sound.
It is and nobody knows what it is.
Yeah, no.
Nobody knows.
So it is a really unique sound.
Well, it was nice talking with you guys.
I know this was fun.
Yeah.
Our little meetups.
Forever.
(33:26):
Thank you for listening to thepodcast and I hope you enjoyed,
uh, some of our conversation justgetting to know us as people.
Yeah.
We're normal-ish.
For the most part.
For the most part, yeah.
Thanks for tuning in to ThinkLike A Pancreas--The Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don'tforget to like, follow or subscribe
on your favorite podcast app.
(33:49):
Think Like a Pancreas--The Podcast isbrought to you by Integrated Diabetes
Services where experience meets expertise,passion meets compassion, and diabetes
care is personal because we live it too.
Our team of clinicians, all livingwith type one diabetes understands
the challenges firsthand.
We're here to help no matterwhere you are in the world.
(34:10):
From glucose management to self-carestrategies, the latest tech,
sports and exercise, weight loss,type one pregnancy and emotional
wellbeing, we've got you covered.
We offer consultations inEnglish and Spanish via phone,
video, chat, email and texting.
Wanna learn more?
Visit integrateddiabetes.com oremail info@integrateddiabetes.com
(34:35):
to schedule a consultation.
On behalf of Think Likea Pancreas--The Podcast.
I'm Gary Scheiner, wishingyou a fantastic week ahead.
And don't forget to think like a pancreas.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.