What do you use to treat lows on the go? One of the newest options is a flexible necklace, filled with 15 grams of fast-acting glucose. The Thrive Glucose Gel Medical Alert Necklace is easy to take with you, rip off and open if you need it. The idea came to first responder Kris Maynard after his own severe low had to be treated by paramedics. His family had tried to use the "red box" emergency glucagon kit but missed a vital step.
More about Thrive Necklace from Glucose Revival
Kris also shares that one of his teen sons has been diagnosed with type 1 via TrialNet and explains how their family is coping with that knowledge.
Listen to our first episode with Kris when the necklace was a prototype in 2018
Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom!
New segment this week! Innovations – focusing on hacks and tips and tricks to make our lives easier.
And Tell Me Something Good!
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Episode Transcription
Stacey Simms 0:00
Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop created for people with diabetes by people who have diabetes by Real Good Foods, real food you feel good about eating and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.
Announcer 0:20
This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms
Stacey Simms 0:26
this week, what do you use to treat those on the go? One of the newest options is inside a necklace. The idea came to first responder Kris Maynard, after his own low had to be treated by paramedics because his son didn't know how to mix up the glucagon correctly.
Kris Maynard 0:44
Why am I not carrying this for something that we know that works, and as an EMT, for 100% of the calls that I've been on for low blood sugar 100% of the responses have always been glucagon is just too much and it expires,
Stacey Simms 1:00
we'll talk about Kris's solution, the thrive necklace, and his son recently was diagnosed with type one. He shares that story
new segment this week innovations, focusing on hacks, tips and tricks to make our lives easier and tell me something good. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.
Welcome to another week of the show. I am so glad to have you on. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about type 1 diabetes by sharing stories of connection. I am your host Stacey Simms. My son was diagnosed with type one right before he turned two back in 2006. My husband lives with type two diabetes. I don't have diabetes. I have a background in broadcasting and radio and TV news. And that's how you get the podcast.
Quick birthday shout out to my mom. If you are listening today. This goes live on September 1. It's My mom's birthday. And she had a great line recently that I wanted to share with you. I was talking about how amazed I was with control IQ. We traveled back and forth from New Orleans recently to drop my daughter off at college. And Benny came with us. We rented an RV. I told this whole story last week, but it was basically you know, 11-12 hours in the car there. Same thing on the way home. And if you've done a long trip of any kind, you probably know that you need to raise your basal rates. We have done lots and lots of car trips. My parents are in Florida, we're in North Carolina, they spent the summer in Delaware. So we're all over the place. Except, you know, in the times of COVID, where we haven't traveled at all this was our first trip. Gosh, since everything started since March, probably but we've always had to raise Benny's bazel rates at least 50% that may seem like a lot, but he's very active kid and you know, sitting still, we really needed to increase basal rates by quite a bit over the years.
And of course now with control IQ, we don't change them at all and it does all of the work for us. I was absolutely amazed. For the two days that we were on the road. I only grabbed a screenshot of our trip there. I didn't look on the way home. But he was 84% in range for that time with an average glucose of 139, which I will take hands down any day, which it would translate, I guess to a one see if like 6.4 or 6.5. I mean, it's only two days. But that's if you're if that's how you look at the numbers, that's what you would get. Now, of course, when we got to the hotel, he fell asleep and didn't have insulin and his pump. He wasn't in my room. He was in my husband's room, so I'll blame them for that. I wait a minute. I know that. Nope. We got two hotel rooms. So I stayed with my daughter. My husband stayed with Benny and it was kind of nice to just have it was two days that we stayed there and it was really nice just to have some time alone with my daughter. But yeah, that's that sounded weird about the separate hotel rooms.
So that 84% range didn't last for another 24 hours but it was pretty close. I mean control IQ once you put insulin in the pump control Q does some incredibly heavy lifting for us. I was telling my mom about this, he was texting her about how great it was going. And she said, quote, sh—y disease, great technology. And I said to her, you know, I'm gonna send that to Tandem, because I'm sure they'd want to use that slogan. Anyway, thanks, Mom and Happy birthday to you.
We have a lot to cover. This week, I've added a new segment called innovations which will be coming up after the interview.
So let's get to it. Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop, and One Drop is diabetes management for the 21st century. One Drop was designed by people with diabetes for people with diabetes. One Drops glucose meter looks nothing like a medical device. It's sleek, compact, and seamlessly integrates with the award winning One Drop mobile app, sync all your other health apps to one drug to keep track of the big picture and easily see health trends. And with a One Drop subscription you get unlimited test strips and lancets delivered right to your door. Every one drug plan also includes access to your own certified diabetes coach have questions but don't feel like waiting for your next doc Visit your personal coaches always there to help go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the One Drop logo.
I met Kris Maynard more than two years ago, it was July of 2018. We did an interview on the floor of the friends for life vendor area. I mean, you know what I mean? on the floor of the vendor area, that big open area, we were sitting at a table, but doing the interview various how I realized my microphones were not meant to be held. I will link back to that first interview, and you will hear a lot of that (microphone noise). That's why I bought microphones standards.
But Kris Maynard's product that he brought to friends for life in 2018 was the prototype for what's become the Thrive Glucose Gel Medical Alert Necklace. He was there to get feedback, see if there was a need for the product. Kris is a first responder who lives with type one. At that same conference. His family went through trial on that testing. One of his teenage sons was found to have the markers for T1D, we've got a lot to talk about with Kris Maynard. Kris, thanks for coming on with me. It's great to talk to you again. I can't believe it's been two years. How are you?
Kris Maynard 6:11
I'm doing good. It's I'm excited to be here.
Stacey Simms 6:14
So much has changed. And I want to talk about not only your product and your family, there's a significant change there as well. But you caught my attention recently, because it looked like you were on Mount St. Helens. Can you tell me a little bit about what you've been doing?
Kris Maynard 6:29
Yeah, well, it's something I've always wanted to do. I mean, it's really a way that I really wanted to be at a test or product. And I've learned over the last couple years, how much I love diabetics. I love being around other people that's living with the disease. So I wanted to be able to just challenge other diabetics to join us into making that hike. And I mean, it was something that physically was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. But at the end of the day play it was so enjoyable. absolutely loved it. How long
Stacey Simms 7:01
was it?
Kris Maynard 7:02
round trip? It was a total of about nine to 10 hours.
Stacey Simms 7:06
Now pardon my ignorance, but when I think of Mount St. Helens I only think of I think like so many people. I think of it as a an active volcano.
Kris Maynard 7:15
Yeah, yeah. Okay, just make sure I'm not wrong. No, you're exactly right. 40 years ago is when it exploded here in Washington State. And we live about five hours away from it, and it just covered our city with ash. And so I was I don't remember five years old or so at the time. And I just remember wearing the masks really, of what we see being worn around today.
Stacey Simms 7:41
I'm a child of the 80s I remember it's one of the the significant news events of my childhood like when they say what do you remember when you were a kid? You know, that's one of them. So living around the area, and again, pardon my ignorance, but people are allowed to climb now and you can go up there, there's no restrictions,
Kris Maynard 7:56
correct. But you need permits to go there. We actually bought Tickets before co started because in April's when they start selling the permits, and those permits sell out within the first day or two. And so we got ours then to where they only allow 100 people to go up per day. And so it just happened to be that last week was our magical day.
Stacey Simms 8:22
And you had a look at the pictures. You had young people, you had diabetes educators, was almost everybody in the group, part of the diabetes community.
Kris Maynard 8:30
Yes, well, the most encouraging thing to me was two things is one person during the first mile was ready to call it a day. It was just too complicated in that first mile, and we'd kind of just gathered around and saw where she was struggling and she continued on was able to finish it, which was amazing in itself because when we look back, that first mile was 100 times easier than the rest and then 13 year old who's got type one. And I just physically think how hard and how exhausting it was for me. And to think that that 13 year old, was able to do it, because he had his struggles along the way as well. But for him to be able to enjoy that with his dad was just, I mean, encouraging and motivating. For the rest of us. It was amazing that he was able to finalize that exhaustive day.
Stacey Simms 9:29
Did anybody need the thrive necklace,
Kris Maynard 9:32
three people used it. In fact, the 13 year old ran out of supplies. That was the last thing that he had on the way back in about two and a half miles left, which was amazing because the cell service on that mountain was better there. And sometimes in the some houses or buildings that we go in and out. So he texts me saying, Hey, we just ran out of supplies. I'm worried for my son. Who just ran out of his food, his drinks and everything else. And so he said he just used the necklace. I don't know what his number was, but and then afterwards, he said it bounced back up to 157. But there was also other problems that he was also going through between the cramps running out of water. So it really wasn't about the necklace. It was being with other diabetics making that climb.
Stacey Simms 10:28
Well, yeah, and I guess that's a good point. It's a good place to run out of supplies. If you're surrounded by people who also have their own. I assume that they shared with him or he got down.
Kris Maynard 10:37
But I mean, by that time, we were separated, we were actually done. And so I we had to drive back to the finish line. And a friend of mine that was with me, I couldn't make the trek back because my legs were just cramped up and stiffened up and the buddy of mine who's in better shape, ran that last two miles to be able to get supplies. So, the buddy was amazing. He was the former firefighter. And another person was able to call 911, just in case, and then to see him walk that finish line to where you wouldn't have noticed that he was tired at all, or that his legs were stepped up at all. So yeah, I mean, it was fun to be able to embrace at the end and just cheer him on. And that's really beyond seeing him at the top of the mountain and then seeing him finish no one the struggles that he went through.
Stacey Simms 11:30
Alright, let's talk about the thrive medical alert necklace. Give me your elevator speech. What is this? Yeah,
Kris Maynard 11:37
well, it's funny because when I saw it a couple years ago, at the friends for life conference, really still at that point, it was just an idea. And we needed to figure out if it was something that was wanted or needed on the market that kind of helped formulate along with messaging that we're going through with other diabetics on now we need to make something out of it. And so learning that 80% of the diabetics Don't carry glucagon. And from the EMTs perspective 75% of the EMTs cannot administer glucagon can't give injections or can't give IVs. And so I look at it from the EMT side and from the diabetes side. So really the elevator pitch for us is we have the only wearable product to be able to help with the most common issue that diabetics face which is low blood sugar by using what EMTs use, being able to use it for any level of low blood sugar from a low to a severe state.
Stacey Simms 12:35
No, let me just clarify that because I've always confused when I hear that one of the EMTs do how do they treat low blood sugar if they come across someone who needs that kind of help?
Kris Maynard 12:44
Well, I'll take you from a time that I was unconscious camping with my kids is that they take the glucose gel, bring it and rub it on their finger and just massage it on the gums to become absorbed. And it was funny because that But it happened to me. I've administered it many times throughout my career, but I just never thought of carrying it myself because we always had glucagon. Well, that time that the ambulance was called for me, my son administered the glucagon for me called 911. What I thought that he knew was how to properly put it together. He didn't mix the two together. And so that was our failure on teaching him. But that's when I thought, why am I not carrying this for something that we know that works, and as an EMT, for 100% of the calls that I've been on for a low blood sugar 100% of the responses have always been glucagon is just too much and it expires. And so at that point, we're just thinking of a cheaper alternative that's really easier to find.
Stacey Simms 13:53
So what was the reaction when you went from idea to product because when I last talked to you, we're not shipping as He said this was something more of a concept. What was the reaction?
Right back to Kris. But first diabetes Connections is brought to you by Real Good Foods, introducing real good entree bowls, real ingredients, high protein, gluten free and low carb. So what are they're talking about here they mean Mongolian inspired beef, lemon chicken, lasagna, chicken. Real Good Foods is here to make delicious foods. We feel good about eating. And by adding these entrees, you can really see where they're going here. They want to make nutritious foods across every meal, snacks, even desserts, but they're delicious ice creams readily available at the local grocery store. We can get our products at the Harris Teeter, they have them at Walmart. Now not everything is in every store so you can find their guide. Just go to the website. You can even get a great coupon right now. And you can order online for everything that they've got. Find out more about Real Good Foods. Just go To Diabetes connections.com and click on the Real Good Foods logo. Now back to Kris and he is answering my question about the first reaction he got to the thrive necklace.
Kris Maynard 15:14
overwhelming. Because again, I was thinking and an idea that day worked for me. And that's really where it was going to go to until my endocrinologist came back and said, You ought to make that available to all diabetics because you don't know how many or who you can help. And so that's when we took it to friends for life after that, and then seeing the reactions of people touching it. There was fun to see, in really all of this. The most exciting thing for me is being able to meet diabetics because before I went to that conference, there was only one other diabetic at that point that I've ever met or known. And now since then, I've met thousands. Each one of them. I get excited to meet because I love hearing their stories. I love seeing what works for them. And I love being able to share how we can help them as well.
Stacey Simms 16:07
So tell me what the necklace actually is. Can you describe it because obviously, this is a podcast, we're not looking at it, although I will link up the website so people can see what it is,
Kris Maynard 16:15
yeah, thrive glucose aid. It's implemented as a medical alert necklace. And as it's pulled off, I mean, it's held on by magnetic connectors. So it can really I just say rip it off, and then it becomes uncapped, like a toothpaste container. And it's just squeezed out. And you can put the tube right onto the gums, if that's the state that the diabetic needs to be able to get the help. Or I can just take it off and put it in my mouth and really just squeeze it out myself to just get my blood sugar back up.
Stacey Simms 16:48
And when you say it's also medical alert, it's got the medallion on it. Tell me about that.
Kris Maynard 16:52
Well, I went through a two year process, we put the blue circle on it as the symbol of diabetes because I wanted people to be Got to recognize it knowing that this is for diabetics to be able to help diabetics. And I mean, it took me two years to be able to get permission to be able to use that from the International diabetes Federation to whereas on the backside, is where it says type one diabetes or diabetes, so that again, it signifies if an EMT or someone looks at it, if they don't recognize the blue circle, they can see that it is a person with diabetes.
Stacey Simms 17:26
I know you've heard this, so it's not criticism. But what do you say to people who tell you? Look, Kris, this is great, but I can just throw some Smarties in my pocket. Or, you know, I've got the icing with me, what do I need this for? I wouldn't argue with that at all.
Kris Maynard 17:43
Because I mean, when I learned that only 58% of diabetics carry something to treat with hypose that concerns me that concerns me that 80% of the people don't carry glucagon. So it's that 80% that I'm scared for and I want to To help if people can eat something, or drink something, that's what I want them to do. Matter of fact, if they're conscious enough to be able to take something else, we don't want them to use the necklace because there's more cost effective alternatives. Matter of fact, with me, I carry a, like a eight ounce juice really wherever I go to where I'm saving the necklace for my wife, kids or someone else to where if I can't administer it to myself, they know where to find something. They don't need to go look in a duffel bag, a drawer, a car, wherever it might be. They know where to find it, they can rip it off and now administer it to me. Is it refillable? It is and that was another process through our FDA attorney from the get go she said it cannot be bought. Why is the question
Stacey Simms 18:48
in the way I did you heard me like bracing. Can you kind of Yeah, because I remember it couldn't be at the time but
Kris Maynard 18:53
yeah, it took about six months to be able to figure out that on being able to have them Make it refillable, because from the get go when we initially started about, we wanted it to be refillable to be more cost effective for the diabetic. So that was hurtful news when our FDA attorney told us that it cannot be and then once we figured out how to make it refillable, then we got back on track with what our goal was.
Stacey Simms 19:22
So while back, you were making these available for healthcare providers, and now I see you're making them available for teachers. Yeah. Tell me about these campaigns. How did you decide to do this?
Kris Maynard 19:34
It's funny because you give me the chills when I hear that the health care workers as soon as COVID started, I'm all about the diabetic from the business side. I don't look at it, unfortunately, and I hate to admit that I don't look at it from the business side. I've never looked at coming into this business trying to make money from it. When COVID started, I wanted to be able to provide a way to all diabetic healthcare workers so that they have something And just because at the time and still today, we didn't want them to have to worry about a low blood sugar at a time that they're working their tail ends off on to helping us in our country trying to get it back to a normal state. And so I mean, we ended up giving about $70,000 worth of product during about a four month period. And now as schools are starting to begin now our goal is because the lack of school nurses and and the ones who can actually help administer anything, because ours is FDA a food product. Now, teachers, principals, friends, family, anybody can help with this. If it's needed. They don't need to wait for the EMTs fire trucks ambulance crews to arrive. Now they can help administer what's within our necklace knowing that that's what EMTs are going to use anyways.
Stacey Simms 20:57
Alright, so tell me the secret. How are you? able to afford all of this and how can we help?
Kris Maynard 21:03
I still have my firefighting job. And so time if you can afford me more time, I would love it. Fortunately, we did get some good press out there. And we are able to match really one per one on what we gave away versus what we're selling. And if I can continue that match in one for one, I will do this for the rest of my life, being able to get this out there until there's something else out there that can do better. And I know there's other products. In fact, one product I just picked up and I've been in deep discussion with with xirrus because I think their company that's offering one of the best solutions for low blood sugar, or a severe unconscious with their new GE Volk auto injector. I absolutely love that product. I brought that with me when I climbed Mount St. Helens just so I can have Security so other people can have that security as well. I don't look as a business that I'm trying to compete with anyone. I just want to be able to provide something for anyone that wants to wear a wearable or to have a product to where they feel more comfortable with. And I compare it to some people like apples, some people like peaches, some people like great. And that's what we are. We're one of those.
Stacey Simms 22:25
I love it. It's interesting when you're talking about xirrus and the G Volk hypo pen, you mentioned at the beginning of this, that your son didn't mix up the glucagon, the traditional that red emergency box right that glucagon correctly. And so many studies show that people do not do that correctly. I went to a training, it's probably four years ago now. And I'm, you know, I'm so well educated and every year I take out the old glucagon and mix it make sure I know what I'm doing. And the CDE laughed at me because he said I was holding it wrong. I had my thumb on the back of it. So I would have actually have pushed it too early, you have to throw it like oh, throw it you have to hold it like you're throwing a dart Do not throw your look. Yeah. So I was shocked that I would have been one of the many, many people who use it incorrectly. I kind of ask you, is your son okay about what happened? I mean, I know that you probably are fine. And you know, and you've got to reassure him, but after all this time is he is he's still upset about it.
Kris Maynard 23:23
Oh, he wasn't upset about it that next day. Oh, great. He knew and I knew that it was an educational thing that I neglected on, leading to him. But I mean, at the end of the day, nothing happened. I was able to after I got the glucose in my mouth, everything was fine. And so fortunately, he was able to move up and move on with his day, the next day. Wow,
Unknown Speaker 23:47
that's great, though. How's everybody doing? Now? You've got two sons. They're both just they're both off to college.
Kris Maynard 23:53
Yes, one just moved out this last few weeks and the other ones getting ready to move in about three weeks. And the scary part from my end is the one that's moving across the country is expected to be a type one within the next two years. And that's really something that motivates me encourages me to try to get heavily involved with the diabetes side. There's a lot of things that I don't think being done enough for diabetes, and I want to make sure that I understand the full spectrum so that I can get him the help he needs. Because really, when I was young into my firefighter career, I lost my job for two years because of a low blood sugar. I want to make sure that that doesn't happen to him. And that doesn't happen to any other diabetics.
Stacey Simms 24:41
When you say he's expected to become type one. I assume you've done trialnet correct. Wow. Tell me about that experience. Had you always taken the kids through or was it something you did that you tried newly Can you can you share a little bit about that?
Kris Maynard 24:57
Yeah, the friends for life conference really changed. Many things about me personally, and for the rest of my life, because that conference to me taught me so much. And that's where we were introduced to trial net. And that's where we brought our kids to get tested, including my wife, she got tested as well. And that's where we found out our son had to have the indicators that he's going to be a type one at that point was within the next five years.
Stacey Simms 25:24
Has he shown any signs? Is there anything that you have to do now? Or is it just something that you kind of monitor?
Kris Maynard 25:29
No, it's something we monitor, and he could have gone through some trial testing. But we left it up to him to decide if he wants to partake in that. So really, what I do is I'll take my decks and have him wear it for a few days so I can monitor him to see if his numbers are elevated at all. And fortunately, he's a good sport about it. He still doesn't like to get poked or prodded at but fortunately he's had me to figure out the ups and downs with a diabetes. So he's up for, I almost think that he's an expert in it just as much. But getting him to really, as I say, play my game so I can monitor him and see how he's doing. So the scary part for me is when he goes to college, because now we're apart from him. And so we've been in great discussions with the school nursing program, so that I mean, I'm asking them to test his blood sugar every time that he comes in for a doctor's appointment, so that they know and he knows where he's at.
Stacey Simms 26:35
Are you and your wife, glad that you went through trial net, knowing what you know now?
Kris Maynard 26:40
Yes, whether it's good news or bad news, I always like the truth. That just helps us to be able to prepare and educate him in the process, because I'd hate to find out in two years from now, without knowing that he's a type one thinking that we could have prepped him in some way and so He's really prepped now to become a type one at any point. I love the, of what trialnet is doing and what they offer.
Stacey Simms 27:07
Thanks so much for sharing that. I think people worry about doing trial net, you know, they're not sure what they're going to find out, but I would want to know, so what's next for you? You go on up any more volcanoes you coming up with any other products? Or are you just trying to get your kids off to college?
Kris Maynard 27:22
You know, going up that mountain, I said probably a good 20 times remind me never to do this again. Because of how hard it was. But now that I'm past it, I would love to go do another mountain climb. It's weird how the mind works and how forgetful it can be once you get past something. But at this point, I mean, the the group that we're with, they are more experienced than what I'm in on the mountain climbs. They want to start doing some annually. Whether we do that or not, I don't know at this point. The fun part of this journey too is that somewhere along the line Shark Tank, found us and reached out to us and interviewed me and said, Hey, would you like to be a part of the show? And thinking immediately, I would love to broadcast diabetes on a national stage. So, yes, and so they gave me one week to make a video. And that video that we made, we shared on social media and got tons of viewership tons more than what we normally do. The hard part that we've learned from that is that they said they would contact me by whatever date that it was, and we'd never heard back so we assume we didn't make it to the show. But again, what a fun experience to be able to go through trying to figure out how to put something together answering 50 questions, getting it done within one week and a video getting it back to them.
Stacey Simms 28:55
So you never know they may call and now you know for the next time too. had to do that even better. But we'll keep an eye out for you. Yeah, that sounds great. And I'd love to, is that video still online?
Kris Maynard 29:06
Yeah, we have it on our YouTube channel. I don't think it's on the website anymore.
Stacey Simms 29:12
I think Listen, it's a great experience, right? And you never know, they could call. But we'll leave that video up, you know, maybe somebody listening will see it be able to pass it along to the right people you never know.
Kris Maynard 29:23
Yeah. And again, it really I mean, two things is one I want to get diabetes on that national stage and to the blue circle. I've been in contact with the CEOs that beyond type one jdrf and the ADA on hoping that they will just put the blue circle around their emblem, I don't want them to lose their emblem, but really, each one of them has told me that they want to brand themselves and from that from the diabetes side. That's not comforting to me, because I know outside of the diabetes community, what I've learned is that the jdrf is really known as "the Walk" And the ADA is known as "the legal". And most people don't know what beyond type one is. And I think if the diabetes community got on the same page, how much efforts we can make, because the pink ribbon for breast cancer, I mean, it took them about 15 years to be able to build up that, but the funding for that from the government agencies skyrocketed. And so that's what my hope is with the blue circles to get the diabetes community whether it's type one or type two, because the power numbers coming together, and recognizing that blue circle is what's important to me. So that the fundings there so that I mean, if one out of every three in our world is going to eventually have diabetes, now's the time to come together so that it can get the funding that it needs. So that one out of three doesn't need to get diabetes.
Stacey Simms 30:51
I hear you. Well, Kris, thank you so much for jumping on and sharing your story and the update with us. I really appreciate it. It's great to talk to you again.
Kris Maynard 31:00
It's great talking to you, Stacey. I appreciate your time so much.
Announcer 31:08
You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.
Stacey Simms 31:14
And you could find out more about Kris and about the necklace. There's a couple of different kinds, mostly about sizes there. And there is a promo code, you can find that all at the episode homepage at Diabetes connections.com. Kris is generously giving my listeners 15% off using the promo code, blue circle, and that is all one word. And I really wish him the best. It's not easy to have both your kids going off to college, certainly in a year like this. And certainly at a time when the younger one you know, they're kind of waiting to see what happens in terms of diabetes, but I'm a huge fan of trial net. I really do think as he said, you know, you want to know and I have a lot more information on the website as well. If you want to search that up. We have a very robust search box if you're new to the show. This is Episode 320. And you can search by episode type. You can search by Subject keyword or by date, and we've done a couple of episodes on TrialNet that I would highly recommend.
Alright, my new segment Innovations coming up in just a moment. But first diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And when Benny was very little, and in the bathtub or at the pool, a kid could have spent the whole summer in the pool. I always noticed his fingertips. I mean, you know exactly what I mean. They were poked so much, they were just full of little pinprick holes. You can really see when they got wet, although I don't know if people actually know this anymore. I mean, they were like little Franken fingers. But when when you have a little kid now, so many of you are already on Dexcom so quickly, I'm not sure if you've gone through this. This is fingertips basically look normal right now. We have been using Dexcom for almost seven years. With every new iteration we have done fewer and fewer finger sticks. The latest generation the G six eliminates finger sticks for calibrations and diabetes treatment decisions. Just thinking about doing the 10 finger sticks we did every day in the past makes me so glad that Dexcom has helped us come so far. It's an incredible tool. If your glucose alerts and readings for the G six do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. To learn more, go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo.
Alright, let's talk about innovations. This is a new segment I'm starting because I have heard about so many fun things over the years that you are so smart to come up with. And I want to help spread the word. So let's start talking about your innovations. Now this segment will include everything from probably cool stuff coming down the pipeline that we hear from industry and tech companies and I really want it to include your innovations and that can be everything from the woman Gosh, I wish I remembered who this was years ago. She gave me the advice of if you're in a hotel and you have insulin in the fridge or if you're leaving your home and you have insulin in the fridge you want to bring on a trip. She leaves a shoe in the refrigerator the shoe she is going to wear in the morning So she does not forget. Now I use that but I put my car keys in the fridge. Because I'm not putting a shoe in my refrigerator. I'm not even putting my shoe in a hotel refrigerator. But I do put car keys in so that you don't forget, it really helps. You can't go anywhere without the keys. And when you get the keys, if you forget where you put them, hopefully you remember you put them in the fridge. There's the insulin. So that's the kind of stuff I'm thinking of for this segment. This week. Although I guess I just gave you one there.
I want to talk to you about happy Bob. Happy Bob is a new app. And it was created by a mom of a child with Type One Diabetes. Her son was diagnosed at age six. She lives in Finland, which by the way has the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes in the world. What is happy Bob, it is an app that connects to Apple Health kit, it streams CGM data. Now it gives you you know, stars that you can collect. And I think there's a bunch of apps out there that have tried to gamify diabetes, which really hasn't gone over that well because most people they just want to do less. They don't want collect points. Although that is a popular aspect of happy Bob, the big deal about it is that it gives you editorial for where you are. It'll say things like your blood sugar is 110. You are awesome. Or your blood sugar is 138. Your numbers today has been on fire. If I had a buddy, I'd be dancing right now. He was silly things like that. But the best part about happy Bob, in my opinion, is his alter ego snarky Bob snarky Bob enjoys making. I wouldn't say rude comments, but more sarcastic comments. And they're always changing. They're funny. It's just such a smart idea. Now I did mention that it links to Apple. I just found out that they are testing the Android app. So of course they are developing this. There's even a Facebook group I think or a Facebook page for sure. For happy Bob. So I will link all of that up in the show notes. I tried to get Benny to put it on his phone. But he as of this point is not interested although he did think that the snarky Bob It was pretty entertaining. kudos to them for doing this. I think it's fantastic. If you have an innovation like that, send me something I'll post in the Facebook group as well. You can always email me Stacey at Diabetes connections.com. I'm very interested to see what we come up with as a community. You've got some great fun hacks out there and some really useful stuff too. So let's help each other and spread the word.
All right, time for Tell me something good. And this one is really a nice one. We don't have any huge milestones. I don't have any marathons or 50 year diversities. These are all kind of a day in the life kind of things you'll understand what I mean. Caitlin says my tea Wendy got to have her first playdate with her best friend. Since lockdown began in March. They were so happy to see each other and only had to be reminded once to keep their masks on, which was pretty amazing to me. She writes since they are four and five years old. When we left she said it was her best date. Mike Joyce said the wild flowers on the Pacific Northwest trail are pretty great. And he sent a beautiful picture he posted in the Diabetes Connections Facebook group. Also Mike writes, I've walked a third of the trail to the Pacific Ocean from Glacier National Park. Mike keep the pictures coming. That said our six year old T1D jumped off a small Cliff into a mountain Cove this weekend. She has no fear of man, everybody's getting outside. I mean, that's one good thing. We're all spending more time outside and Shelley said the rain is finally filling up our new backyard lake. If you look closely in this picture, again in the Facebook group, you can see my four year old and his new favorite way to burn that glucose and this kid is splashing.
So if you have a Tell me something good. I think these are all great stories. Send it to me Stacy at Diabetes connections.com or post it in the group. Just something that makes you smile. I love sharing these stories. Before I let you go, I am working on a new episode. This will be out probably by the end of this week, and I'm a little nervous about it. So I really hope you give it a listen, I have a feeling. I've been working on this for a while that the philosophy of kid first diabetes second is really not working, actually never worked. So I'm going to be talking about that what I mean explaining it and dipping my toe into I think some pretty controversial borders. So I'm not asking you to agree with me. I mean, you haven't even heard it yet. I am asking you to give it a listen and let me know what you think that'll be out in just a couple of days. And then back to our regular you know, interview type episodes next week. big thank you to my editor John Bukenas from Audio Editing Solutions. A big thank you to you as you listen, I absolutely adore doing this every week. It is such a privilege to create the show for the diabetes community. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here in a couple of days for that bonus episode. Until then be kind to yourself.
Benny 39:07
Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged
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