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Dexcom's CEO Kevin Sayer checks in with Stacey to answer your questions. He talks about their new pharmacy benefit for Veterans and why Dexcom would love to move everyone off of durable medical. Plus, a follow up on their hospital program we first discussed this spring, adhesive issues with the G6 and looking ahead to the G7. Stacey also takes some time to talk about the interview process & which companies we feature on this show. There is a video of this interview - you can watch it here.   Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcription (Note: straight from the computer! No human has corrected this yet. Check back in 24-48 hours for a cleaner 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 evoke hypo pen, the first premixed autoinjector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.   Announcer  0:21 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  0:27 Welcome to a bonus episode of Diabetes Connections. I'm so glad to have you along for this. When we talk to the technology companies, especially Dexcom, we get a whole bunch of new listeners. So if this is your first episode, welcome, we aim to educate and inspire about type 1 diabetes by sharing stories of connection. Week after week, I talked to lots of people in the community sharing stories from athletes and celebrities and tech companies and regular people just living with diabetes. My son lives with type one. He was diagnosed almost 14 years ago when he was a toddler. And we've been doing the show for more than five years now usually release episodes on a weekly basis, we throw in some bonus episodes when the time is right. And this is one of those times Dexcom had some interesting information to share. So I jumped on zoom with the CEO with Kevin Sayer. We talked about the new pharmacy benefit for the Veterans Administration. A follow up on their hospital program we first discussed this past spring, I answered your questions about adhesive changes for the G six. And looking ahead to the G seven. I'm going to come back at the end and do some inside baseball stuff about the interview process. And about which companies I feature on the show why we feature them when we talk to them? What kind of questions I asked that sort of thing. I got some good questions about that in the Facebook group that I would really like to address. So I will do that at the end. As you heard just a moment ago. Dexcom is a sponsor of the show. As longtime listeners know I say this every time we talk to a sponsor, but it's really important to get this out there. I do not allow sponsors to dictate the content. So they will not tell me what to say during an interview. They will not ask me to edit that's not part of the deal. They are a sponsor. We believe in them, they get a commercial, we like the product. It doesn't mean we don't ask questions. And we probably speak to Dexcom the most frequently. But I like to point this out every time we talk to sorry if you get tired of hearing it. But those disclosures are really important. You should also know there is a video version of this interview was a zoom interview, we taped it, it's on our YouTube channel Diabetes Connections, and I shared it on social as well. Toward the end, my son Benny stops by and we make reference to some appearance issues. All you really need to know if you don't want to watch it you just want to listen here is that his hair is now dyed. It's this crazy bleached blonde, and he's wearing a giant purple Snuggie. He makes quite the impression. All right, let us get to what is important here. And here is my interview with Dexcom Kevin Sayer, different kind of way to tape an episode of Diabetes Connections, but we're going to give it a try. And joining me is the CEO of Dexcom, Kevin Sayer. Kevin, thanks for doing this. I appreciate it.   Kevin Sayer  3:01 Oh, you're welcome, Stacey, good to talk to you again.   Stacey Simms  3:04 So normally this time of year, you'd be in Europe for a SDXC. That conferences is happening. But virtually,   Kevin Sayer  3:11 it was happening virtually. It's not quite the same. But I get notes from everybody who's listening to the presentations, gathering papers to find out what went on during the day. So are what we're trying, everybody's trying to do different things.   Stacey Simms  3:25 Well, I have a laundry list as usual to go through what is Dexcom presenting anything at this conference, because there are a few   Unknown Speaker  3:31 papers, supporting the strength of CGM and treating diabetes. Some of the results in the type two studies that have happened recently and some of the results and some of the studies with the senior community and things like that. Nothing earth shattering, but again, all supporting CGM and how well it works and helping people take care of their diabetes. So you know, a good show for us. Just typical.   Stacey Simms  3:56 Well, we've got a lot to cover just today as our speaking and news release came out about a new agreement with University of Virginia. And this is for as you're watching or listening University of Virginia as a bit of a history with Dexcom in terms of the place where type zero was developed. So what is this agreement all about?   Unknown Speaker  4:17 Well, and you're correct, yeah, we've had a relationship with the various teams in Charlottesville for quite some time, the type zero group that we actually acquired in 2018, or the algorithm for the control IQ system, and then control steady resided, we felt that was a tremendous asset predicts him going forward, not only in developing automated insulin delivery technology, but possibly for developing decision support tools. For those who don't want an automated insulin delivery system over time. In conjunction with that acquisition. You've got also always really smart people to still stay at University of Virginia and do Diabetes Research and they're very access to clinical trials, clinical networks, all the other things they've done. We've had an informal relationship with them for a long time and we discuss could you guys help us with this or that and as our companies became more mature, and they got more involved in diabetes research that we felt was important to fund the things we were asking for, and give them an opportunity to do some good work on our behalf. So over the next five years, we'll target some leading edge new diabetes research project and use those brilliant minds. So we're gonna be avidex calm ultimately, on behalf of our patients, is there anything specific that you can tell us that they're gonna first, you know, we have current generation, automated and some delivery algorithms out there will certainly work on next generations, and ones that will just fine tune what we've already learned and, and do better. On top of that, I think you'll see us work for decision support, like I spoke about earlier, what tools can we offer somebody that is treating their diabetes and using insulin that are meaningful, and not getting in a way all the time? So what constructive? Can we do there and predict now that we have all this data from all of our patients, because the data has been uploaded from the phone, we think that analytics capabilities of the team at UVA can certainly go through this and find a lot of things that could be helpful for us to offer to our patients. And you know, as we look at even over time, they develop simulators and all sorts of things and looking at diabetes data that we think it'd be applicable for the future with respect to working in the hospital, or gestational diabetes, even the type two non insulin take taking patients. So now that we signed this agreement, it's up to us and VBA team at the type zero team to figure out and say, Okay, here's the things we want to work on. And we're we're just excited to have the agreement in place.   Stacey Simms  6:39 For people who are hearing things like we have all the data from the phones for the first time you and I've talked about this before. But can you talk a little bit about dex comms use of data. In other words, you know, My son has used Dexcom for seven years now. So you guys know everything about him. But you don't really know about him? Well, blinded, right?   Unknown Speaker  6:57 We know that they're from transmitter 1765 G, here's the glucose signals that we received. And you can look at what is going on with your son. And we actually have data regarding how it performs as well to come to the app so we can service it. And we can use that information to make our product better. But we don't share anything with anybody without a patient opting in and saying, I would like to share my data with x, or I would like to share my data with the Southern Company. There's no data sharing, there's it's absolutely kept very confidential. we comply with all HIPAA requirements and keep things very buttoned up.   Stacey Simms  7:34 All right, again, like I said, there's a laundry list here. So the next thing I wanted to ask you about, and this is wonderful news for veterans that Dexcom g six available at VA pharmacies, at no cost, it will, it's covered by the VA   Unknown Speaker  7:47 covered by the VA. You know, in the past, as many of your listeners and followers know, we've been trying to move away from durable medical equipment. As far as the coverage vehicle for our product, one of the things has been one of our biggest roadblocks is getting access to this product where people can get it easily and affordably. And within their normal course of their work. Rather than filling out a bunch of paperwork and having a bunch of Doctor notes and medical records and blood glucose logs and everything. And this coverage by the VA is going to make it accessible to veterans as long as they are on intensive insulin therapy type one and type two diabetes as a Pharmacy Benefits. So they would pick it up where they would typically pick up their drugs and and no copay. So this is a wonderful improvement for a group that really is troubled with diabetes, I think there's something like four times more incidence of diabetes in this group than the general population. So we really believe we can have a good impact here for this group of patients.   Stacey Simms  8:46 You know, again, I hate to ask stuff about our personal experience, because it isn't applicable to everybody. But I will say when our insurance switch to pharmacy for Tech's comm It is so much easier for whatever reason than going through Durable Medical, I don't know if it's the billing or just they're more efficient. I am now on a new insurance and in fact a durable medical so I'm not Yeah, thanks a lot. I got spoiled for a long time. But is is that the idea then to try to switch as many people as possible and as many insurers as possible to pharmacy and then my guess my question would be well, why? What's it for you guys?   Unknown Speaker  9:20 Why is it good? for us is it's easier if we are going to have this therapy be used by all as one users and then later even type two knives when using patients. One of the keys is making it accessible and to meet patients where they are. It is not during the normal course of operations for anybody to go through the durable medical equipment process not only the patients but their caregivers. You know, endocrinologists are used to working with all the paperwork associated with durable medical equipment. While it's a hassle they understand it. Many people with diabetes using insulin don't see endocrinologist and in fact A good friend of my wife's she knew from childhood came and stopped by business not long ago. He's a year younger than me. He has type two diabetes, he went to his doctor and he said, I I'd like index calm, I can do really well with that. And his doctors and internist general practitioner, he goes, Yeah, I've heard the paperwork on that softball, I'm not going to do it. And that was the answer that he got. And that's not a good answer ever. So the easier we can make it on everybody in the network, then the easier it is for patients to be compliant and easier to get patients on a system. And so we pushed very hard we have over 65% of lives in the US, covered lives and commercial insurance can go to the pharmacy now, but not all of them do. Most insurers insist that we have dual past durable medical equipment and the pharmacy but the most of our new patients and the majority of the new patients going on to Dexcom now are going through that channel. So we made a lot of progress. Would the advice be as people are watching or listening to if you are currently Durable Medical, call your insurer and see if it has changed. Or you can even call Dexcom or even call your insurance? See, we went again, when we get a new patient into our system, we try and determine if it's pharmacy. First, we try to determine where they can go and give them the path of least resistance to get their sensors, transmitters and everything else. So we do run a benefits check oftentimes for new patients, but not for the existing ones. They're buying product.   Stacey Simms  11:30 Well, I just went through that whole process. I won't bore you with the details. We have limited time.   Unknown Speaker  11:35 I'm sorry.   Stacey Simms  11:36 Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Your condolences are welcome. But it leads me we were talking about the VA and G six. This is a question you know, I'm going to jump to my listeners. We have lots of questions. And one that came up everyone of course is especially our listeners are so well educated, they're so up technically on everything. They're already waiting for the g7. I'm not even sure they want me to ask you about the G six anymore. But the question that came up, and I think it applies to the VA as well as will Medicare cover the G seven? Or should we anticipate issues with production? And all that that happened last time?   Unknown Speaker  12:07 know that? You know what? That's a very fair question. So I don't feel at all beat up by that we, we got an approval on G six months sooner than we'd planned. We knew how much better it was in G five, we were planning on launching a system in the fall and instead lost it in the spring when we weren't ready. And we literally spent a year and a half trying to catch up. We have enough capacity now to build enough g sixes to handle what we need very comfortably. And the factory looks so different than it was before. I mean, everything is literally automated robotic arms put every single thing together. And off we go. We are building that same infrastructure with G seven long before its approval. And the equipment we bought for G six is not going to be applicable to jisa. So we're starting over. But we aren't getting automated lines up and running for G seven. Now we have equipment scheduled to come in over the course of the year. And in all fairness, we're not going to do that, again, we're not going to watch it for a group of people because we only have this much capacity, we're gonna when we go, we've got to be ready to roll the thing out, we will continue to produce the six because there will be use cases and geographies, then we won't flip to G seven immediately based upon our planning and our capacity, but we are going to we want to be ready to slip everything immediately. That's our goal. Right?   Stacey Simms  13:24 So the you're not anticipating a production issue. But in terms of and again, I know it's complicated when you're working with CMS. And when you're working with the VA, there's no reason to expect that there would be issues with those groups. Nope. Separate   Unknown Speaker  13:37 notion. We have been structuring our contracts in a matter whereby the G 67 conversion, the simple what was difficult in the past are the durable components, the transmitter and the receiver, which he said and there's no transmitter everything's in the sensor, so we don't have to deal with that much anymore. And, and yet receivers, we will continue to sell them but it's getting much simpler, the same rules will be applicable. So we do not believe there'll be a big problem going from one sensor to the other reimbursement wise.   Stacey Simms  14:10 All right, so let's get to these questions. And some of these guys are very technical. So now I'm putting my classes. Okay. I know you can't I don't know if I want to get it right. Okay, so Chris wants to know, what about plans for integrating data with reporting systems their partners use, for example, I have CGM going to my pump and the Dexcom app. Tandem has released t Connect. And the only reason that he's using the Dexcom app right now is the clarity, goal tracker. Any any ideas about further integration with the T Connect especially because people are going to start using that from their phones maybe next year.   Unknown Speaker  14:46 Yeah, we work with all of our partners, we were what we would like nothing more than to have all the data log into our clarity system to give patients that option. The the issue we have with it is we're all still Companies, you know, some companies believe this data is theirs, and they, they need it proprietarily it's been slow for us, quite honestly, to get data from all the other pump companies into our clarity system. We do have agreements in place where we're working on that we have that with Insulet. We're talking with Tandem about that. Now we're talking with other companies about it, we reciprocally are more than willing to give our data to be displayed into their app and their their education systems. So we do share data with those who want it we have API's to whereby they can pull the data and display it if the patient gives them permission. And our criteria for accepting companies to take the data is not extremely difficult. If we view the something our patients want and need. We absolutely let them pull it through through the API's. I think over time, you'll see us continue to share data and hopefully others will give us theirs. It isn't simple. Everybody has their own opinions.   Stacey Simms  15:53 Well, and that's another question that I've received in the past was kind of the API. I may not even be using this correct verbiage here, well, they remain open. Because there are lots of people who've developed secondary apps, some are fun, some are very useful to people. And I know that there has been a lot about open source in the community   Unknown Speaker  16:12 know our API interfaces are still there's a process one goes through to get that information. But by and large I there's a lot, I don't have a number 60. But I know it's certainly more than 50 could be over 100 companies who pull data from our API's into their system. And we have kept that relatively open and shared. Do I think you'll remain open? Yes? Will there be times when we say no? Sure. You always say no to something. So for example, if somebody says I want to dam the API, so I can compare you to all your competitors and say Dexcom isn't any good look at the other guys. giving you access to our API's, we don't we don't need that. We do view the data as the patients but we also view the infrastructure we build and the money we spent as investment we make for our shareholders. So it is a fine line to walk and we'll continue to look at it. Ultimately, we hope to have a live API and or whereby if you're running the Dexcom, Apple want the live data on your app, we can offer that option as well as certain partners. And you know, that's on fire with the FDA, we'd like to get approved relatively soon. So once that that's out there, we'll pick some companies and do it. But we also want it to be up to Dexcom standards. So don't we don't want to offer data to companies that are going to make horrible looking apps and great experience. We could tarnish our brand. So it's a balancing act.   Stacey Simms  17:33 All right. I may regret this. And we may I may run out of time, we'll have to see. Do you have a question? No, you want to say hi, my son has come in. And I'm on headphones now. So if you want to say hi, for real, he's just beautifully dressed for the occasion in his smile. And you say hello, real quick. This is the CEO of Dexcom you're making a wonderful.   Unknown Speaker  17:51 Hey, hey, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm fine. You got to ask me at least one question. Mmm hmm.   Stacey Simms  18:00 Not the Dexcom since you were nine years old, really? No questions.   Unknown Speaker  18:03 What's your favorite Dexcom story that you could share with me my favorite Dexcom story? Oh, my friend. And I were like messing around one time and we horseplay and he ripped the Dexcom off on accident but like just the the transmitter and like the the patch stayed on. So like the middle of it ripped off. But the the patch around it stayed on. And he freaked out and I like pretended to like die.   Unknown Speaker  18:31 That's awesome. Oh, wonderful. Thank you for contributing. Hey, it's nice to see you. Nice to see you. Mom's actually pretty cool. My mom would never let me grow my hair like that. So I'm gonna give your mom   Unknown Speaker  18:45 your mom, your cool. The CEO of Dexcom said you're cool mine. You have to use that.   Stacey Simms  18:50 Yeah. Yeah. I think quarantines gotten all of us. But I love you, sweetheart. I didn't mean it. That's what happens when you have a kid who takes care of everything he's supposed to take care of you let him wear a purple dinosaur. noggin got his hair get crazy. You pick your battles. I appreciate that was very nice of you. Oh, see? We'll see if I don't cut any of it out. All right. Let me get back to the questions here.   Unknown Speaker  19:12 All righty. Question about compression lows. Somebody asked me if they're if you are addressing this, I assume this will be as much of an issue with g7. But you know, you'll lean on it or we don't think that it will. That will be determined when we have more real world use than what we've had in clinical studies. Right now. We've got a number of of thoughts and technologies we're considering for compression. I can't give away all of it. But it is something we're working on addressing over time. Again, we have some ideas, I don't know that you can ever eliminate it because you're going to lean on it. And that's going to happen. We've looked at alternative platforms. We've looked at other technologies we've looked at longer insertion depth, shorter insertion depth, what is what are all these things do and some of the things that you think might fix it actually make it worse. So we'll look at it which Seven, you know, we are going to have an arm indication in addition to the abdomen with G seven running on both and for young children, the back of the box as well. So maybe there might be less patients on the arm for other patients, there might be more, but we we are looking at it, we do have some technology ideas that I won't give away, that might be able to fix it. So give us a little while and we'll see.   Stacey Simms  20:21 I just curious when you do these things, please tell me that you've got guys in the lab like taking naps laying on it. You know, it's not just a robotic snowflake?   Unknown Speaker  20:30 Absolutely do we actually make go away on it for half an hour? Let's see what happens. We we do that, particularly at our feasibility studies, go away on us and see what we learn.   Stacey Simms  20:41 Tim wants to know, any plans for every minute data instead of just every five?   Unknown Speaker  20:47 I guess my question with that, and we've looked at this for years, what problem are you solving?   Unknown Speaker  20:53 is passing it along?   Unknown Speaker  20:54 When my no I'm so I'm gonna ask you the question I asked my team. So I'm letting your friend Tim be are the guys that work with me here? What problem you're solving by reading every minute? Well, you are solving a major problem, we would do that. And we've looked at that. Certainly you can possibly fine tune the algorithm better by recording video every minute or by transmitting every minute. Are you fixing anything for the patient? If we determined that that was a better experience for patient, we would absolutely address it. But right now, our patients are comfortable with five minutes. We haven't gone below that if you have an alert, you get it on a timely basis. Our alerts are very accurate in that timeframe. And so we're comfortable where we are we continue to research things like that. But our market research indicates that five minutes is absolutely fine for our patients right now.   Stacey Simms  21:44 I will devil's advocate by saying the response was from this is not Tim's case, but another person to chime in and say for very young children. They thought it would be helpful as someone whose child went ages two to nine with no CGM, I had don't have that perspective.   Unknown Speaker  21:58 Well, they're highly variable. And that could be a marker where it would be would be very helpful. Although that I learned every time we talk, Susie?   Stacey Simms  22:06 Well, you're more than welcome to use the Facebook group as a focus group anytime you'd like. We have some people you met one of them who thinks you know, looking at the Dexcom only when an alert is okay. And you have other people who have gone around the system because they don't like the two hour warm up. So some people can't get enough data. And some people who are 15 don't need any data. Yeah, there's a happy medium in there somewhere. I'm sure. I know we're gonna be running out of time. But I do have to ask the adhesive. It just seems that this year, there were changes. We've talked about it before. And while for some people it is getting better for some people, it is not. I know you're working on it.   Unknown Speaker  22:40 So let me walk you through that. We did change our adhesive. So let me be clear where and we talked about this before, we had what we felt was too many sensors fall off before the 10 days were up. And you know, if I bought a sensor, and it fell off today, and I want to I want to replace, and we replace a lot of sensors, we looked and studied a number of adhesives and arrived in one way arrived at based on numerous studies, we've not seen the irritation in our our trials that we've seen in the field. And in all fairness, the number of sensors falling off is decreased dramatically. And it is there many more sensors not falling off, and there are complaints about etc. So the trade off business wise, has been good, it has not been good for those patients who have that issue. We do have on the website, clinically proven alternatives and things that you can do to try and minimize that. There's anti allergy things you can put on your skin. There's a tape you can put on first and our tape over the top. We have studied the adhesive and the chemical composition of the adhesive a great length, we are doing some trials, just some in house studies to try some new patches to see if that helps. We've identified literally two agents that may be causing this. If we take those out, do we still have the same sticking power that we do now? So we'll look at it and if we can find a way to revise it, we will   Stacey Simms  24:06 when we talk to a couple of months ago, you were announcing CGM in hospitals. A lot of this was centered around COVID. Hoping to make it safer in hospitals. There's some newer information on that.   Unknown Speaker  24:18 How's it going? It has gone extremely well. You know, we've had over 200 hospitals reach out wanting CGM and we're in the process of getting it to tell them that eventually want to buy it. We're in over 100 now, we've now set up a registry so we can gather data from these patients. This was such for lack of a better words of fire drill, we started because there were so many people in hospitals, so many people so sick that we had to get it out there. And we literally learned new things every day. For example, the receiver really doesn't work because it's still there with the patient. They they needed phones. You don't want any individual nurses or caregivers PHONES WE HAD TO GIVE phones to the hospitals and we had to get through the IT systems and hospitals. Now that we have a pretty good idea how this works, we're creating a registry whereby we can gather data on these patients, you have to consent for us to gather your data, although you want to gather data about their healthcare experience in a hospital that came in with COVID, what drugs are they on? How are they treated, if they leave the hospital sooner or later, we want to gather that data. So we can use that to give us a basis later, at some point in time to go to the FDA and say, this will be a great hospital product.   Stacey Simms  25:26 This has nothing to do with hospitals, but it just occurred to me, there are a lot of diabetes camps over the last few years that have talked about maybe we could get every kid's Dexcom and put them on a screen in the infirmary or, you know, a generalized or, you know, a place where we could look at something like that. I'm curious. I don't know if that sounds like something that would even be possible.   Unknown Speaker  25:46 That's exactly what the hospital systems would want. They would want although CGM is going to one place, you know, we have to use the tools that we've got. So they would put sensors on patients, we'd hang phones next to them. And if they wanted to share follow on the hall on iPads or computers, they could and that was, that was literally all we could do. We got the clarity to whereby it could accept real time data. So we got that change as well to make this easier. But the right answer at the hospital, one of our learnings is we need that day to go to the place where it best impacts the workflows of the caregivers. And that would be a centralized app where you could watch numerous people at the same time.   Stacey Simms  26:25 Well, if you want a pilot camp, I could probably find several   Unknown Speaker  26:29 time we can try that. Maybe   Stacey Simms  26:31 before I let you go, I always have to nag you about follow, because Benny is now very responsible doing most of his care. And yet, when I look at the follow app, I would love to note transmitters dying, change this do that any plans to update follow to give a little bit more   Unknown Speaker  26:50 where we writing follow as, as I speak, I don't have released a party, but we are and put more of those same features in it. All right,   Stacey Simms  26:59 well, we'll circle back on that.   Unknown Speaker  27:01 We'll circle back. And I'm sure you'll have requests on follow even when we release the new one. And that's okay. I'm free is very clear, though. And your follow comment is perfect. This truly is becoming an experience, a consumer experience side product, what can we do to make this most engaging for you For you follow would be to have all that data. And I'm confident we can create that experience at some point in time, we need to find the experience that keeps people engaged and keeps them the safest. You know, we took a shot in the dark boy for started because nobody ever done this before. And here's what we can get done. And here's what we'll get out. I think over the next several years, what you'll see what next comments will create experiences that you can create more like your other apps whereby you can click on File, do you want the transmitted information? Yeah. Do you want that? No. Do you want in and literally create a menu and tiles and stuff similar to other software experiences that you have? So that you know that's a longer term goal? We can talk about that on another show.   Stacey Simms  27:57 I really appreciate it. I mean, Kevin, you've been accessible for many years to this podcast, and always answering our questions, whether they're the answers that people are hoping for or not, you're really upfront in a way that not every company is. And I do appreciate that. So thank you so much for spending time with me as usual. circle back around, we'll get Benny a haircut. And we'll talk soon.   Unknown Speaker  28:17 He can work do whatever he wants. But yeah, thanks for having us again. You're killing me.   Announcer  28:31 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  28:36 Lots more information about Dexcom. And some of the other things that Kevin talked about at Diabetes connections.com. And as always, there is a transcript. We've been doing that for every episode in 2020. So if you want to share this with somebody who maybe doesn't want to listen would prefer to read or if that's you, and you're thinking, I want to go back and read all the episodes this year, you can do that, go to Diabetes connections.com. And click on any of the episodes from this year, I mentioned at the beginning of the show that I would share a little bit of information about how I pick the guests book the guests and ask the questions. This came up in the Diabetes Connections Facebook group, it is Diabetes Connections of the group. I think it's a really good and fair question. And it came up because I posted Hey, dex calm has asked if they can come on and talk about I believe it was the VA program and the hospital update. Do you have any questions for them? And a listener said if they're telling you what they want to talk about? Isn't that an announcement and not an interview? Great question. I've been in broadcast journalism since I was 19 years old. And almost every time unless you're enterprising a story unless you're you're coming up with an idea and following it through. What happens is they will send a news release to you saying, here's what we want to talk about. Here's our big news. Here's what we want to announce. We are making the people available. And then you email back and say, great, I'm going to also ask about other questions. And if you don't agree to that, I'm not doing the interview. Sometimes you have to agree sometimes if you're going to get a particular kind of guest You know, everybody has their own guidelines for this. They make their own decisions for this. I don't think once on the podcast that I've had to do that. And that would be kind of silly. And I would certainly tell you if that was the case, you know, no one has ever said to me, You cannot ask about this. I do give. And again, this is a little bit more inside information. I do give when I talk to the like, the real life people, when I talk to ordinary people living with diabetes, I tell them off air, hey, if something comes up, that's too personal. Just let me know. And we'll change direction. We won't ask about that. I don't believe I've ever had someone tell me No, I don't want to talk about that. But you know, you understand if I'm talking to just off the top of my head years ago, we talked to this great guy, he has type one, he owns an ice cream shop, his daughter has type one as well, they had a really interesting and kind of cute story. If I get too personal with him, if I started asking personal questions about his daughter, who was a young girl, and he may not want to share everything about their diabetes routine, or their school routine. I mean, we can think of anything he wouldn't want to share, that doesn't really matter to the issues at hand that I'm talking about with him that we're hoping to learn from him. But I don't do that. When I talk to the technology companies or the insulin companies or you know, leaders in our community when you have pressing questions. They don't have to answer the question. But I have to ask the question, and I don't edit that out. In terms of who comes on the show. I regularly email when there's something in the news. Certainly, all the technology companies, if you have a question for you know, somebody, I'll fire it off to them. I'll say, will you come on. And you know what, I don't hear back from a lot of them. I have been trying to get Abbott to come on the show. Since the middle of the summer. I think we're gonna do it soon. But when Libra two was approved, I tried to get them to come on. I think Libra three, they're coming on. Omni pod has told me no, we don't have anything to talk about right now. So we don't want to come back on the show right now. And there's nothing really wrong with that. It's frustrating for me, but I do reach out. And I try to get them on as much as I can. So you've let me know, I could do a tech diabetes podcast every week, ignore everything else, and still do great. I don't want to do that. I like talking to the into the wide variety of people that we do. But trust me, I know, they're popular episodes. And I try to get everybody on as much as I can. As I'm ticking off the names, I'm realizing I have to follow up with Tandem. We talked this summer about doing a second episode about best practices with control IQ. And we need to follow up on that as well. So I'm not trying to single anybody out and say they're the bad guys. It's just a matter of following up. And if you don't know, and this is not an excuse, but just you know, again, as I'm just telling you everything here, this podcast is just me, I do have an editor who's wonderful. I don't have a producer, I don't even have an intern right now. It's just me trying to do everything I do and run other parts of my business as well. And you know, be a mom and do all those cool things. So no excuses. It's wonderful. I love doing it. But I think it's important to be open and honest about the process. I also do know there are groups that will not come on this show, because I asked tough questions. I mean, I think I'm nice. But it has gotten back to me that there are other outlets that are friendlier. There are people that will stick to a list of questions that will blur the line between sponsorship and content. And that's not what we do here. And I can't pretend otherwise. Alright, if you have any other questions, let me know. I'm happy to answer them Stacy at Diabetes connections.com. I hope all of that made sense. I hope it was interesting to you. I think it's important information. Thank you so much to my editor john Buchanan said audio editing solutions and thank you so much for listening. We will be back in just a couple of days. Tuesday is our regular release day and hey, we have a new episode with Medtronic coming up. We went through all of the recent approvals What's Up next, what's up with their purchase of companion medical the makers of the in pen. So lots of info coming up in that episode, which will be released on Tuesday. Until then, I'm Stacey Simms and be kind to yourself.   Benny  33:54 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

#ChinaMustPay #SetFlynnFree #EconomicOutlook Rick Manning President Americans for Limited Government joins us to discus the Chinese roll in the shutdown of America and the damage it has done. Michael Flynn documents revealed this past Friday clearly show a plot to frame him in order to get to a Presidential candidate of the party that opposed the party of the then President. Is this now the greatest scandal in our history? How can the former President with this evidence out there say dropping chargs against Flynn violates the Rule of Law with his prints upon the greatest travesty of justice in our nations history? #DogHeroes Will Chesney presents his hero No Ordinary Dog is not what you are expecting; this is not a normal war memoir. Yes Will was a Navy SEAL who served at the highest level. Yes, he was there when we killed Osama bin Laden. But this is a story about someone else who was there: Cairo. Cairo was the only dog chosen to be with us that night in Abbottabad, Pakistan, but that is not the only time we served with him. I personally fought next to Cairo in many different theaters of war but also trained with him around the globe. #SetFlynnFree #WhatYouBelieve Julio Rivera Reactionary Times together with Pastor Greg we delve into what e believe. How much is influenced by environment? What makes one person accept liberal thought while another believes conservative ideals? One might grown up around liberal ideology. Another around conservative ideology. Some around a mix. How does one get to their conclusions? Also what are the implications of the Flynn revelations and how does that impact the Durhm case? Did John Durham already know this from his investigation and did it turn his case into a possible criminal indictments? #ConstitutionalViolations #ExposingOurRights Cory Breckman Pastor Greg

Hey guys and welcome back to the 29th episode of Pencil's Ballercast where balls were discussed at length. Joining me as always is my cohost Matt Morwood as we discuss our reactions from this crazy first round of the playoffs. - Bucks in 6 always- How on earth did the Pelicans sweep the 3rd seeded Trailblazers- Are Philly for real?- Are LeBron's Cavs done- Do the Timberwoves suck (Yes)- Will the Raptors sh*t the bed again?We also quickly touch on Australian legend, Andrew Boguts return to the NBL!!!!!You can @ me on Twitter @Pencil2292Thanks and hope you enjoy.

This week, Zack goes solo to help you with tackle email overwhelm to effectively respond to the people you need to respond to. In this episode we cover: How to control the flow of emails Strategies to reduce the flow of emails Why you should stop checking your email (and what to do instead) Is this email actionable? NO A date that needs to go on your calendar? Put it on your calendar. Interesting information? Archive it and use search to find in the future. Irrelevant information? Delete it. Reference material you need to save? Download it straight into your organized reference system.* YES Will it take less than five minutes to take action? Do it now! Do you need to respond? Do it now!  Will it take more than 5 minutes? Defer it Say No Delegate Visual Email Workflow: Quotables: "Processing email is a way of making decisions on the front end with every email that comes in as soon as you open it." Links and resources mention: How to bulk archive in Gmail: https://youtu.be/ESfFUq5ww3g Email Hacks Email Game Boomerang Unroll.me Follow-up unroll.me episode: https://zacharysexton.com/unrollme-safe/ Task Managers Asana Todoist Trello Reference Managers Evernote Dropbox GSuite by Google Schedulers Calendly ScheduleOnce Acuity Other TextExpander Connect with Zachary Sexton Email - coach@zacharysexton.com Twitter - @zwsexton Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. The shownotes can be found at zacharysexton.com/15  

One morning, when Jon Arbuckle woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked."What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table - Arbuckle was a travelling salesman - and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.Jon then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense", he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn't get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was. He must have tried it a hundred times, shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs, and only stopped when he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that he had never felt before."Oh, Garfield", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!" He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowly up on his back towards the headboard so that he could lift his head better; found where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lots of little white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when he tried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back because as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold shudder.He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time", he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Other travelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well, there's still some hope; once I've got the money together to pay off my parents' debt to him - another five or six years I suppose - that's definitely what I'll do. That's when I'll make the big change. First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five."And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of drawers. "Garfield in Heaven!" he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from the bed that it had been set for four o'clock as it should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he do now? The next train went at seven; if he were to catch that he would have to rush like mad and the collection of samples was still not packed, and he did not at all feel particularly fresh and lively. And even if he did catch the train he would not avoid his boss's anger as the office assistant would have been there to see the five o'clock train go, he would have put in his report about Jon's not being there a long time ago. The office assistant was the boss's man, spineless, and with no understanding. What about if he reported sick? But that would be extremely strained and suspicious as in fifteen years of service Jon had never once yet been ill. His boss would certainly come round with the doctor from the medical insurance company, accuse his parents of having a lazy son, and accept the doctor's recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed that no-one was ever ill but that many were workshy. And what's more, would he have been entirely wrong in this case? Jon did in fact, apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping for so long, feel completely well and even felt much hungrier than usual.He was still hurriedly thinking all this through, unable to decide to get out of the bed, when the clock struck quarter to seven. There was a cautious knock at the door near his head. "Jon", somebody called - it was his mother - "it's quarter to seven. Didn't you want to go somewhere?" That gentle voice! Jon was shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he had had before. As if from deep inside him, there was a painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it, the words could be made out at first but then there was a sort of echo which made them unclear, leaving the hearer unsure whether he had heard properly or not. Jon had wanted to give a full answer and explain everything, but in the circumstances contented himself with saying: "Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I'm getting up now." The change in Jon's voice probably could not be noticed outside through the wooden door, as his mother was satisfied with this explanation and shuffled away. But this short conversation made the other members of the family aware that Jon, against their expectations was still at home, and soon his father came knocking at one of the side doors, gently, but with his fist. "Jon, Jon", he called, "what's wrong?" And after a short while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: "Jon! Jon!" At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Jon? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?" Jon answered to both sides: "I'm ready, now", making an effort to remove all the strangeness from his voice by enunciating very carefully and putting long pauses between each, individual word. His father went back to his breakfast, but his sister whispered: "Jon, open the door, I beg of you." Jon, however, had no thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.The first thing he wanted to do was to get up in peace without being disturbed, to get dressed, and most of all to have his breakfast. Only then would he consider what to do next, as he was well aware that he would not bring his thoughts to any sensible conclusions by lying in bed. He remembered that he had often felt a slight pain in bed, perhaps caused by lying awkwardly, but that had always turned out to be pure imagination and he wondered how his imaginings would slowly resolve themselves today. He did not have the slightest doubt that the change in his voice was nothing more than the first sign of a serious cold, which was an occupational hazard for travelling salesmen.It was a simple matter to throw off the covers; he only had to blow himself up a little and they fell off by themselves. But it became difficult after that, especially as he was so exceptionally broad. He would have used his arms and his hands to push himself up; but instead of them he only had all those little legs continuously moving in different directions, and which he was moreover unable to control. If he wanted to bend one of them, then that was the first one that would stretch itself out; and if he finally managed to do what he wanted with that leg, all the others seemed to be set free and would move about painfully. "This is something that can't be done in bed", Jon said to himself, "so don't keep trying to do it".The first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body out of the bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not imagine what it looked like; it turned out to be too hard to move; it went so slowly; and finally, almost in a frenzy, when he carelessly shoved himself forwards with all the force he could gather, he chose the wrong direction, hit hard against the lower bedpost, and learned from the burning pain he felt that the lower part of his body might well, at present, be the most sensitive.So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of the bed first, carefully turning his head to the side. This he managed quite easily, and despite its breadth and its weight, the bulk of his body eventually followed slowly in the direction of the head. But when he had at last got his head out of the bed and into the fresh air it occurred to him that if he let himself fall it would be a miracle if his head were not injured, so he became afraid to carry on pushing himself forward the same way. And he could not knock himself out now at any price; better to stay in bed than lose consciousness.It took just as much effort to get back to where he had been earlier, but when he lay there sighing, and was once more watching his legs as they struggled against each other even harder than before, if that was possible, he could think of no way of bringing peace and order to this chaos. He told himself once more that it was not possible for him to stay in bed and that the most sensible thing to do would be to get free of it in whatever way he could at whatever sacrifice. At the same time, though, he did not forget to remind himself that calm consideration was much better than rushing to desperate conclusions. At times like this he would direct his eyes to the window and look out as clearly as he could, but unfortunately, even the other side of the narrow street was enveloped in morning fog and the view had little confidence or cheer to offer him. "Seven o'clock, already", he said to himself when the clock struck again, "seven o'clock, and there's still a fog like this." And he lay there quietly a while longer, breathing lightly as if he perhaps expected the total stillness to bring things back to their real and natural state.But then he said to himself: "Before it strikes quarter past seven I'll definitely have to have got properly out of bed. And by then somebody will have come round from work to ask what's happened to me as well, as they open up at work before seven o'clock." And so he set himself to the task of swinging the entire length of his body out of the bed all at the same time. If he succeeded in falling out of bed in this way and kept his head raised as he did so he could probably avoid injuring it. His back seemed to be quite hard, and probably nothing would happen to it falling onto the carpet. His main concern was for the loud noise he was bound to make, and which even through all the doors would probably raise concern if not alarm. But it was something that had to be risked.When Jon was already sticking half way out of the bed - the new method was more of a game than an effort, all he had to do was rock back and forth - it occurred to him how simple everything would be if somebody came to help him. Two strong people - he had his father and the maid in mind - would have been more than enough; they would only have to push their arms under the dome of his back, peel him away from the bed, bend down with the load and then be patient and careful as he swang over onto the floor, where, hopefully, the little legs would find a use. Should he really call for help though, even apart from the fact that all the doors were locked? Despite all the difficulty he was in, he could not suppress a smile at this thought.After a while he had already moved so far across that it would have been hard for him to keep his balance if he rocked too hard. The time was now ten past seven and he would have to make a final decision very soon. Then there was a ring at the door of the flat. "That'll be someone from work", he said to himself, and froze very still, although his little legs only became all the more lively as they danced around. For a moment everything remained quiet. "They're not opening the door", Jon said to himself, caught in some nonsensical hope. But then of course, the maid's firm steps went to the door as ever and opened it. Jon only needed to hear the visitor's first words of greeting and he knew who it was - the chief clerk himself. Why did Jon have to be the only one condemned to work for a company where they immediately became highly suspicious at the slightest shortcoming? Were all employees, every one of them, louts, was there not one of them who was faithful and devoted who would go so mad with pangs of conscience that he couldn't get out of bed if he didn't spend at least a couple of hours in the morning on company business? Was it really not enough to let one of the trainees make enquiries - assuming enquiries were even necessary - did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did they have to show the whole, innocent family that this was so suspicious that only the chief clerk could be trusted to have the wisdom to investigate it? And more because these thoughts had made him upset than through any proper decision, he swang himself with all his force out of the bed. There was a loud thump, but it wasn't really a loud noise. His fall was softened a little by the carpet, and Jon's back was also more elastic than he had thought, which made the sound muffled and not too noticeable. He had not held his head carefully enough, though, and hit it as he fell; annoyed and in pain, he turned it and rubbed it against the carpet."Something's fallen down in there", said the chief clerk in the room on the left. Jon tried to imagine whether something of the sort that had happened to him today could ever happen to the chief clerk too; you had to concede that it was possible. But as if in gruff reply to this question, the chief clerk's firm footsteps in his highly polished boots could now be heard in the adjoining room. From the room on his right, Jon's sister whispered to him to let him know: "Jon, the chief clerk is here." "Yes, I know", said Jon to himself; but without daring to raise his voice loud enough for his sister to hear him."Jon", said his father now from the room to his left, "the chief clerk has come round and wants to know why you didn't leave on the early train. We don't know what to say to him. And anyway, he wants to speak to you personally. So please open up this door. I'm sure he'll be good enough to forgive the untidiness of your room." Then the chief clerk called "Good morning, Mr. Arbuckle". "He isn't well", said his mother to the chief clerk, while his father continued to speak through the door. "He isn't well, please believe me. Why else would Jon have missed a train! The lad only ever thinks about the business. It nearly makes me cross the way he never goes out in the evenings; he's been in town for a week now but stayed home every evening. He sits with us in the kitchen and just reads the paper or studies train timetables. His idea of relaxation is working with his fretsaw. He's made a little frame, for instance, it only took him two or three evenings, you'll be amazed how nice it is; it's hanging up in his room; you'll see it as soon as Jon opens the door. Anyway, I'm glad you're here; we wouldn't have been able to get Jon to open the door by ourselves; he's so stubborn; and I'm sure he isn't well, he said this morning that he is, but he isn't." "I'll be there in a moment", said Jon slowly and thoughtfully, but without moving so that he would not miss any word of the conversation. "Well I can't think of any other way of explaining it, Mrs. Arbuckle", said the chief clerk, "I hope it's nothing serious. But on the other hand, I must say that if we people in commerce ever become slightly unwell then, fortunately or unfortunately as you like, we simply have to overcome it because of business considerations." "Can the chief clerk come in to see you now then?", asked his father impatiently, knocking at the door again. "No", said Jon. In the room on his right there followed a painful silence; in the room on his left his sister began to cry.So why did his sister not go and join the others? She had probably only just got up and had not even begun to get dressed. And why was she crying? Was it because he had not got up, and had not let the chief clerk in, because he was in danger of losing his job and if that happened his boss would once more pursue their parents with the same demands as before? There was no need to worry about things like that yet. Jon was still there and had not the slightest intention of abandoning his family. For the time being he just lay there on the carpet, and no-one who knew the condition he was in would seriously have expected him to let the chief clerk in. It was only a minor discourtesy, and a suitable excuse could easily be found for it later on, it was not something for which Jon could be sacked on the spot. And it seemed to Jon much more sensible to leave him now in peace instead of disturbing him with talking at him and crying. But the others didn't know what was happening, they were worried, that would excuse their behaviour.The chief clerk now raised his voice, "Mr. Arbuckle", he called to him, "what is wrong? You barricade yourself in your room, give us no more than yes or no for an answer, you are causing serious and unnecessary concern to your parents and you fail - and I mention this just by the way - you fail to carry out your business duties in a way that is quite unheard of. I'm speaking here on behalf of your parents and of your employer, and really must request a clear and immediate explanation. I am astonished, quite astonished. I thought I knew you as a calm and sensible person, and now you suddenly seem to be showing off with peculiar whims. This morning, your employer did suggest a possible reason for your failure to appear, it's true - it had to do with the money that was recently entrusted to you - but I came near to giving him my word of honour that that could not be the right explanation. But now that I see your incomprehensible stubbornness I no longer feel any wish whatsoever to intercede on your behalf. And nor is your position all that secure. I had originally intended to say all this to you in private, but since you cause me to waste my time here for no good reason I don't see why your parents should not also learn of it. Your turnover has been very unsatisfactory of late; I grant you that it's not the time of year to do especially good business, we recognise that; but there simply is no time of year to do no business at all, Mr. Arbuckle, we cannot allow there to be.""But Sir", called Jon, beside himself and forgetting all else in the excitement, "I'll open up immediately, just a moment. I'm slightly unwell, an attack of dizziness, I haven't been able to get up. I'm still in bed now. I'm quite fresh again now, though. I'm just getting out of bed. Just a moment. Be patient! It's not quite as easy as I'd thought. I'm quite alright now, though. It's shocking, what can suddenly happen to a person! I was quite alright last night, my parents know about it, perhaps better than me, I had a small symptom of it last night already. They must have noticed it. I don't know why I didn't let you know at work! But you always think you can get over an illness without staying at home. Please, don't make my parents suffer! There's no basis for any of the accusations you're making; nobody's ever said a word to me about any of these things. Maybe you haven't read the latest contracts I sent in. I'll set off with the eight o'clock train, as well, these few hours of rest have given me strength. You don't need to wait, sir; I'll be in the office soon after you, and please be so good as to tell that to the boss and recommend me to him!"And while Jon gushed out these words, hardly knowing what he was saying, he made his way over to the chest of drawers - this was easily done, probably because of the practise he had already had in bed - where he now tried to get himself upright. He really did want to open the door, really did want to let them see him and to speak with the chief clerk; the others were being so insistent, and he was curious to learn what they would say when they caught sight of him. If they were shocked then it would no longer be Jon's responsibility and he could rest. If, however, they took everything calmly he would still have no reason to be upset, and if he hurried he really could be at the station for eight o'clock. The first few times he tried to climb up on the smooth chest of drawers he just slid down again, but he finally gave himself one last swing and stood there upright; the lower part of his body was in serious pain but he no longer gave any attention to it. Now he let himself fall against the back of a nearby chair and held tightly to the edges of it with his little legs. By now he had also calmed down, and kept quiet so that he could listen to what the chief clerk was saying."Did you understand a word of all that?" the chief clerk asked his parents, "surely he's not trying to make fools of us". "Oh, Garfield!" called his mother, who was already in tears, "he could be seriously ill and we're making him suffer. Grete! Grete!" she then cried. "Mother?" his sister called from the other side. They communicated across Jon's room. "You'll have to go for the doctor straight away. Jon is ill. Quick, get the doctor. Did you hear the way Jon spoke just now?" "That was the voice of an animal", said the chief clerk, with a calmness that was in contrast with his mother's screams. "Anna! Anna!" his father called into the kitchen through the entrance hall, clapping his hands, "get a locksmith here, now!" And the two girls, their skirts swishing, immediately ran out through the hall, wrenching open the front door of the flat as they went. How had his sister managed to get dressed so quickly? There was no sound of the door banging shut again; they must have left it open; people often do in homes where something awful has happened.Jon, in contrast, had become much calmer. So they couldn't understand his words any more, although they seemed clear enough to him, clearer than before - perhaps his ears had become used to the sound. They had realised, though, that there was something wrong with him, and were ready to help. The first response to his situation had been confident and wise, and that made him feel better. He felt that he had been drawn back in among people, and from the doctor and the locksmith he expected great and surprising achievements - although he did not really distinguish one from the other. Whatever was said next would be crucial, so, in order to make his voice as clear as possible, he coughed a little, but taking care to do this not too loudly as even this might well sound different from the way that a human coughs and he was no longer sure he could judge this for himself. Meanwhile, it had become very quiet in the next room. Perhaps his parents were sat at the table whispering with the chief clerk, or perhaps they were all pressed against the door and listening.Jon slowly pushed his way over to the door with the chair. Once there he let go of it and threw himself onto the door, holding himself upright against it using the adhesive on the tips of his legs. He rested there a little while to recover from the effort involved and then set himself to the task of turning the key in the lock with his mouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper teeth - how was he, then, to grasp the key? - but the lack of teeth was, of course, made up for with a very strong jaw; using the jaw, he really was able to start the key turning, ignoring the fact that he must have been causing some kind of damage as a brown fluid came from his mouth, flowed over the key and dripped onto the floor. "Listen", said the chief clerk in the next room, "he's turning the key." Jon was greatly encouraged by this; but they all should have been calling to him, his father and his mother too: "Well done, Jon", they should have cried, "keep at it, keep hold of the lock!" And with the idea that they were all excitedly following his efforts, he bit on the key with all his strength, paying no attention to the pain he was causing himself. As the key turned round he turned around the lock with it, only holding himself upright with his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down again with the whole weight of his body as needed. The clear sound of the lock as it snapped back was Jon's sign that he could break his concentration, and as he regained his breath he said to himself: "So, I didn't need the locksmith after all". Then he lay his head on the handle of the door to open it completely.Because he had to open the door in this way, it was already wide open before he could be seen. He had first to slowly turn himself around one of the double doors, and he had to do it very carefully if he did not want to fall flat on his back before entering the room. He was still occupied with this difficult movement, unable to pay attention to anything else, when he heard the chief clerk exclaim a loud "Oh!", which sounded like the soughing of the wind. Now he also saw him - he was the nearest to the door - his hand pressed against his open mouth and slowly retreating as if driven by a steady and invisible force. Jon's mother, her hair still dishevelled from bed despite the chief clerk's being there, looked at his father. Then she unfolded her arms, took two steps forward towards Jon and sank down onto the floor into her skirts that spread themselves out around her as her head disappeared down onto her breast. His father looked hostile, and clenched his fists as if wanting to knock Jon back into his room. Then he looked uncertainly round the living room, covered his eyes with his hands and wept so that his powerful chest shook.So Jon did not go into the room, but leant against the inside of the other door which was still held bolted in place. In this way only half of his body could be seen, along with his head above it which he leant over to one side as he peered out at the others. Meanwhile the day had become much lighter; part of the endless, grey-black building on the other side of the street - which was a hospital - could be seen quite clearly with the austere and regular line of windows piercing its façade; the rain was still falling, now throwing down large, individual droplets which hit the ground one at a time. The washing up from breakfast lay on the table; there was so much of it because, for Jon's father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of different newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was photograph of Jon when he was a lieutenant in the army, his sword in his hand and a carefree smile on his face as he called forth respect for his uniform and bearing. The door to the entrance hall was open and as the front door of the flat was also open he could see onto the landing and the stairs where they began their way down below."Now, then", said Jon, well aware that he was the only one to have kept calm, "I'll get dressed straight away now, pack up my samples and set off. Will you please just let me leave? You can see", he said to the chief clerk, "that I'm not stubborn and I like to do my job; being a commercial traveller is arduous but without travelling I couldn't earn my living. So where are you going, in to the office? Yes? Will you report everything accurately, then? It's quite possible for someone to be temporarily unable to work, but that's just the right time to remember what's been achieved in the past and consider that later on, once the difficulty has been removed, he will certainly work with all the more diligence and concentration. You're well aware that I'm seriously in debt to our employer as well as having to look after my parents and my sister, so that I'm trapped in a difficult situation, but I will work my way out of it again. Please don't make things any harder for me than they are already, and don't take sides against me at the office. I know that nobody likes the travellers. They think we earn an enormous wage as well as having a soft time of it. That's just prejudice but they have no particular reason to think better of it. But you, sir, you have a better overview than the rest of the staff, in fact, if I can say this in confidence, a better overview than the boss himself - it's very easy for a businessman like him to make mistakes about his employees and judge them more harshly than he should. And you're also well aware that we travellers spend almost the whole year away from the office, so that we can very easily fall victim to gossip and chance and groundless complaints, and it's almost impossible to defend yourself from that sort of thing, we don't usually even hear about them, or if at all it's when we arrive back home exhausted from a trip, and that's when we feel the harmful effects of what's been going on without even knowing what caused them. Please, don't go away, at least first say something to show that you grant that I'm at least partly right!"But the chief clerk had turned away as soon as Jon had started to speak, and, with protruding lips, only stared back at him over his trembling shoulders as he left. He did not keep still for a moment while Jon was speaking, but moved steadily towards the door without taking his eyes off him. He moved very gradually, as if there had been some secret prohibition on leaving the room. It was only when he had reached the entrance hall that he made a sudden movement, drew his foot from the living room, and rushed forward in a panic. In the hall, he stretched his right hand far out towards the stairway as if out there, there were some supernatural force waiting to save him.Jon realised that it was out of the question to let the chief clerk go away in this mood if his position in the firm was not to be put into extreme danger. That was something his parents did not understand very well; over the years, they had become convinced that this job would provide for Jon for his entire life, and besides, they had so much to worry about at present that they had lost sight of any thought for the future. Jon, though, did think about the future. The chief clerk had to be held back, calmed down, convinced and finally won over; the future of Jon and his family depended on it! If only his sister were here! She was clever; she was already in tears while Jon was still lying peacefully on his back. And the chief clerk was a lover of women, surely she could persuade him; she would close the front door in the entrance hall and talk him out of his shocked state. But his sister was not there, Jon would have to do the job himself. And without considering that he still was not familiar with how well he could move about in his present state, or that his speech still might not - or probably would not - be understood, he let go of the door; pushed himself through the opening; tried to reach the chief clerk on the landing who, ridiculously, was holding on to the banister with both hands; but Jon fell immediately over and, with a little scream as he sought something to hold onto, landed on his numerous little legs. Hardly had that happened than, for the first time that day, he began to feel alright with his body; the little legs had the solid ground under them; to his pleasure, they did exactly as he told them; they were even making the effort to carry him where he wanted to go; and he was soon believing that all his sorrows would soon be finally at an end. He held back the urge to move but swayed from side to side as he crouched there on the floor. His mother was not far away in front of him and seemed, at first, quite engrossed in herself, but then she suddenly jumped up with her arms outstretched and her fingers spread shouting: "Help, for pity's sake, Help!" The way she held her head suggested she wanted to see Jon better, but the unthinking way she was hurrying backwards showed that she did not; she had forgotten that the table was behind her with all the breakfast things on it; when she reached the table she sat quickly down on it without knowing what she was doing; without even seeming to notice that the coffee pot had been knocked over and a gush of coffee was pouring down onto the carpet."Mother, mother", said Jon gently, looking up at her. He had completely forgotten the chief clerk for the moment, but could not help himself snapping in the air with his jaws at the sight of the flow of coffee. That set his mother screaming anew, she fled from the table and into the arms of his father as he rushed towards her. Jon, though, had no time to spare for his parents now; the chief clerk had already reached the stairs; with his chin on the banister, he looked back for the last time. Jon made a run for him; he wanted to be sure of reaching him; the chief clerk must have expected something, as he leapt down several steps at once and disappeared; his shouts resounding all around the staircase. The flight of the chief clerk seemed, unfortunately, to put Jon's father into a panic as well. Until then he had been relatively self controlled, but now, instead of running after the chief clerk himself, or at least not impeding Jon as he ran after him, Jon's father seized the chief clerk's stick in his right hand (the chief clerk had left it behind on a chair, along with his hat and overcoat), picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Jon back into his room, stamping his foot at him as he went. Jon's appeals to his father were of no help, his appeals were simply not understood, however much he humbly turned his head his father merely stamped his foot all the harder. Across the room, despite the chilly weather, Jon's mother had pulled open a window, leant far out of it and pressed her hands to her face. A strong draught of air flew in from the street towards the stairway, the curtains flew up, the newspapers on the table fluttered and some of them were blown onto the floor. Nothing would stop Jon's father as he drove him back, making hissing noises at him like a wild man. Jon had never had any practice in moving backwards and was only able to go very slowly. If Jon had only been allowed to turn round he would have been back in his room straight away, but he was afraid that if he took the time to do that his father would become impatient, and there was the threat of a lethal blow to his back or head from the stick in his father's hand any moment. Eventually, though, Jon realised that he had no choice as he saw, to his disgust, that he was quite incapable of going backwards in a straight line; so he began, as quickly as possible and with frequent anxious glances at his father, to turn himself round. It went very slowly, but perhaps his father was able to see his good intentions as he did nothing to hinder him, in fact now and then he used the tip of his stick to give directions from a distance as to which way to turn. If only his father would stop that unbearable hissing! It was making Jon quite confused. When he had nearly finished turning round, still listening to that hissing, he made a mistake and turned himself back a little the way he had just come. He was pleased when he finally had his head in front of the doorway, but then saw that it was too narrow, and his body was too broad to get through it without further difficulty. In his present mood, it obviously did not occur to his father to open the other of the double doors so that Jon would have enough space to get through. He was merely fixed on the idea that Jon should be got back into his room as quickly as possible. Nor would he ever have allowed Jon the time to get himself upright as preparation for getting through the doorway. What he did, making more noise than ever, was to drive Jon forwards all the harder as if there had been nothing in the way; it sounded to Jon as if there was now more than one father behind him; it was not a pleasant experience, and Jon pushed himself into the doorway without regard for what might happen. One side of his body lifted itself, he lay at an angle in the doorway, one flank scraped on the white door and was painfully injured, leaving vile brown flecks on it, soon he was stuck fast and would not have been able to move at all by himself, the little legs along one side hung quivering in the air while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the ground. Then his father gave him a hefty shove from behind which released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the stick, then, finally, all was quiet.Today's strip