Deborah continues with her “firsts” themes and shares the story of how the brand of Diabetic Real came to be and emerged out of something that was less than a happy situation. It became the solution to voices that needed “to be heard.” Or boobs, elderly people, and the governor’s office.
Chapters
- 00:00 Intro (and Disclaimer)
- 00:49 Deborah’s Introduction
- 01:33 The Origin of the DiabeticReal Brand
- 03:14 The Boobs
- 08:10 The Governor
- 10:02 The Elderly
- 12:52 Closing (including Seaside Records)
Research Links
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Episode Credits
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Transcript
I'm living inside of this Perfectly Wonderful World.
Michael Anderson:Join Deborah E, multi-award-winning singer, podcaster, and
Michael Anderson:speaker, who proves that being diagnosed with a life-changing illness as a child,
Michael Anderson:along with countless hospitalizations, and a family who told everyone she'd be dead
Michael Anderson:before she reached puberty, does not have to stand in the way of life well-lived.
Narrator:The DiabeticReal Podcast and the content of its websites are
Narrator:presented solely for educational purposes, and the views and opinions
Narrator:expressed by guests are theirs alone.
Narrator:They do not necessarily reflect that of the host or the podcast.
Narrator:The content is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice or
Narrator:treatment, ongoing or otherwise.
Narrator:Be sure to always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified
Narrator:healthcare provider with any questions regarding your healthcare.
Deborah E:Hi there.
Deborah E:This is Deborah E coming back to you for the second episode of DiabeticReal.
Deborah E:Thank you for joining us last week.
Deborah E:I consider all of you a part of this, and I'd like to say "our," and include you.
Deborah E:So, I feel like, to some extent, it's like we're sitting in kind of
Deborah E:a fireside chat a little bit here, and I'm telling you a story of how
Deborah E:everything is unfolding, and sort of the next, next story here, because,
Deborah E:kind of on a, on a first, if you will.
Deborah E:Last week I told you there was a story to how DiabeticReal actually
Deborah E:began, and there's a story to that.
Deborah E:So I thought I would share that part of it, that part of the story with
Deborah E:you, where DiabeticReal unfolded.
Deborah E:Now that you know the podcast exists, you might as well understand where the idea of
Deborah E:DiabeticReal came from, and what inspired me to go on with that brand, if you will.
Deborah E:And, you know, I call it a brand just because it's The thought
Deborah E:it had to have a name, you know, everything's got to have a name.
Deborah E:You can't just say "IT," and walk around like that.
Deborah E:So anyway, let's, let's back up just a little bit and kind of say,
Deborah E:I'm looking at my notes here and I don't normally work from notes.
Deborah E:I just kind of ad lib as you could probably tell listening to me, but
Deborah E:if I had to, I'm looking at going.
Deborah E:Hmm, boobs, elderly people, and governor.
Deborah E:Well, that's an interesting way to reference this particular episode.
Deborah E:All right.
Deborah E:So I was staying with my sister.
Deborah E:And for any of you wondering if you're checking details and it's
Deborah E:like, Hmm, who's Deborah E's sister?
Deborah E:Actually, she is my former My former husband's sister, but I call her sister.
Deborah E:And isn't it about who, you know, who's dear to our hearts?
Deborah E:So as far as I'm concerned, this beautiful woman, she is my sister.
Deborah E:But I have such wonderful people in my life and people that I love
Deborah E:and people that are dear to me and take such good care of me.
Deborah E:And you'll hear about some of these people and some of the stories that I tell as
Deborah E:we go through this DiabeticReal podcast.
Deborah E:So we have some interesting ones coming up for you.
Deborah E:in the future.
Deborah E:So I'm staying with my sister and I thought I'll just go for a walk.
Deborah E:You know, walking's good.
Deborah E:That's great exercise, right?
Deborah E:And this is Southern California.
Deborah E:I'm out there and man, it's beautiful.
Deborah E:I'm looking around taking in the scenery and I'm thinking it is a bit warm.
Deborah E:Now, here's the thing, and Not trying to fault, this isn't about gender or
Deborah E:anything, but you could wear a nice sundress and be really comfortable and
Deborah E:[it] doesn't matter what gender you are.
Deborah E:Hey guys, do you want to wear a sundress?
Deborah E:Go for it.
Deborah E:Even my husband has said It's sad if guys are just forced to not wear
Deborah E:dresses because dresses look like they might be comfortable, right?
Deborah E:But there's this little little problem if you're a diabetic and you're wearing
Deborah E:an insulin pump And for those of you who are not familiar with an insulin
Deborah E:pump, It's a little device that actually holds the insulin and at some point
Deborah E:I'll get into more Detail and explain insulin pump in a little bit more detail,
Deborah E:but it is a device It's not like it's something imaginary or out of Star Trek
Deborah E:It actually has to clip on to something or you can put it in your purse or you
Deborah E:know There's there's different ways to handle it but my particular insulin
Deborah E:pump clips on to something and the advantage that Not just men, but the
Deborah E:men oftentimes are wearing pants, right?
Deborah E:So they're gonna have something maybe a belt or at least pants
Deborah E:that you can clip An insulin pump to and of course women too.
Deborah E:You might be wearing jeans or even shorts or anything You can, you can clip the
Deborah E:insulin pump to but if you're wearing a sundress and you're in Southern California
Deborah E:and you're just having you know, you're walking Well, you shouldn't walk barefoot.
Deborah E:Of course, somebody would say you're a diabetic.
Deborah E:You shouldn't walk barefoot but anyway, you don't have anything to
Deborah E:clip it to so What do you clip it to?
Deborah E:Anyone have the answer to that one?
Deborah E:You clip it to your bra.
Deborah E:Well, the thing is, then it wants to tip.
Deborah E:You, I'm not saying go bend over, but if you happen to bend over
Deborah E:and pick a flower or something.
Deborah E:The insulin pump wants to go for a trip to the ground.
Deborah E:So what do you do?
Deborah E:You clip it to the bra facing towards the body.
Deborah E:Because that is going to have the insulin pump be nice and snug.
Deborah E:And it's not going anywhere.
Deborah E:But here's the thing that you don't think of.
Deborah E:If you are perspiring a little too much, that means that the insulin pump is
Deborah E:actually taking in that perspiration.
Deborah E:And of all the things going through my head, I wasn't sitting here going through
Deborah E:this, if then statement programmer or not.
Deborah E:With my software development experience, I wasn't thinking about the insulin
Deborah E:pump taking in sweat until I returned home and a few weeks later, the
Deborah E:insulin pump, that by this point was no longer under warranty, went kaput.
Deborah E:It did not work.
Deborah E:Long story short on that one.
Deborah E:It was because of the perspiration had damaged the pump.
Deborah E:I didn't have, you know, under, if I had had medical
Deborah E:insurance, it's not about blame.
Deborah E:It just would have, I would have had.
Deborah E:An insulin pump wouldn't have been a problem, but I think insulin
Deborah E:pumps, so they were only, I don't know, $12,000 or so, and I didn't
Deborah E:have $12,000 sitting around.
Deborah E:Sometime I'll tell you the story of, of, uh, why I was not insured at the point
Deborah E:there, and why I didn't have $12,000 just laying around at that point there, but I
Deborah E:didn't, and at some point, too, there's more to that and why I wouldn't have been
Deborah E:able to survive without an insulin pump.
Deborah E:Anyway, so we were stuck.
Deborah E:No insulin pump, no insurance to cover the insulin pump, regardless of blame.
Deborah E:So, for the point of the story, just to make it simpler, we'll just say
Deborah E:there's no blame, even though we all know that, yeah, perspiration, whatever.
Deborah E:Point is, I had no way to cover this insulin pump.
Deborah E:I was looking at a very short life without any way of getting insulin into my body.
Deborah E:So, we tried different arrangements, we tried to, you know, we, what are
Deborah E:they called, ombudsman, um, called all different options to try to get some
Deborah E:kind of solution for this insulin pump.
Deborah E:And I think it was only, um, oh, I don't know, something minor,
Deborah E:like a few weeks past coverage.
Deborah E:Um, not under warranty anymore.
Deborah E:And I wasn't that, it's not like I was, you know, 20 years.
Deborah E:Well, yeah, like it'd be 20 years, but it wasn't that far off of warranty.
Deborah E:It wasn't that far, um, as far as not having medical insurance.
Deborah E:So.
Deborah E:Finally, I thought, you know what?
Deborah E:I'm just gonna call the governor.
Deborah E:I mean, what else do you do, right?
Deborah E:Just call the governor.
Deborah E:So I call up the governor of the state and I say, you know, and I'm not
Deborah E:sure who I was talking to, but I did actually get to the governor's office.
Deborah E:So, yeah, I know.
Deborah E:It's probably secretary or an aid, I don't, whoever it was, I got that far
Deborah E:and I said, here's the deal, okay?
Deborah E:We're looking at death.
Deborah E:Alright, we don't have enough money to pay for the burial, so basically I'm
Deborah E:gonna be sitting at, at the curb, I'm just gonna pretty much keel over and
Deborah E:die, so you'll have to actually pay for the burial, let's see, how much does
Deborah E:that cost, oh and, oh wait, I won't die right away, it's actually, and I
Deborah E:had been sick enough, so I know how it goes as far as when a diabetic dies.
Deborah E:It takes a few days, as far as diabetic ketoacidosis and the whole thing.
Deborah E:So I'll get really sick, and that means you have to send out an ambulance, let's
Deborah E:see how much does that cost, and then I'll actually go to ICU before I die.
Deborah E:So I don't know, what is that, $100,000 per day or so forth?
Deborah E:So we'll say it probably takes me about three days to die, so that's $300,000,
Deborah E:and since we don't have the money to cover it, that would be the state covering it.
Deborah E:So at least $300,000 there, and they'll try to keep me alive, but I won't
Deborah E:make it, so then I'll die, and then the state will have to pay for my,
Deborah E:my death and I'll have to go through probate and we'll have, and I was adding
Deborah E:up all these and they took it down.
Deborah E:And you know what?
Deborah E:I had that insulin pump within a week, somehow, even the $300,000
Deborah E:for ICU, $12,000 just that didn't, it was like, "No problem.
Deborah E:Your insulin pump is just covered."
Deborah E:You put it into financials and all of a sudden.
Deborah E:Not a problem, and the insulin pump is covered.
Deborah E:Now, I'm not saying go manipulate people, I don't even know if the tactics were
Deborah E:correct, but it's just, again, some of these are topics for a future podcast,
Deborah E:but I sat down and I thought, you know, there are probably some elderly people
Deborah E:sitting here that are really, really sick.
Deborah E:They're much sicker than I am.
Deborah E:They're not doing well.
Deborah E:They don't have anyone.
Deborah E:Maybe, maybe their loved ones have passed.
Deborah E:Maybe their loved ones aren't talking to them.
Deborah E:Maybe they don't have anyone.
Deborah E:And who do they call?
Deborah E:Who, I mean, I'm almost, literally I'm almost crying thinking about it.
Deborah E:But who do they call to help them?
Deborah E:Are they going to call the governor?
Deborah E:Are they going to think of all these financials to argue with the aid in
Deborah E:the governor's office to help them?
Deborah E:Who is going to help them to stay alive?
Deborah E:Did they do anything?
Deborah E:Did they rob a bank?
Deborah E:Did they murder anyone?
Deborah E:Did they do anything to deserve dying alone in pain?
Deborah E:And by the way, diabetic ketoacidosis.
Deborah E:I don't wish that on anyone.
Deborah E:I would rather have a bullet in the head.
Deborah E:It is one of the most painful experiences ever.
Deborah E:I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Deborah E:And as I sat there, you know, before that experience, it's not that I was
Deborah E:suicidal or anything, but I thought maybe it would just be better to die.
Deborah E:Because fighting this and fighting this, because so many times I had
Deborah E:been uninsured, and fighting the process when I was trying to get
Deborah E:a job and I couldn't get a job.
Deborah E:And just simply fighting to try to have the means to even get the insulin
Deborah E:was so difficult that I thought, wouldn't it just be easier if I
Deborah E:just simply didn't exist anymore?
Deborah E:But when I went through that, I thought, wait a minute, what about all
Deborah E:these people who don't have anyone?
Deborah E:How are they going to survive?
Deborah E:And that, my dear friends, is why and where DiabeticReal came from and was born.
Deborah E:Because somebody has to be the voice of those who have no voice.
Deborah E:And there you have it.
Deborah E:Thank you for tuning in.
Deborah E:This is Deborah, Deborah E from DiabeticReal.
Michael Anderson:Thank you for listening to this episode of DiabeticReal.
Michael Anderson:For more information about this podcast, as well as links and fun
Michael Anderson:stuff related to DiabeticReal, visit us at our website at diabeticreal.
Michael Anderson:com.
Michael Anderson:Now we'll listen as Deborah E herself sings one of her favorite songs.
Michael Anderson:Song is called Perfectly Wonderful World, written by Denny Martin and
Michael Anderson:Jaimee Paul, engineered by me, of course,
Michael Anderson:your host, Michael, in our Seaside Records Studio here in
Michael Anderson:lovely Los Angeles, California.
Michael Anderson:It was on the number one ReverbNation charts for over a
Michael Anderson:year and still charts very well.
Michael Anderson:So, have a pleasant moment and listen to Perfectly Wonderful World.
Deborah E:Yes, I'm living inside of this Perfectly Wonderful World.
Deborah E:Oh.