That was just my point. It appears from here that he has more to teach us than to learn from us.
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I’ve been a fan of Arden’s day for a couple of years and really admire Scott and his tactics too. (and love his book!) Terry, you did a good job on the podcast. Very interesting - enjoyed it very much. Thanks!
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Thank-you, @Mari5.
Sometimes it strikes me as odd that I feel passion for disease management. But when I think about how difficult living with diabetes can be, and has been for me, it gratifies me that my discoveries can actually help other people.
When I found that other people with diabetes could paint relative flatlines with their CGMs, it put that option on my menu. If someone else can do it, then it is humanly doable. Why shouldn’t I also reach for that goal? It’s amazing to me that some of life’s most insurmountable limits are often those we place on ourselves!
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If you listen to Scott’s podcasts, you’ll learn a lot from him. Mostly just the sort of stuff that he and Terry talked about, but still quite incredible in that he and Arden are doing a lot of this remotely. He always says that he is not dispensing medical advice, but he is certainly teaching other parents and T1’s things that most doctors except Dr. Ponder aren’t saying.
@Terry4 the second half of the interview was just as good as the first half. But you didn’t even talk about Norm! So you need to have another podcast:-)
I realized that as soon as I signed off. It was one of those conversations where we could have gone on for at least another hour. Every exchange seem to want to lead me in two or three possible directions.
I sent Scott an email yesterday telling him about Norm. I know that some parents with young T1D children are interested in the topic. I was a founding board member of a service dog agency that specializes in training and placing hypo-alert dogs with children under 12. Most service dog agencies require that a child be at least 12 for a diabetes alert dog placement. The dogs only work in the home and do not go to school with the children. The dogs raise the alert with the parents and receive their food rewards from the parents. It’s a three-way relationship that works surprisingly well.
Since you are always flatlining, how do you keep your dog trained for lows??
My blood glucose still goes up and down. I hope my comments have not created an impression that I’m in range all the time. Norm is trained to alert to anything below 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/L). I think it is a bit of a training challenge when I hit a particularly good run and spend hours moving sideways under 100. If Norm alerts and I’m below 100, I treat, but I limit to about every 10 minutes.
I still have some classic lows that provide Norm good training opportunities. Last Saturday afternoon is representative of the opportunities Norm gets regularly, but not as often as in the past.
That low bottomed out at 44 mg/dl (2.4 mmol/L) and Norm was on it.
It took me some time before I could get an hour together where I could be focussed; to listen and not be doing other things. Well worth it. I have similar goals, but without a CGM I only get glimpses of where I am. I was particularly struck by the comment that observing the data lead to the desire to influence the data. I think that’s true of myself as well. I was encouraged to hear about the experiences both of you have with… non-standard bolus techniques. That is, techniques that aren’t on the pump’s menu. I’ve only dabbled, but I can see how the math would work out, so thanks for sharing that.
@terry4 loved the podcast! We have a very similar story, as it took a diagnosis of mild gastroparesis to turn things around for me. I have had T1D for 43 years, but I only started using a pump and CGM about a year and a half ago, and I am also passionate about diabetes management. My daughter also has T1D and she thinks I am extreme, but feeling good about your T1D management does take a lot of the negative emotions out of it. I recently read Sugar Surfing and I was already doing some of the stuff that Ponder talks about, but listening to you and Scott talk about your strategies has encouraged me to try some new approaches. Thanks!
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Nothing like good BG management to treat the blues! I think many of us were doing some surfing tactics before Ponder’s published work, but just didn’t have the structure and analysis that he provides. Mindful of operating in a dynamic environment catches a lot of the nature of diabetes challenges.
Glad you enjoyed the podcast. Scott does a great job. His recent interviews of Dana Lewis and Scott Liebrand on the OpenAPS inspire.
Terry4, loved the Podcast and love your voice! You should record some ASMR videos for YouTube and make that wonderful voice of yours earn its keep.
Thank-you for the compliment, @rgcainmd. I’m happy to have any voice at this point in my life. Risking providing too much information, there’s a medical story that explains my raspy voice. Not sure if I’ve told this story already, so if I have, please forgive me.
Back in 1999 I had a benign tumor removed from the nerve that powers my right vocal chord and it fell to it’s open position, not good to produce vocal sounds. I had a silastic implant installed to keep it permanently in a center position and enable the left and working vocal chord to vibrate and beat off it. Without that surgery, my voice was the equivalent of a strained loud whisper. During this time I had more than one customer phone agent refer to me as, “Ma’am.” I was ma’amed!
I felt lucky to find a doctor that pioneered this surgery and he restored a working volume voice for me.
I’m unfamiliar with ASMR videos. What are they?
well whatever they did it turned out… You could supplement you or retirement income by recording audiobooks now if you wanted…
Excellent podcast @Terry4! You and Scott made a number of excellent points - very interesting interview.