Boobs, Elderly People, the Governor’s Office #02

Join Deborah E, multi-award-winning singer, podcaster, and

speaker, who proves that being diagnosed with a life-changing illness as a child,

along with countless hospitalizations, and a family who told everyone she'd be dead

before she reached puberty, does not have to stand in the way of life well-lived.

The DiabeticReal Podcast and the content, which websites are

presented solely for educational purposes, and the views and opinions

expressed by guests are theirs alone.

They do not necessarily reflect that of the host or the podcast.

The content is not intended to substitute for professional medical diagnosis, advice

for treatment, ongoing or otherwise.

Be sure to always seek the advice of your physician or other

qualified healthcare provider.

Any questions regarding your healthcare.

Hi there.

This is Deborah E coming back for the second episode.

DiabeticReal.

Thank you for joining us last week.

I consider all of you a part of this, and I like to say our, and include you.

So, I feel like, to some extent, it's like we're sitting in kind of a fireside chat

a little bit here, and I'm telling you a story of how everything is unfolding, and

sort of the next Next story here because kind of on a on a first if you will last

week I told you there's a story to how DiabeticReal actually began and there's

a story to that So I thought I I would share that part of it that part of the

story with you where DiabeticReal Unfolded now that you know, the podcast exists

You might as well understand where the idea of DiabeticReal came from and what

inspired me to go on with that brand, if you will, and, you know, I call it a

brand just because it's The thought, it had to have a name, you never think it's

got to have a name, you can't just say it, walk around like that, so, anyway,

let's, let's back up just a little bit, and kind of say, I'm looking at my notes

here, and I don't normally work from notes, I just kind of ad lib as you can

probably tell listening to me, but, if I had to, I'm looking at going, hmm,

Boobs, elderly people, and governor.

Well, that's an interesting way to reference this particular episode.

Alright, so, I was staying with my sister.

And for any of you wondering if you're checking details and it's like, Hmm?

Who's Deborah E.

's sister?

Actually, she is my former My former husband's sister, but I call her

sister and isn't it about who, you know, who's dear and to our hearts.

So as far as I'm concerned, this beautiful woman, she is my sister.

And actually my biological sister tried to kill me.

So we'll just leave it at that.

That's a story literally for another podcast episode.

Down a ways.

Okay.

So anyway, I'm really gifted at going off on tangents, but we'll keep, we'll

keep it on the straight and narrow.

We're talking about where DiabeticReal came from here.

I'm staying with my sister, and I thought, I'll just go for a

walk, you know, walking's good.

That's great exercise, right?

And this is Southern California, I'm out there, and, man, it's beautiful.

I'm looking around, taking in the scenery, and I'm thinking, it is a bit warm.

Now, here's the thing, and, Not trying to fault, this isn't about gender or

anything, but you could wear a nice sundress and be really comfortable and

It doesn't matter what gender you are.

Hey guys, do you want to wear a sundress?

Go for it.

You know, my husband has said it's sad if guys are just forced to not

wear dresses because dresses look like they might be comfortable, right?

But there's this little, little problem.

If you're a diabetic and you're wearing an insulin pump and for those of you

who are not familiar with an insulin pump, It's a little device that actually

holds the insulin and at some point I'll get into more detail and explain

insulin pump in a little bit more detail, but it is a device It's not like it's

something imaginary or out of Star Trek It actually has to clip on to something

or you can put it in your purse or you know There's there's different ways

to handle it but my particular insulin pump clips on to something and the

advantage that Not just men, but the men oftentimes are wearing pants, right?

So they're gonna have something maybe a belt or at least pants

that you can clip An insulin pump to and of course women too.

You might be wearing jeans or even shorts or anything You can you can clip the

insulin pump to but if you're wearing a sundress and you're in Southern California

and you're just having you know, you're walking Well, you shouldn't walk barefoot.

Of course, somebody would say, you're a diabetic.

You shouldn't walk barefoot.

But anyway, you don't have anything to clip it to.

So, what do you clip it to?

Anyone have the answer to that one?

You clip it to your bra.

Well, The thing is, then it wants to tip.

You, I'm not saying go bend over, but if you happen to bend over and pick a

flower or something, the insulin pump wants to go for a trip to the ground.

So what do you do?

You clip it to the bra, facing towards the body.

Because that is going to have the insulin pump be nice and snug,

and it's not going anywhere.

Well here's the thing that you don't think of.

If you are perspiring.

a little too much, that means that the insulin pump is actually

taking in that perspiration.

And of all the things going through my head, I wasn't sitting here going through

this if then statement, programmer or not, with my software development

experience, I wasn't thinking about the insulin pump taking in sweat until

I returned home and a few weeks later.

The insulin pump, that by this point was no longer under warranty, went kaputz.

It did not work.

Long story short on that one, it was because of the perspiration.

Had damaged the pump.

I didn't have, you know, under, if I had had Medical insurance, it doesn't,

it's not about blame, it just would have, I would have had an insulin pump.

Wouldn't have been a problem, but I think insulin pumps, so they were

only, I don't know, 12, 000 or so.

And I didn't have 12, 000 sitting around.

Sometime I'll tell you the story of, of uh, why I was not insured at

the point there, and why I didn't have $12,000 just laying around

at that point there, but I didn't.

And, uh.

At some point, too, there's more to that and why I wouldn't have been

able to survive without insulin.

Anyway, so we were stuck.

No insulin pump, no insurance to cover the insulin pump, regardless of blame.

So for the, the point of the story, just to make it simpler, we'll just say

there's no blame, even though we all know that, yeah, perspiration, whatever.

Point is, I had no way to cover this insulin pump.

I was looking at a very short life without any way of getting insulin into my body.

So, we tried different arrangements, we tried to, you know, we, what are

they called, ombudsman, um, called, all different options to try to get some

kind of solution for this insulin pump.

And I think it was only, um, oh, I don't know, something minor,

like a few weeks past coverage.

Um, not under warranty anymore.

And I wasn't that, it's not like I was, you know, 20 years.

Well, yeah, like it'd be 20 years, but it wasn't that far off of warranty.

It wasn't that far, um, as far as not having medical insurance.

So.

Finally, I thought, you know what?

I'm just gonna call the governor.

I mean, what else should you do, right?

Just call the governor.

So, I call up the governor of the state, and I say, you know, and I'm not

sure who I was talking to, but I did actually get to the governor's office.

So, yeah, I know, it's probably secretary or aide, whoever it was, I got that

far, and I said, here's the deal, okay?

We're looking at death.

All right, we don't have enough money to pay for the burial.

So, basically, I'm going to be sitting at, at the curb.

I'm just going to pretty much keel over and die.

So, you'll have to actually pay for the burial.

Let's see, how much does that cost?

Oh, and, oh wait, I won't die right away.

It's actually, and I had been sick enough, so I know how it goes

as far as when a diabetic dies.

It, it takes a few days ketoacidosis and the whole thing.

So, I'll get really sick and that means you have to send out an ambulance.

How much does that cost?

And then I'll actually go to ICU before I die.

So, I don't know, what is that, 100, 000 per day or so forth?

So, we'll say it probably takes me about 3 days to die, so that's 300, 000.

And since we don't have the money to cover it, that would be the state covering it.

So, at least 300, 000 there, and they'll try to keep me alive, but I won't make

it, so then I'll die, and then the state will have to pay for my My death and

he'll have to go through probate and we'll have, and I was adding up all these

and they took it down and you know what?

I had that insulin pump within a week.

Somehow, even the $300,000 just, that didn't, it was like, no problem.

Your insulin pump's covered.

You put it into financials.

And all of a sudden, not a problem, and the insulin pump is covered.

Now, I'm not saying go manipulate people, I don't even know if the tactics were

correct, but it's just, again, some of these are topics for a future podcast.

But, I sat down and I thought, you know, there are probably some Elderly people

sitting here that are really, really sick.

They're much sicker than I am.

They're not doing well.

They don't have anyone.

Maybe, maybe their loved ones have passed.

Maybe their loved ones aren't talking to them.

Maybe they don't have anyone.

And who do they call?

Who, I mean, I'm almost, literally, I'm almost crying thinking about it.

But who do they call to help them?

Are they going to call the governor?

Are they going to think of all these financials to argue with the aid in

the governor's office to help them?

Who is going to help them to stay alive?

Did they do anything?

Did they rob a bank?

Did they murder anyone?

Did they do anything to deserve dying alone in pain?

And by the way, diabetic ketoacidosis.

I don't wish that on anyone.

I would rather have a bullet in the head.

It is one of the most painful experiences ever.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

And as I sat there, you know, before that experience, I, it's not that I

was suicidal or anything, but I thought maybe it would just be better to die.

Because fighting this and fighting this, because so many times I had

been uninsured, and fighting the process when I was trying to get

a job and I couldn't get a job.

And just simply fighting to try to have the means to even get the insulin

was so difficult that I thought, wouldn't it just be easier if I

just simply didn't exist anymore?

But when I went through that, I thought, wait a minute, what about all

these people who don't have anyone?

How are they going to survive?

And that.

My dear friends, is why and where DiabeticReal came from and was born?

Because somebody has to be the voice of those who have no voice.

And there you have it.

Thank you for tuning in.

This is Deborah, Deborah E

Thank you for listening to this episode of DiabeticReal.

For more information about this podcast, as well as links and fun

stuff related to DiabeticReal, visit us at our website at diabeticreal.

com.

Now we'll listen as Deborah E, herself, sings one of her favorite songs.

Song is called Perfectly Wonderful World, written by Denny Martin and Jaimee Paul,

engineered by me, of course, your host, Michael, in our Seaside Records studio

here in lovely Los Angeles, California.

It was on the number one ReverbNation charts for over a

year and still charts very well.

So have a pleasant moment and listen to Perfectly Wonderful World.

Yes, I'm living inside of this perfectly wonderful world.