Diabetics Doing Social Work with Shelley Clark

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: Welcome to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast. We're back with new episodes in 2017 telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics across the world. I'm your host, Rob Howe, and if you'd like to get involved with Diabetics Doing Things, all you have to do is shoot me an email or reach out via Instagram. What's up, everybody? Rob Howe here. Just wanted to throw some gratitude your way this afternoon because we just crossed over 25,000 downloads all time for Diabetics Doing Things. and I owe that all to you. So thank you guys so much for listening. It totally makes my day whenever you tell me that the podcast has affected you positively in some way. So keep listening. I appreciate you to the max. All right, let's get back to the episode. All right, hello and welcome back to Diabetics Doing Things. We're back with a new guest today. My very special guest this afternoon is Shelley Green. Shelley, thank you so much for joining us.

[00:00:58] Shelley Clark: Thank you.

[00:00:59] Rob Howe: And Shelley, you're calling from Seattle, if I'm not mistaken, right?

[00:01:04] Shelley Clark: Seattle, Washington. Originally from Alabama. Really?

[00:01:07] Rob Howe: That's quite an adjustment.

[00:01:09] Shelley Clark: Yes. I've traveled very far. But yes, talking to you from Seattle and sipping coffee.

[00:01:18] Rob Howe: Well, I'm a little bit jealous. I ran out of coffee this afternoon. And I'm actually kind of about to do my first ever blood sugar test on air. so I don't know if you just heard my uh my lancet there because I was feeling a little bit high this afternoon and I wasn't sure why what what was going on that's a lot of episodes

[00:01:39] Shelley Clark: before your first on-air blood sugar check right like I should have done it right away right that

[00:01:45] Rob Howe: should be like something that we do well not not really high just 156 so I guess I'm just

[00:01:52] Shelley Clark: gonna have to get over the way I feel uh let me see I'm at 187 according to my stream right now So a little bit higher.

[00:02:00] Rob Howe: So a little bit higher. But hey, we're going to make it. We're both over 150 but below 200. So we're going to be just fine.

[00:02:06] Shelley Clark: There you go.

[00:02:08] Rob Howe: So Shelley, tell us about – I'm really excited for our interview today, both talking about your sort of professional career as well as your life as a diabetic. Tell us kind of how we got here. Why are you on Diabetics Doing Things? Give us your diagnosis story.

[00:02:27] Shelley Clark: Sure. So I was diagnosed at the age of six. I had been sick for quite some time. And one night my dad woke me up in the middle of the night and he just knew something was seriously wrong, took me to the hospital. And, yeah, they weren't sure what was wrong. I had lost a ton of weight. I had dark circles under my eyes, was drinking a lot of water. And they weren't sure what was wrong but admitted me. and so I was at the hospital and my dad left went to work and had somebody from the gift shop bring up it was like a plastic fake champagne bottle full of jelly beans that said I love you on it and then about right after that somebody came in and told my mom and I that I had been diagnosed with type 1. So for a long time, we joked that we would eat the jelly beans when there was a cure for diabetes. So my dad still has that bottle. I'm sure they've turned into jawbreakers at this point. But yeah, I, of course, had no idea what was going on. I was very overwhelmed, really didn't feel well. When they first admitted me, my blood sugar was 816. And for me, I remember there being a lot of scare tactics. Like they came in and when they were first talking to my mom about nutrition and food and counting calories and that sort of thing, I remember they kind of started that conversation off with, you know, your daughter won't be able to eat a happy meal from McDonald's anymore. And she just started crying. I remember being young, but even looking at her and like after learning about injections and that I'm going to have to keep, you know, poking my finger all the time, looking at her and being like, that's the thing that you're upset about, that I can't have the Happy Meals anymore. And yeah, that kind of, I think that really shook her. And she was also, my family was very overwhelmed. But then they brought in a guy who had, he was an adult and he'd had type 1 for some time and he was in a wheelchair. And I remember him taking off his shoes and socks and showing me his feet and he'd had a few toes amputated. And I remember him looking at me and saying, you know, if you don't take care of yourself, this is what's going to happen to you. and again I'm brand new diagnosed diabetic six years old and I have no idea what's going on and that was uh kind of what was happening so gosh that is awful not a great experience

[00:05:17] Rob Howe: that guy like wasn't even diabetic he was just like a mountain climber or something and they

[00:05:22] Shelley Clark: put him in a wheelchair and told him to scare kids yeah it was awful that's so bad and I think I don't know who would sign up for that, but it was really bad.

[00:05:33] Rob Howe: Well, and I think during that time period, because obviously you're older now, so I'm not sure exactly what year you were diagnosed, but that was pretty common, I feel like, in terms of the education around type 1. And not necessarily. Obviously, there are great hospitals in the U.S. I was very fortunate. I say it all the time about being diagnosed at Children's Medical Center in Dallas. But, you know, especially in sort of rural counties or in, you know, smaller hospitals and lower population areas, that was pretty commonplace. So, you know, obviously the scare tactics are, you know, hey, here's what could happen to you. You can't have happy meals anymore, which is like what a blessing in disguise. Right. But yeah, I think like talk about what is that like for a six year old and like your parents being in that situation coming out of that. I imagine that didn't help. Right. You didn't walk out of there empowered to say, I'm never going to be in this wheelchair.

[00:06:37] Shelley Clark: Yeah, absolutely. No, I I remember, you know, looking at my mom and asking her, like, how long am I going to have to do this? and yeah just feeling very overwhelmed and scared and I didn't know anyone else with type 1 diabetes I didn't know any other kids with type 1 diabetes so I think that didn't really change for me until I went to diabetes camp which was amazing and definitely one of the best things I've ever done in my entire life. But I think, you know, for the first time, getting to see there are other people with type 1 diabetes, kids, people my own age, adults who seem to be doing well and were not all in wheelchairs with amputated toes. And just, I think that also helped. I mean, you're talking about the empowerment part. That's where I got that was, you know, they start teaching you. And that's where I learned how to give myself my own shots and made a lot of friends. I still have people I talked to who I met that first year when I was six, and that was in 1993. So I have great friends from that. And I really, for the first time, saw that I could learn and I had the power to kind of control what was happening. and also that I could still have fun and be a kid and be with other people and not be alone and felt really supported. So I know now when I talk to other parents of type 1s, I tell all of them, I'm like, please send your kid to diabetes camp. It was one of the best experiences for me.

[00:08:27] Rob Howe: Do you remember which camp you went to?

[00:08:30] Shelley Clark: Oh, yeah. That was Camp Seale Harris in Alabama.

[00:08:34] Rob Howe: Fantastic. And you mentioned about meeting other kids with type 1 and that sort of being your first experience. Are you still in touch with any of them today? Do you have friends on Facebook?

[00:08:43] Shelley Clark: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. They're some of my oldest friends, which is really, it's been fun to stay. I mean, you know, before Facebook, you know, you had like the week of diabetes camp, but then the rest of the year we were writing each other letters and talking on the phone and sending mixtapes and all sorts of cool things. But so now with Facebook, it's super easy to stay connected. And I love seeing their lives and seeing everyone from that time doing so well and taking really great care of themselves. And they inspire me, too.

[00:09:23] Rob Howe: And I think that's something that, you know, you really don't. Gosh, my cat is trying to make a podcast appearance over here, just carrying on. Um, but, um, making friends like that at such an early age and like when you have that thing in common, um, I've, I've heard from almost everyone that I've talked to who's been to a diabetes camp of some sort, uh, no matter what age they went, they're still friends with people that they met at that camp experience. Um, and I couldn't agree more with you talking to, you know, recommending it to people. I was much too cool when I was 16, when I got diagnosed to ever go to diabetes camp, which I, you know, looking back, I wish I would have done probably the only thing I would have done differently. But we have Camp Sweeney here in Texas. And, you know, the stories that come out of Camp Sweeney are just fantastic. So yeah, definitely, you know, especially if you don't have a lot of other type ones around you or have a smaller type 1 community, diabetes camp absolutely comes highly, highly recommended. Totally, totally.

[00:10:27] Shelley Clark: Yeah, I later on, I wound up working at another diabetes camp in Arizona and made some great friends there, too. So.

[00:10:37] Rob Howe: Well, and I think now you mentioned, you know, before Facebook, you guys would, you know, make each other mixtapes or whatever, whatever the line of communication was. But now, you know, with social media being so, you know, forefront and top of mind, like it's so much easier to connect yourself with a type 1 community. Yes. You know, whether that be on Instagram or in a Facebook group or, you know, with your JDRF chapter or whatever the case may be, or just friends. So, you know, talk about how, you know, after you met those friends with type 1 and other kids your age, what was your walk with type 1 like after that?

[00:11:17] Shelley Clark: Yeah, totally. Um, so, uh, I think I had a great experience at camp, but I think, um, you know, as I started to get into my teens, um, I kind of went into this denial about having type 1 diabetes and I didn't want anything to do with it. Um, I went out of my way to hide the fact that I had type 1 diabetes. I didn't want people to know. I didn't want to be seen as somebody with type 1 diabetes. And I think that, you know, I wasn't being a great diabetic. I wasn't checking my blood sugars very often. I was doing like the bare minimum to get by, but I wasn't doing great. And that for me didn't change until actually I moved out to Seattle. I've been here for about eight or nine years, and I met my current endocrinologist, and he's amazing. But he really, you know, I struggled for a long time with type 1 and just didn't really want to deal with it, which now hearing a lot of people, including other people on the podcast, like it seems very common to kind of have that period of denial and not wanting to do it. but I when I met with my endocrinologist he really he was amazing and he gave me some tough love that was much needed and he told me like hey you know you've gotten by on youth for a long time but you can't do that forever and he was like I think you're depressed about having diabetes and I think you're kind of in this period of you know having a hard time with it and if I don't see you make some changes with your health and how you're taking care of yourself or not taking care of yourself, I'm going to prescribe antidepressants. And that was a huge wake up call for me. So I started working with him and kind of reevaluating things and thinking about how I wanted to live my life and what I wanted my future to look like. And my A1C got lower and lower. I started feeling better and better. I went back to school up here, which I had not planned on doing, and went and did a social work program at UW, University of Washington. And I had the opportunity to work with patients who had diabetes. And at first, I was like, well, this isn't really something I would want to do as a career. You know, my life is diabetes. I don't know that I'd even want to do it as a job. And then I thought, while I'm in school, I'm a student, maybe I'll just try it to know that I don't like it, and then go on to the next thing. So I started, I got a practicum, what they call a practicum, like an internship at a dialysis center up here. And I loved it. I loved being able to bring that knowledge and experience of living with a chronic illness and be able to bring, I think in healthcare, kind of compassion and understanding for what it's like for people to live with chronic illness can get lost. And I liked being able to bring that to my work and understanding what the day-to-day is like. I think a lot of healthcare providers look at you sometimes as a textbook case, and so not really knowing, you know, what it's like to live. And so I really enjoyed connecting with people and being able to bring that to my work. And so I finished my practicum there and they had an open position and I applied to be a social worker there. And this week I'm celebrating my one year anniversary with them.

[00:15:10] Rob Howe: That's awesome. Congratulations.

[00:15:13] Shelley Clark: Yeah, thank you. So it's funny though, to look back on my own story. And I think, you know, for a lot of people who have diabetes type 1 or type 2 and are on dialysis, a lot of them have had some really hard times, but being a bad diabetic before, I really understand what it's like to be in that place, to struggle and to have a hard time and be in denial and kind of come from that too. So it's really, I would have never in a million years thought I'd be in this job doing this, but I love it. Yeah, but I think that makes, you know,

[00:15:52] Rob Howe: you never would have chosen to be diagnosed with type 1, right? So it's like, it's very interesting. And I think you mentioned earlier, you know, a lot of people struggle with acceptance or depression at certain periods with their diabetes. But on the other end of that spectrum, a lot of people find, you know, their voice as a type 1, as a person with a chronic illness who is living and thriving. And I think whether that's interacting with kids or other type ones or people with type 2 who are people who are on dialysis sort of showing that, like, hey, I have this, too, and I'm pretty normal, you know, at least at least in that. And I think, you know, when you were talking about connecting with the patients, you know, above a clinical level, I was thinking of some of the work that I do with JDRF and what they call D101, which is like diabetes 101 training. It's like a full day of nutrition and testing and they give you all of your information to your family. And at the end, we come in, I go in with JDRF Dallas and I just sort of stand there and I like wave. and I'm like, hey, I'm a normal person living with type 1. It's going to be just fine. And sometimes people have heard so much information over the course of the day and they're like, I can't hear anymore. But other times it sort of clicks for them. They're like, okay, I can take a deep breath and everything is going to be all right.

[00:17:21] Shelley Clark: Yeah.

[00:17:22] Rob Howe: And so talk about that feeling, right?

[00:17:26] Shelley Clark: For sure. I think one of the things that I love seeing every day is kind of part of that, like, you know, figuring out kind of my identity as a person living with type 1 and going from like being in a place where, you know, I'd go out of my way to hide it to now like feeling like it empowers me and I'm a better person because of it. and having great people around me who support me and not hiding it and being proud and encouraging me to take care of myself and to not hide that. But I think, you know, you were talking about earlier with social media and seeing people sharing their stories every day. And I love that. I love being so connected through social media because it's even, you know, I think now, oh, I don't go out of my way to hide it. I'm being really transparent. I talk about diabetes and what it's like. And then I see people on Instagram that are showing videos of doing their pump site changes. And I'm like, oh, that's awesome. I want to see more of that. It's great to see people doing really awesome things. And this is just part of their life too.

[00:18:44] Rob Howe: Yeah, it is. it's kind of like at first and sometimes still like I'll be scrolling through my Instagram feed and Instagram's like so curated and beautiful. It's like photos and like super great design. And then it's just like a, like a site check or like a, or a finger stick. And it's like, God, diabetes is gross. But, um, like you said, it's just really, uh, honest and open. And it's like, Hey, this is what we're doing today. Like everybody else is sharing what they're doing. Might as well, you know, give a little insight as to what it's really like.

[00:19:14] Shelley Clark: right I love it yeah I know you see like the bloody pump site you're just like oh wow yeah totally shocked caught off guard and then you're like yeah but that's that's real you know that was me two days ago and it's just like I love that you know people share that so and I think I want

[00:19:31] Rob Howe: to I want to go back as you know before we get kind of too into how how great the diabetes community is because we could you know chat for the rest of the day about that I think but But an issue that you said that you mentioned that you've heard a lot on this podcast, and I know we talked a lot about with some of our previous guests, is that feeling of sort of denial, depression, and rebelling, I guess may not be the right word, but like acceptance and like that denial to acceptance phase. And I want to focus on not the negative, but after you have that conversation with your doctor, what do you do next? What were those steps? I imagine it was a process, not necessarily like an overnight change. Yeah. Walk me through that.

[00:20:19] Shelley Clark: Yeah. So part of it is I had really gotten to know my doctor. He's also from Alabama. So we had this connection. And he's funny. sense of humor is um totally my coping thing um and so we we would banter and talk but he knew kind of where to push me a little bit so one of the things that happened is he got a little competitive with me like he told me you know what do you what do you think you could get your a1c down to and i told him i think at the time my a1c was like eight um and i told him i think i could probably get down to seven. And he looked at me, he's like, I don't know if you could do that. I was like, oh, okay, it's on. Like, that's a challenge. So I really started looking at like, how, you know, I took that challenge. And I thought, you know, I've made it this far, just did a lot of life review. And thinking about, you know, like, I heard so many weird things when I was first diagnosed, like I had a, there wasn't a pediatric endocrinologist where I grew up. So I was seeing an adult endocrinologist who told me that until my parents, probably by the time I was 25, I would be blind. And I'm thinking, like, here I am, I'm almost 30. And I feel pretty good. Like, how do I continue this? And so then doing like, a lot of life review, taking the challenge from my doctor, and thinking like, you know, oh, and he had asked me to like, what are some of your goals and how do we get you there? And so then like kind of focusing on that too, and having something to look forward to and thinking like, how do I get there? And how do I be my best self and visualizing what that looks like. And so, um, just a lot of conversations with him at first and then thinking about like, okay, well, I think maybe I want to go to grad school. And he said, well, let's, if that's a thing you want to do, then let's get you, you know, your blood sugar is in great control. Let's get you as healthy as possible. And so you can be as smart as possible and go and have a great experience. So really focusing on some of my goals and things I wanted to do and how I wanted to feel when I got there. That's really what

[00:22:35] Rob Howe: helped kind of shift things for me. So really, it wasn't even a, it wasn't even, I guess, a change as much as it was like a reframe, like stop looking at it like consequences and more look at it like an opportunity and what do you want and more like an attainable goal rather than some inevitable, terrible thing that's going to happen.

[00:22:57] Shelley Clark: Yeah, exactly. And I think other healthcare providers too were like, hey, what is it you can learn from diabetes and how do you benefit from diabetes? that like you're saying, kind of reframe it that way instead of it being this constant thing that I had a terrible relationship with. Like, how did I, how could I change that? And really understanding like now is the time that I have to do that.

[00:23:27] Rob Howe: So what did, what, how did you benefit from diabetes? What did you reframe that into?

[00:23:32] Shelley Clark: you? I think, you know, I started looking at, you know, when instead of always fighting my blood sugars or trying to chase them, thinking about like, how could I change how I'm doing things so that I'm more in control and like preventing highs and lows? Like, how can I control how I feel instead of just constantly going back and forth between highs and lows. So like, what is my responsibility in that? And then benefiting from feeling better and realizing, oh, wow, I feel better. I'm able to do more things. I have more energy. My sense of humor is coming back. And then looking too at things I had learned, relationships I had had because of diabetes, the type of person I am because of diabetes and like the humility that comes from having a chronic illness. And just looking at that, what experiences I had had, people I met, and then trying to move forward and being responsible for my health.

[00:24:49] Rob Howe: I love that because I think that those things are not what immediately come to mind when you think of, oh, I need to lower my A1C, right? Yes. Those are not immediate tactics that you would come into. But I read this example earlier this year about process engineering. So if you were going to, a lot of people will say throughout their life at some point that they want to drink less coffee, for example. That they don't want to rely on that much caffeine to get them through their day. So they may try to just not drink coffee, but then they find that that isn't sustainable. But what they really should do is back out even further and say, OK, well, why do I need to drink coffee? Well, I'm tired. Well, why am I tired? Well, I went to bed really late because I was up or I got inconsistent sleep patterns because I was out really late or was drinking or something else. And so the real solve to drink less coffee was the day before or the lifestyle or the decisions that they were making with their time when they really didn't even see that. So it's funny how acceptance and the way that you talk to yourself about your blood sugars and the way that you view yourself as a diabetic can affect your blood sugar.

[00:26:13] Shelley Clark: Yes.

[00:26:15] Rob Howe: And I think it's so, you know, obviously you talked about, you know, you, you went back to school and you, you know, found your, this, this job that you've now been at for a year. But, you know, immediately and sort of in the short term, how did that mindset shift and sort of reframe affect your, you know, affect your life? What were the results? um even as simple as just like the way that you uh the way that you felt or you know your blood sugars or the way that you tested or something you know something easy

[00:26:48] Shelley Clark: yeah absolutely i started checking my blood sugars a lot more often um i I felt a lot less tired and groggy. I did, and this is kind of a weird thought, but it's true. Because my blood sugars had been so much higher, I wasn't really absorbing food and nutrients. So then when I started taking better care of my blood sugars and got my A1C down, I gained weight because then I was keeping all that stuff. But I felt so much better. I didn't have dark circles under my eyes. So that was an interesting thing that happened. But I had a lot more energy to do the things I'd been wanting to do. And, you know, I felt it's like you sometimes don't realize how bad you felt until you start feeling better. And that definitely was my experience. I didn't realize, you know, I just kind of thought that was how living with diabetes was like. And then I started realizing like, oh, I do, you know, I can do things to feel better. And I can, I do have a part to play in this. And I think like, you know, a lot of times when I'm working with patients, kind of my approach is to tell them like, hey, you have an awesome team of people to help you, but you're also on that team and you're the most important member of the team. So like you have a responsibility and being involved in your care. And I think like I often have to remind myself of that advice too. It's like, you know, I have to be responsible and I have an important part to play. So, you know, sometimes I might not do the best job and I might not have the best blood sugars, but I'm showing up and I'm trying and I'm doing the best that I can. And I think I wasn't always doing that before. I just kind of wanted to pretend it didn't exist sometimes. But, you know, I actually think things go a lot better when I do show up.

[00:28:55] Rob Howe: So it's amazing how much like, you know, success is just showing up. Some days you're not even going to you don't even have to really work hard. You know, I have this a really good friend of mine gave me this mug one time that just says show up, be cool on it. And yeah, that's just that's so, so true. you know not only for you know activities outside of yourself but for yourself you know and like you said you're sort of a one you're the first member of that team um and this is it's the shelly team or the rob team or the um and you know it's it's essential like like you said testing your blood sugar more often helped you have lower lower your a1c that doesn't scientifically those two are not necessarily related but then you just start to care more you start to have a higher level of awareness. And I think that's really, that's really powerful. Yeah. Yeah. I have the lowest

[00:29:52] Shelley Clark: A1C I've ever had and I'm feeling, I'm feeling great. So that's awesome. What's your low, what's your A1C? Right now? Well, my last one was 6.4. Nice. That's awesome. I want, I wanted, I want to aim for a little bit lower, but I'm, I'm headed in the right direction.

[00:30:09] Rob Howe: I actually have my lowest in 10 years as well. I, I honeymoon for a long time after I was diagnosed. So I had pretty low when I was early on, but I'm a 6.1 right now. And someone asked me, I posted it on Facebook and one of my friends who's not a diabetic asked sort of what was the, because I eat pretty healthy and I've exercised and I've been in control of my health for most of my life. But he asked what the primary change was that sort of brought it down. and it was so weird because I hadn't thought of that and honestly nothing really changed out of my habits except that I was going to the doctor more often so I you know went when every six months like I was supposed to instead of you know having you know six nine months a year or whatever in between and so I just had more awareness there was more more eyeballs on it more consistency

[00:31:03] Shelley Clark: and it made a huge difference yeah absolutely I think you know that that that's made a huge difference for me and I'm always telling people and reminding myself that having a good doctor and somebody that you click well with is really important because they can help you a lot. But they, I mean, when my doctor encourages me to be in control and having those frequent check-ins, yeah, that's made a huge difference for me too.

[00:31:37] Rob Howe: It's great. I think like an underrated relationship in a diabetic's life. We talk about going to your doctor, but we don't really talk about what the relationship is like when you get there. and I think especially for people who had a negative diagnosis experience, not to characterize it as all positive or negative, obviously, that there are some with both, but leaving the hospital with a sense that this is not exactly good and I'm not sure where to go from here, I think even more so is important that you find that good relationship with an endo or your general practitioner. Yeah, absolutely. So, um, so Shelley, uh, you know, you got your lowest A1C ever. Uh, you're about to be 30. What are you looking forward to, uh, in the world of type

[00:32:24] Shelley Clark: one diabetes? What do you, what is Shelley Green excited about? Oh, wow. Um, I, I just got my, um, I would, I had it. So I did injections to begin with at first and then had an insulin pump for a little bit and then I went back to injections and I just about a year ago got my T-Slim with my Dexcom and I am loving that. Super excited to get the next Dexcom. I think I'm interested to see what happens with the artificial pancreas, the closed loop systems. so we'll see my doctor too he's interesting but we talk about this a lot also in our visits kind of like what's happening what to look forward to but he is very much against not jumping on the bandwagon of whatever the newest thing is and to see kind of like if you have a good system wait and see what else comes out so I feel like right now I have a great system That's helped me a lot. Yeah. It sounds like he's on that good old Alabama thinking,

[00:33:38] Rob Howe: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's true. Yes, he definitely is. Yeah. My dad's family, my dad and his family are all from Alabama. So I've got plenty of that good country wisdom woven into my life. I'm very grateful for that. Yeah. Yeah. So I always ask this question and I typically get the same answer from from like 80% of people so I may I'm trying to rethink a way to to ask it but maybe I can get some different responses but um I'm really excited for your answer so I always say if there's one thing that you could tell someone who was just diagnosed with type 1 um regardless of age what would it be that you tell them so I think I have

[00:34:28] Shelley Clark: two things that come to mind. One is, I mean, one thing that has helped me is having a sense of humor about things and finding a way to cope. But I think what I would get out of that, that I would tell somebody else is figure out what's going to help you in the rest of your life that helps you cope, whatever that is. For me, it's laughing and comedy and joking and being with my friends. And that makes me a better person and helps me to better deal with diabetes and the daily struggles. So, of course, I'm going to say having a sense of humor has been number one for me. the second thing I think I would tell people is focus on making sure you have people around you that support you and encourage you to take care of yourself because I think that you know when you're when you're dealing with diabetes as a daily thing making sure that you have those people around you for those tough times is really important but also to celebrate the good things. I love being able to tell my friends like, oh my gosh, my A1C is the best it's ever been since I was diagnosed and to have them really celebrate that. I'm about to have my diabetes anniversary this month. So it'll be 24 years and my friends are excited about it and the people in my life. My fiance is super supportive and helps me change my pump sites and checks my CGM almost as much as I do. And, and it just, it makes, it makes a huge difference to make sure that you have those people in your life that are going to support you and, and help you out during the, during the bad times, but also to celebrate you during the good times too.

[00:36:28] Rob Howe: It's so true. Couldn't agree more. And you're lucky I let you get away with two things because one thing. So you're a rule breaker. I get it.

[00:36:39] Shelley Clark: it's true it's true probably also how i've gotten this far

[00:36:43] Rob Howe: no and i totally agree there as well uh you know what works for everybody doesn't work you know for some people as well so um shelly thanks so much for coming on the show uh and also i appreciate your patience and kind of uh with the crazy scheduling and different things that were going on right before our call uh totally appreciate your patience and uh it was

[00:37:03] Shelley Clark: great to have you on the show. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. And thanks for everything you do to connect the people with diabetes. I know it makes a huge difference.

[00:37:14] Rob Howe: And I love it. Oh, well, thank you so much. Yeah, that means so much to me. This is this is one of my favorite things. So it fills my cup. So just to get to meet and talk to other people around the country. So and they're actually around the world as well. If our listeners want to connect with you on social if that's something that you'd be into, where can they find you?

[00:37:34] Shelley Clark: Yeah, absolutely. I'm on Instagram at Miss Shelley, M-I-S-S-H-E-L-L-E-Y, and also on Facebook. So feel free to follow or connect with me on there.

[00:37:47] Rob Howe: Fantastic. Well, I will include those links in the show notes. And Shelley, we will talk soon.

[00:37:53] Shelley Clark: Sounds good. Thanks, Rob.

[00:37:56] Rob Howe: Thanks again for listening to Diabetics Doing Things. I'm going to try a new thing. I'm going to start sending out a Friday newsletter with just my thoughts for the week and some questions that you guys have asked either on social media or that you emailed me. So if you want to do that, just subscribe on the website, diabeticsdoingthings.com. See you again next time.