Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (2:40)

I don't. I don't. He's our only. He's actually adopted too, which, you know, we adopted him when he was like four months old. So for all intensive purposes, he's ours. So it's pretty, pretty interesting kind of his backstory and stuff like that.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (2:56)

But Brian, I'm adopted as well.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (2:59)

Oh, nice.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (3:00)

Yeah. Yeah, nice. What led to you adopting?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (3:03)

So my wife And I. We had been kind of struggling with having children of our own for a while, and we decided to kind of go down the route of, like, in vitro and all those things, which wasn't very successful. It was funny. It was like Thanksgiving, I guess, 2017. And because he was born in October 2017, and somebody. A friend of mine's like, hey. He texted me. He's like, are you. Are you interested in taking care of a child? I'm like, what? So it happened to be his girlfriend's daughter that had a child, and she couldn't keep the child for various reasons and things like that. So we ended up fostering them through the state of Florida for. Geez. It took about two years going through court and things like that until we finally were able to adopt him.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (4:00)

So you fostered him as a newborn?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (4:03)

Yeah, yeah. Four months. Yeah. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (4:06)

That's interesting. So he never went into the system. It's because somebody knew somebody and they were able to, like, set it up that way.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (4:13)

Exactly, exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (4:15)

So your buddy knew you had been trying to have kids.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (4:18)

Yes.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (4:19)

Had you ever wondered out loud about adoption in front of your friend, or is this just happenstance?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (4:25)

You know, I think it was just happenstance. He kind of. He was in. He was actually in a church group of mine, and he kind of saw our struggles and things like that. And, you know, he just. He said, you guys were the first on my mind when this happened. And coincidentally, I think two months prior to Lucas, who's. Who's our son, prior to him being born, we actually miscarried. So it was kind of like everything all happened at once. And we're like, okay, well, here's the emotions. We were actually in the Detroit airport eating lunch when he called me, and we're, like, bawling our eyes out at dinner. And here it is. People are kind of looking at us a little bit strange and stuff like that, but, yeah, it was really interesting.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (5:07)

Well, they didn't know how much you spent on in vitro.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (5:10)

Right, right. I mean, geez. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (5:13)

How old is Lucas now?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (5:15)

He's seven. He'll be eight in October.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (5:18)

Awesome. Oh, that's awesome. So what do you know about his background? Like, I imagine a fair amount. Is there type 1 diabetes or other autoimmune issues in his family?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (5:28)

So we do. We do stay in touch with his maternal grandmother. Just kind of. She's kind of on the outside looking in, you know, sending pictures and stuff like that every once in a while. But what we did here is his grandfather's half brother actually had type 1 diabetes. So, I mean, could it be genetic? Probably, but, you know, we're not. We're not sure.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (5:55)

Right?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (5:55)

Yeah. So it's really interesting.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (5:57)

When was he diagnosed? How old?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (6:01)

So it was July of last year. So it was July 1st. Right before the 4th of July. We had just come home from vacation and. Typical. I mean, typical. Now, I can say that I didn't know what the heck it was going into it, but he was extremely thirsty, he was tired, all these things. And when we got home the next day on Monday, my wife took him to a kid's pool party, and he collapsed at the pool. Thankfully, one of her really good, dear friends of ours is a pediatric ER doc. And she kind of went into the emergency mode and said, hey, well, you know, what are some of his symptoms? And she's like, yeah, you know, he was thirsty, he wet the bed. He hasn't done that since he was, like, six months old. Yeah. So she called up the hospital in Tampa and said, hey, you know, this family's gonna come visit, you guys. And I think he has diabetes. So that's. I don't know if we were ahead of the game. Cause, you know, I've listened to your podcast, and we've had things on there about, you know, having bad medical experiences, but for the most part, it was really, really, like, despite all the chaos and emotions and stuff like that, I mean, they took really, really good care of us, like, immediately. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (7:28)

Well, listen, if everybody had a pediatric ER doc with them when something happened, and they'd be doing. They'd be doing awesome.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (7:35)

I know, I know, right?

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (7:36)

So when you got to the hospital, how far along was he in the process? Like, was he in DKA or, you know, where was he?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (7:43)

Yeah, yeah. So he was. He was in dka. He read. I think his sugar was, like, right around 800, 780, 800. Somewhere around there. He walked inside the hospital, and the doctors were like, I don't know how he did it, but I guess, you know, kids are resilient. But, you know, I guess that's a cliche thing to say, but. But when the docs kind of told me, you know, a couple hours later that, you know, we were within hours of him going into a coma, that's when kind of things kind of sunk in there. Right. So.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (8:16)

So how does this all, Brian, intersect with. Because your notes are interesting. How does this all intersect with your journey and what's been happening to you? Can you kind of give me a little bit of that and we can blend Them together?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (8:27)

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. So, you know, I am a army veteran, served over in Germany, Bosnia. I did counterintelligence. It was fun times, but I like to tell people it was just like a Jason Bourne movie, except for less explosions and more paperwork involved. So, you know, it wasn't as exciting as the movies, but it was, it was kind of interesting, you know, but I was, you know, 19, 20, 21 years of age. Didn't really think much of it until, you know, later on in life. It's opened a lot of doors and things like that as well.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (9:03)

Right.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (9:04)

So one of the things, you know, per my notes is, you know, we. I enjoy doing martial arts with Lucas and I taught some of the. The classes with his class and all this stuff. And we were doing a, a warm up exercise and part of the warm up exercise was doing these jump front kicks to bring the cardio up right. I landed absolutely wrong way or the right way, depending on how you look at it. And I tore both my ACLs at the same time.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (9:34)

Oh.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (9:34)

So, yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (9:35)

Yeah. How did that feel? Like I'm being serious. Like, what's the level of pain there?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (9:39)

It was kind of a shock. Like I remember thinking, you know, time slowed down obviously, but I felt like that can't be good. It was a strange feeling. Another instructor in the class, he said it sounded like two gunshots going off. And I just kind of like shuffled myself to the side of the wall. I tried to stand up, I couldn't stand. And I remember calling my wife, I said, hey, you gotta come pick Lucas and I up. She's like, why? What happened to your car? I'm like, well, it wasn't my car, it was my kn. And I don't know what's going on. So, yeah, it was a lot of pain. It was somewhat embarrassing too because, you know, there was anywhere from 7 year olds to teenagers in the room and you suddenly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (10:25)

Yeah, yeah, like the old man. The old man tried to jump up in there and look what happened to him.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (10:29)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (10:30)

How old were you at that point?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (10:31)

Yeah, I was old enough to know better, but yeah, I'm 51 now. So. Yeah, 50 at the time. So doing. Yeah. Doing 20 year old moves at a 50 year old. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (10:43)

Brian, let me tell you something. There's a video making the rounds today on, on the online and it's a, a light like, like a lightweight plane crash landing on a golf course. I think it's an Austrian, it's an Australia. So, you know, from this one perspective, people are filming and this plane comes in, and it's startling, you know, it comes in at, like, he doesn't quite get it down smoothly. It kind of. Kind of plops down a little bit. And this guy who, you know, I'm going to guess somewhere between 50 and 60 years old up on this rise, happened to be next to the person holding the camera. So the camera continues on to the plane while this man is like, I'm going to go help. He jumps over, like, a curb, goes across a little bit of grass, starts heading down an embankment. You know, he takes four or five steps going down the hill, and. And his momentum gets ahead of how quickly his old ass can keep up with the momentum. And his hat flies off. He goes over, tumbling down the hill. And I'm like, I don't know where the bigger tragedy was here today, because I think the people on the plane are okay. This man probably broke every bone in his body, like, falling down this hill. You know, like, it was just horrible. But what struck me as I kind of, like, walked away from the video is about what you just talked about, which is, in his mind, he could do that. You know what I mean? Like, it wasn't some horribly steep hill. You know, it's probably a thing he's run down a million times in his life, but just not at his age. And the last time he did it, he probably doesn't remember anyway. I imagine you in that same situation, like, jump kick, no problem. Ugh. Bang. What the hell? But then that tumbles you into a medical issue.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (12:22)

Right, Right, right. So we went to the er, and of course, they're like, okay, well, let's do X rays. Nothing's broken. They brace me up. And they said, okay, see a orthopedic surgeon in the morning. I'm like, awesome.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (12:38)

Yeah.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (12:39)

Like, thanks. So I had. I had some crutches. I've never had to walk on crutches in my life. So it was like, you know, usually you have, like, one good leg and one bad leg, but when you have two bad ones, it's kind of like.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (12:51)

Yeah, what do you do? Right.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (12:53)

Yeah. Yeah. I had no idea. So, yeah. So fast forward a couple weeks. I did some PT to kind of reduce swelling, all those things. Saw the orthopedic doctor, he said, okay, well, we have to do the surgery if you want any sort of mobility back. I'm like, yes. I'm like, go ahead, do them both. And he's like, well, actually, we don't do them both at the same time. I'm like, okay. So what does that look like? So it was just a lot of PT getting me at least some strength back up and things like that. And then in April, I had my first surgery. Fast forward the whole summer, so going through, and we'll get to that too. But you know, going through all the diabetes journey and then in August having to have the second surgery, it was a load of fun, I tell you.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (13:40)

Surgery, diabetes, second surgery. That's kind of how it went.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (13:44)

Yep, exactly. Exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (13:46)

And you're not like, first of all, they ever explained to you why? Because you hear this all the time. Like, even when you go to the dentist, you're like, hey, I have a cavity on this side and on that side. Yeah, there's two different visits. I'm like, why? Like, oh, you get so numb you'll bite your tongue. I was like, what if I promise not to? Like, you know what I mean? Like, can't we. Right. But so, but I understand, like, there's reasons behind it that I'm not jiving with. I don't understand with the surgery though. Like, you're laid up one way or the other. Like, what's one non surgical still bum leg good for? I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years though, because we began using US Med. You can too. Usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514 to get your free benefits. Check. US Med has served over 1 million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabete supplies and more. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites, Libre 3, Dexcom, G7 and pumps like Omnipod 5, Omnipod Dash, Tandem, and most recently the eyelet pump from Beta Bionics. The stuff you're looking for, they have it at us med, 888-721-101-514 or go to usmed.com juicebox to get started. Now use my link to support the podcast. That's usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514. This episode is sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. And today I'm going to tell you about Tandem's newest pump and algorithm. The Tandem MOBI system with Control IQ technology features Auto Bolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my tandemdiabetes.com juicebox. This is going to help you to get started with Tandem's smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever. Control IQ technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels 30 minutes ahead and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the tandemoby in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately. Clip it discreetly to your clothing or slip it into your pocket. Head now to my link tandemdiabetes.com juicebox to check out your benefits and get started today.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (16:24)

I don't know, you know, looking back, I'm like. Because it's interesting. The first surgery on the left knee is still the knee that bothers me the most. The right one was like, okay, well, that was surgery went through it. It feels pretty good now.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (16:39)

Okay.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (16:40)

But yeah, the left one's still giving me issues, you know, a year and a half later. I don't know the reasoning, but yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (16:46)

You do the surgery, then there's the recovery, then there's a gap of time and then another surgery and a recovery. What keeping the diabetes out of her for a second. How long are you laid up for? And what's the impact on you being laid up that long?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (16:59)

Yeah, so the first surgery, you know, I really didn't know what to expect. I never really had any surgeries in my life except for maybe like ear tubes as a kid or something like that. So I, I didn't know. I mean, I thought I was going to die in anesthesia. So I'm like telling my wife, hey, if I don't wake up, you know, do this and that. It was a good like two weeks. And you go from like being laid up in bed to, I mean, not being able to use the bathroom on your own. My wife had to, like, help me shower. Got this strange bag you put on the surgical leg so that you could kind of take a shower and feel somewhat human, like. But that was like four or five days after the surgery. So, I mean, you can imagine it was, it wasn't very pleasant. But that being said, probably after a week, the doctor really wanted me to at least start putting weight on it and start moving and things like that. So he was an athletic orthopedic surgeon. I mean, he had many, many years of experience. In fact, he said out of his 28 years of experience, I'm like one of less than five that have done both at the same time. So I'm like, hey, does that make me an elite athlete or something? He's like, no.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (18:20)

Makes you elite at falling is what it makes you.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (18:23)

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (18:24)

It makes you the guy tumbling down the hill at the. At the golf course.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (18:28)

Exactly, exactly. So it was a lot of fun. And I'm using finger quotes, so I had a walker. I started using a walker for a little bit, which actually the walker was better than the crutches. I felt like I could maneuver a little bit better on a walker. So if you can imagine, like grandma with the tennis balls. Well, here's this 50 year old guy. I have two broken legs, pretty much on a walker, trying to get his coffee in the kitchen. So. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (18:56)

Are you able to work during that?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (18:58)

A little bit. So I work from home most days, but thankfully I work for a really good company that's got a great culture and they totally understood, like, this is a life changing type of thing you're going through. And I was able to take a good amount of time off and then kind of weave work in there as I could. Yeah, the first surgery, it was a good three weeks before I could kind of get my mind back to things and stuff because, I mean, you're on narcotics and all sorts of fun stuff, right?

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (19:29)

So my daughter is like day 11 of her, like, tonsil surgery. She's 21. And I have to admit, in the beginning they were like, look, you're, you know, she's gonna be laid up for two weeks. And some people don't go back to work for two or three weeks afterwards. Even I was like, listen, I'm like, what kind of baby can't get back to work after having their tonsils taken out? But now I'm watching it happen to her. My God, it's hard on you. And not just difficult and incredibly painful. But then like you said, you're taking the meds to deal with the pain and you're kind of half out of it to begin with. And I was like, oh, this is why people can't do this and go to work at the same time. Kind of obvious in hindsight, but it was one of those things. Like, they're like, we're just gonna take her tonsils out. And I was like, okay. Like, that doesn't sound like on its face is like, terrible. And even like, going through surgery for an ACL as we're talking about, I'm thinking, like, maybe you can't do two of them because, like, maybe your body just can't rebound from something like that. You can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom G7. Dexcom.com juicebox the Dexcom G7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The G7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smartwatch. The G7 is made for all types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom G7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1C. The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom Clarity app, you can track your glucose trends. And the app will also provide you with a projected A1C in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom. Dexcom.com Juicebox when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast Dexcom.com Juicebox Head over there now.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (21:26)

Yeah, yeah, that's probably what it is because I mean there's a very structured PT thing that they do. I mean they start with the basics of like raising your leg and if you can't do that then they do like electro stem on it. And thankfully I did have the ability to raise my leg like literally the day after surgery. So I mean it didn't feel good by any means, but I was able to still use my muscles, which was good. A lot of people, those type of inner injuries, the muscles just totally shut off and there's a lot more extensive stuff they have to do with pt.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (22:04)

So before we started recording you, you kind of alluded to this for a second, but did, did this put weight on you?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (22:11)

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, a lot. So I was always been fairly active. I mean I was in the military, ups and downs like any anybody, right? But just the, you know, feeling sorry for myself and a lazy boy. That actually was like one of those lift chairs that we got from Amazon. You know, you feel sorry for yourself, you start eating bad, all that stuff. So I put on a good like £50 through that whole thing up until probably last November when my doctor is like, well, your cholesterol's up and you're all that. I'm like, yeah, no crap. I mean, I've been in a la z boy this whole time. He suggested the GLP meds to help with that because he's like, you're otherwise healthy. Your knees aren't going to do any good with all this extra weight. And I think some of that weight gain and stuff like that was, it was hard to recover from a lot of that stuff because I gained so.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (23:13)

Much weight, so there's a lack of mobility. You're not eating well. You're a little bummed out about. I mean, it's gotta be a bummer to just not be able to walk around and be using a walker for months and months at a time. And then in the middle of it, your kid gets diabetes too, right?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (23:27)

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you could understand probably the mental gymnastics that. That places on people and based off of people that you've talked to and you add, you know, another medical complication in the mix, and it's.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (23:41)

It becomes more than you can kind of overwhelm on your own, so.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (23:44)

Exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (23:45)

Yeah. Tell me your. How tall are you?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (23:47)

So, I'm 5 10.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (23:48)

Okay.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (23:49)

I was pushing 250. Injury. I was right around 200. And now I'm actually back down to like 180, which is. I haven't been 180 since probably the military. So it's. It's felt really, really good. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (24:03)

I was going to say 5 10, 200 is even a little extra, so. Yeah. Yeah. So, wow. You were. You were probably 70 pounds overweight then.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (24:11)

Yeah. Yeah. Easily. Easily.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (24:13)

And how long has this process been since you started the GLP? Till now?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (24:18)

So I think early November. So. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (24:22)

Not even a year?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (24:23)

Yeah, not even a year. I don't know what it is. I think it's. Sometimes I think it's like the. The military kicks in and be like, okay, well, they're giving me this medicine. I just. I gotta do it and I gotta stick to the plan and go, go, go. And I mean, between that, I was doing PT twice a week and then going to the gym, all that stuff, it just started coming off like crazy, which is amazing.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (24:47)

But, yeah, so it is odd how quickly it can happen. I'm down just £70, too. It took me two years, though.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (24:55)

Yeah. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (24:56)

So you have your first surgery then. The story we heard about your child being diagnosed is there. Talk to me about the layering of the. The diabetes on top of your life. Like, what. What did you find to be the biggest adjustment for you personally? And how did your son handle it?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (25:15)

You know, it was. It was definitely, you know, at first it was a shock. Like, why is this happening to us right now? You know, like, can it. You know, if it's going to happen, why can't it happen a year from now? You know, but, you know, it doesn't. You know, diabetes doesn't really have any say in when it. When it Gets to somebody. Right? So. So I think it's the. And I think a lot of it, too, is kind of a. It's almost like a grieving process. Right? Like, you're like, okay, I had all these aspirations for my son, and now he's got diabetes. What does that mean? And, you know, you go down rabbit holes of Internet. I had no idea really what type 1 diabetes was. And I'm like, you know, like everybody else, I was like, hey, he's fit. You know, he's skinny. How. How did he get it? You know, was it the. The Chick Fil. A milkshake he had the day before? You know, And. And obviously it wasn't right, but it was.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (26:09)

But it doesn't stop your mind from racing through all that.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (26:11)

Right, right, right. So, you know, we get through the first three days at the hospital, which, again, awesome care. In fact, he didn't want to leave because he was, like, excited about picking his own meals on the. On the screen. And then they had, like, an Xbox in the children's hospital. So he's like, yeah, I just want to sit here and play NFL. I' no, dude, we gotta go home now. Okay, well, this is this bag of stuff you guys get to take home now. And now you have to give injections, and now you have to do these, you know, mental calculations and correction factors and all this stuff. And, you know, I'm a IT nerd, right? Like, I'm like, okay, well, this is an engineering problem. I can solve it. And, you know, I still. I mean, he's on. He's on a pump now. He's on the Omnipod 5. And I think I've got it tweaked about as good as I can at this point. But, like, Yesterday he was 90% in range. Today he's 60% in range. You know, it just depends, right? So, yeah, in the hospital, doing all this stuff. And I'm walking into the hospital at this point, like, in a cane, and, you know, and here I'm like, I'm kind of a humorous person. I'm trying to joke, and I'm like, well, you know, I'm in the hospital, too, because I just tore both my ACLs. And of course, you know, you're talking to doctors that are not orthopedic people. And I don't think they appreciated, you know, my medical stuff going on at the same time. But, I don't know, I was trying to make light of the situation, which was a very difficult situation.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (27:51)

So, no, I mean, it's got to be a lot. Right. So do you and your wife kind of split the diabetes care, or does it kind of lend towards one of you more than the other?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (28:02)

Yeah. So it's interesting. Now it's both of us. I mean, we have to.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (28:09)

Otherwise it's overwhelming.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (28:11)

You know, we equate it to, like, if, you know, when he was a newborn and he woke up in the middle of the night screaming, well, right now that's the sugar pixel going off. And now it's time to get up and give him some juice or something because he's 45, going straight down. Right. So there's that. And we kind of tag team the alerts and we kind of have a general understanding. Like, if it's a work week for me, she'll try to get up, but I can't help not getting up. Like, I'm not going to lay in bed and be like, oh, no, you go get them. Right. So a lot of times it's both of us getting up, interrupted sleep, checking the sugar, making sure it's good for the weirdest period of time. I think it was earlier on in the year with the Dexcom. The Dexcom was like 100 points off, so he'd be low, but actually it was like 125. And we're like, okay, that's weird.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (29:04)

I just got up for a 125 blood sugar high.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (29:07)

Yeah. I'm like. I'm like, he's perfect. But can you imagine? Like, all right, I didn't. If I didn't do a finger stick, like, okay, now he's in the three.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (29:15)

Hundreds to drive it up. Yeah, listen, I have Arden. We've been making adjustments to Ardent's insulin as she's done with the surgery, and things are getting different. And last night I said to her when she went to bed, I'm like, I think we're good now. I'm like, but you still might get low overnight. I'm not sure. And then two o', clock, the low alarm went off, and she still whacked on the pain meds. So I went in to help her and. And she's looking at me, and she's kind of going slowly because her throat hurts, so she's eating slowly. And there's part of me that's like, well, I'll stand here with her and make sure she's okay. And then there's the other part of me that wanted to go like, hey, you're all right. Right? Like, can I. I gotta go lay back down. So she just. She looked at me. And even in the dark she's like, are you all right? I said, I think I'm getting too old for this. I really do. And that's me and my 21 year old. You have a 7 year old, right? You're not that much younger than me, you know.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (30:09)

Yeah, it's definitely interesting. There's the mental gymnastics too. Cause like, if he's low, we've discovered he gets like, really, really, like, angry. Right. And you know, who wouldn't? I mean, people react differently to low and the high blood sugars. Right? But I mean, it took us a while to realize that though. We're like, why is he flipping out? Like, what, what's going on? And, oh, well, he's 55 right now. Okay. So we get some sugar in him, all that stuff, and he's, he's back to his normal Lucas self. Right? It took us a while and still, like my wife said to me the other day, she's like, oh, I think, I think he hates me. I'm like, no, he doesn't hate you. He's having a. You know, but I mean, you're, you're a dad. You know how it is, right? It's just, it's the ups and the downs that it's really a struggle. Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (30:58)

Also the, the low blood sugars and the balancing blood sugars are hard on you. We have an episode called Altered Minds that discusses how, you know, just your blood sugar being low changes your personal.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (31:10)

Yeah, yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (31:11)

I try very hard not to judge anything that's happening during a low blood.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (31:14)

Sugar, that's for sure.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (31:16)

And you gotta learn how to not take it with you when it's over too. Which is not always as easy as it sounds.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (31:21)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (31:22)

When he comes out of the hospital, is it injections? Are you MDI, are there CGMs, are there not? How did they start you through the process?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (31:29)

So, yeah, so they started us with the insulin pens, long term insulin, with the, you know, regular insulin, carb ratios, all that stuff. But he didn't come out of the hospital with a cgm, which, that made it a little weird, but I kind of understand, like, I think their philosophy or his original endocrinologist, you know, her philosophy was essentially, you know, let's, let's get them the basics so they understand exactly how to do it should the technology not be there. And then after about two, three weeks, then he was on the Dexcom G7. And even with that and injections, it made it a lot easier to manage.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (32:10)

Oh, sure, absolutely.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (32:12)

But yeah, it Took him about, I think it was about three months. We got prescribed the Omnipod, which is. It's been, you know, he got on the Omnipod right as he was entering first grade. And that's another story, too. The first grade nurse at the time, she actually had type 1 diabetes, which was awesome. Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (32:35)

For you, not for her, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (32:40)

But, you know, we love her dearly. Like, if she listens to this podcast, like, hey, we love you, you know, all that stuff. But, you know, his low blood sugars weren't like yours. He doesn't need 30 carbs. You know, I mean, he would take maybe. And. And still, if he's 55 or 45, we can give him 10 carbs and he's back to where he needs to be.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (33:00)

But he'.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (33:02)

She would get scared and she'd give him a juice and like Ritz crackers and gummies and all this stuff, and all of a sudden he's back up to like 275 and it's like, come on. You know? But, you know, I think her thing was like, hey, I don't want him to, like, go into a seizure in the school, so. Plus, school nurses, I have realized, aren't, you know, personal care for my son. Right. She's got other students to take care of as well, so.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (33:29)

Right.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (33:30)

So, yeah, it's. It's interesting.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (33:32)

Yeah. You start to get it. You know what I mean? Like, you have these expectations every time something happens, and then you see how it really is and you go, okay, this is a good person trying their hardest and.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (33:43)

Exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (33:43)

Yeah, exactly. She's got other things to do, too. But when on day one, you think, oh, it's great. There's a nurse there, like, just for him, and it's going to be awesome.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (33:52)

Yeah, exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (33:53)

Everything's a learning curve. It really just genuinely is. As much as you want, you know, things to be one way, doesn't always work that way. You know, like, everything's not perfect.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (34:03)

Not at all. Not at all. Yeah. So he's actually on his. As of this year. He just started second grade. It's his third school in two years. And that was an interesting thing, too. Cause last talking about things stacking up, you know, when it rains, it pours. Literally. So Hurricane Milton, you know, I'm in Florida, Tampa area. You know, we had some home damage and then we had to move. So that was one of those other fun moments as well. And it wasn't like our house got swept away by the water, but it was, you Know, it came through the roof. We had mold issues, all this stuff. And I'm just like, okay, well, it's time to move to a better place that doesn't get impacted as hurricanes do. And we're in Florida, we're going to get impacted, but we're way more inland right now than we were, so time.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (34:57)

To get out of there. Well, in your note, you talk about the resilience that you had to find in yourself, and I was wondering if you could kind of go into what led you to start thinking about that and how you made your way through it.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (35:10)

Yeah, I think you go back to. There's a quote I read from. From somebody the other day, like, and it essentially goes like, hey, you know, you can choose to think your situation sucks, or you can choose to have your situation be awesome. And it's really a choice, right? And, you know, looking back, it's like, okay, we have this diagnosis. You know, we could sit here and post all about, you know, the bad parts on Instagram and have everybody, you know, I guess. What do they call that, people? I don't know. It's a term, right. Or we could say, hey, you know, let's make the best of it. And it sucks. It's a crappy thing that can happen, especially to kids. But as a dad, you know, I have to be the one that kind of, like, leads the family or lead by example, right. If I'm down on myself, which, I mean, I had plenty of reasons to be, but then that kind of trickles down to the rest of the family, right? So, guys, we always like to try to fix things, and I guess you just try to get through it and fix what you can and realize that you got to lean on your doctors, you got to lean on your community, people around you and stuff like that.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (36:37)

Would you say that prior to your. Your jump kick, which, by the way, is that what you call it, a front kick? What'd you call it?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (36:44)

Front jump. So if you imagine the original Karate Kid, where he's doing the crane kick and he, like, jumps up and down. So it's just like that. Although I didn't do the arms in the air type of thing. So it's just, you know, well, thank.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (36:56)

God you had ended up on your head. So prior to that, things just went right for you, right? Like you. You weren't having. You and your wife didn't have medical issues until the. You couldn't conceive. You didn't have any issues at all. Even the. The issue with the conception, the Miscarriage, you get the, you know, the adoption, even that kind of turns out well because there's Lucas. Everything's great again. Like. So, like, is that the idea that, like, you get to that. That injury, that's not just like a. It's not a 10 day illness. Right. It's not the flu or something like that. Like, this is a long haul. It brings you down, it makes you question yourself. And then in the middle of it, this thing happens to Lucas with the diabetes, and then you get the next surgery and it's just. Is it like a wait? Like, do you. Do you feel depressed? Is it like, you know, can you explain to me how you felt in that time?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (37:47)

Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously there's. There's depression involved and things like that, but, you know, if you can't get out of that or you start feeling sorry for yourself, then what kind of example are you setting for your kids, too? Right. So I think that was the key. And then also, like, with my wife, I was like, you know, we've gone through stuff like this before. I mean, not diabetes, but like, we've miscarried, we've lost children. You know, we've.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (38:16)

You've been through hard things in the past. You know how to do it, right?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (38:20)

Yeah, right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (38:21)

Right. Were you saying to me earlier that, like, there's an ability because of the Internet to get like. Like, you can, I don't know, find a bunch of people in a similar situation and get in like some sort of a misery loop or like a victim bonding thing or. And, and, and let yourself go into that direction and you willfully and meaningfully avoided it.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (38:44)

Yeah, yeah. In fact, my wife joined like a moms of type 1 diabetes group, and she was like, I just, I just can't keep looking at this stuff. She's like, I feel so bad for all these people, but, you know, and rightfully so. Right. I mean, I'm not discounting the role of motherhood by any means or the ability to grieve for the disease or anything like that, but I think if you put yourself in that situation, then you start to find reasons to also get into that loop as well.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (39:17)

Yeah. It becomes. There's a word for it. I don't know what it is. When people get in a group and they start kind of just like describing what happened to themselves and reliving it over and over again, and the rehashing happens over and over without. Like, without moving forward, without. Without their. It just. It turns into a pity party for the lack of like a Better term. And you can get caught in. It's almost like, oh, what's that movie that my kids are always telling me? Like, it's some movie where the characters end up in a nightclub, and the nightclub slows down time and keeps you captured there because you're happy forever. And it's almost like the opposite of that. You're so sad, you just kind of. It's like quicksand. You can't get out of it then.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (40:02)

Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (40:02)

And then the more people that come in, you feel like you have a community, but it's not really as much of a community as it is. You all just become, like. I don't know, you all become like each other's anchors, and you end up holding yourself in there, and then the opposite happens. So are you in my group? Have you tried that one?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (40:23)

I haven't yet, no.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (40:24)

That one's not like that. If you're looking forward, still point your wife towards that one. There's people in there trying to find answers, not trying to stay stuck. You know what I mean?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (40:34)

Okay. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (40:35)

Yeah.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (40:35)

And I think that's what draw me to your podcast too, is it was, you know, more educational, informative type of stuff, rather than, you know, pity party, I guess you could say.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (40:48)

Yeah, I mean, whatever. I don't even mean to, like, I'm not trying to undervalue the sadness or the real burden of type 1, or for yourself or for. For a loved one. But there's a moment, I feel like this is what I heard you saying. Like, there's a moment where you gotta just, like, pick yourself up and be like, all right, we gotta get the moving here. Like, that's. It's enough.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (41:07)

Absolutely.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (41:08)

Yeah. Right.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (41:08)

Absolutely.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (41:09)

Yeah. So you were able to do that for yourself, but why, like, that's my last question around this, is that where did you draw your strength from? Like, there's. The reason I asked, Brian, is it occurs to me as I'm talking to so many people that people have a much easier time doing stuff for other people than for themselves.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (41:27)

Oh, yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (41:28)

So I'm looking for, like, what your motivation was to say, hey, I'm getting out of this nightclub, out of this tar pit, and I'm gonna get moving again. Who are you doing it for?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (41:38)

Definitely the family, being in the. The military. I have PTSD and all that fun stuff. And I think some of that, like, tools that I use to get through that I think sometimes translates to, hey, you know, I've got this going on in my brain right now. I don't I don't want them to kind of go through the same type of thing that I am right now. So I think it's. I don't know, exactly. Like a two. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (42:07)

You have experience or training with being in a terrible situation and realizing, I can't stand here anymore, I gotta move.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (42:13)

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yep.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (42:16)

When you train for the military, is that like, quite literally, like live fire training? Right. Like you did you have to go through that?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (42:22)

Yeah, there was. There was some of that. I actually was. I did essentially counterintelligence, anti terrorism stuff. And I guess the short story is, you know, we dealt with war crimes and seeing some of those things. And then after the military, I was actually working for a state police agency doing. I was on a federal task force doing crimes against children. And I think, you know, ptsd, definitely from the military, but also, you know, seeing the worst of human behavior on two sides of the spectrum, you know, the military and civilian life. I think really kind of makes it like, hey, I want something. Something better for. For my kids. I want them to not experience those things. Some deep stuff. I guess so.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (43:15)

No, I mean, you have a blend of interesting experiences. Like you've gotten to see people willfully trying to hurt other people.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (43:22)

Yep, yep.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (43:23)

And you know that there's often just a group of other people who are willfully trying to stop them. It's the only thing between, you know, between them and reaching their goals. And then you see it, like, on that state police level with kids that's even. I mean, I mean, it's less shocking to hear that, you know, politically and, you know, around money, people are trying to do what they're trying to do. But when they're trying to hurt kids, then, I mean, all common sense, like, anybody who's reasonable is like, I don't. This shouldn't be happening. Right.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (43:50)

Like, Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (43:51)

But it's not just happening once, it's happening constantly. I know. And then you're faced with it over and over again, and. And then I guess then you start seeing your kids. I'm trying to put this all together, but I guess you start seeing your kid put into a situation where you think, like, wow, you know, could his life be less than what he deserves? I got to do everything I can. Like, the world's already a bad enough place, or it can be like, we can't have this on top of the rest of that. Is that what you're trying to tell me?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (44:18)

Yeah, Yeah, I think. I think you nailed it there. I think it's, you know, you want the best for your, for your kids or most rational parents too, right?

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (44:27)

Yeah.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (44:28)

And when you see the worst of people, I think it makes it maybe easier to get to a place where you can make it better for somebody. I don't know.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (44:39)

You know, So, I mean, I would think for most rational people who don't have feelings like that or don't involve themselves in hurting other people or taking advantage of, you know, large groups of citizens, you know, or, or anything in between, it just all sounds crazy. It's like the news comes on and you're like, you're hearing about a war here and a war there and you're like, no, can't we all just stop?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (44:58)

Yeah, yeah, Exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (44:59)

Like the 12 year old inside of you comes out like. And you're just like, hey, I think if we all just stop hitting each other, this would be better.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (45:05)

Oh, yeah. 100. Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (45:07)

And then, but then you realize, like, that's not going to happen.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (45:09)

Right, right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (45:10)

And now guys like you and, and women like you are out there trying to get in between that and the rest and trying to slow it down a little. Your job's not even to stop it. Right. It's just to slow it down a little bit.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (45:22)

Yeah, yeah. And I think.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (45:23)

And that's defeating.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (45:25)

Right, right. And you know, innocence is lost in children so easily that you go through something like that and then all of a sudden, you know, type 1 diabetes pops up and you're like, man, this kid's got to grow up super, super fast now. And thankfully he's good at math, but my goodness, I can't imagine what a 7 year old brain is doing right now thinking about all this stuff.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (45:49)

It's. Until you really understand your entire backstory and everything, that it didn't quite make sense to me until I put it all together like, that you've seen what the world can be and you think, at some point that kid's gonna have to deal with this world. I need to put that off for as long as possible.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (46:05)

Exactly, exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (46:07)

So you get up and get yourself moving and pull yourself out of wherever you are and start figuring all this out and put him in the best case scenario. Like you even moved him out of the house and took him somewhere. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. You're on like a whole little reclamation thing, Brian. It's nice.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (46:22)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (46:24)

Look at you.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (46:25)

And then, and then there's Little League. Oh my goodness. Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (46:29)

So go ahead, tell me, by the way, because those people, they exist in Little League too. And Brian, I don't Know if you know this about my family, but my son played baseball from the time he was four until the day he graduated from college. And Arden, had she not gotten hurt when she was about 14, was probably on her way to playing in college, too. As a matter of fact, I've watched Arden. She was two games shy of reaching the Little League World Series in softball, so about nine years ago. So I have a ton of background in this. I can't wait to hear what you're experiencing.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (47:01)

Yeah, so before diabetes, he was on a team in our old town near Tampa, and he was doing well, extremely supportive people and all that. So we moved, and I'm like, hey, I gotta find the closest Little League to us. So I did, you know, and, you know, met with a coach and all this stuff. And, you know, from the beginning, I just didn't get the right, like, the right vibes, you know, just my. My senses just went off, you know, And I said, well, you know, he really loves baseball, so let's put him in there. And I said, you know, he does have type 1 diabetes, but, you know, that shouldn't limit him and all that. And then I just started seeing the, okay, well, he was last on the roster to go up for bat. He'd be sitting on the bench because, you know, well, we can only put, what is it, 10 players on the field at a time. And he was player number 11. And then, okay, well, he can go in a catcher because I don't want his blood sugars to go bad. And I'm like, okay, well, let me deal with that part of things. You know, if he goes low or if he goes high, you know, we can handle that. But we never really were able to kind of communicate with that individual about, like, hey, you know, let him just play. He's a kid. But then there was also, like, the. They were taking it way too serious for, like seven year olds. And. And it was just. It was terrible. So.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (48:25)

So hindsight, they were worried about the. The diabetes without any actual background kind of helping in quotes the wrong way. And then on top of that, you realized you were the bunch of people who thought all their kids were like the next coming of Derek Jeter.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (48:42)

Exactly. And I think, you know, I even said to this individual, I said, I don't think they really appreciated it when I did, but I said, hey, none of these kids are going to be. These kids are going to make the major, so just let them have fun.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (48:58)

They don't want to hear that. Oh, wait a second. They don't Want to hear that? For sure. Listen, I've said this a number of times. I'm happy to say it again, that if you would have gone to when my son was 12 and maybe even till when he was 14 and assessed his entire team and said, I want you to pick the kid on this team that's going to play college baseball for four years, in a million years, you would not have picked my son. There was always a kid that was bigger or appeared stronger or appeared faster or something. And you thought, like, oh, it's gonna be that one. It's gonna be that one. It was. And it was none of those. The primordial goo that has to come together to turn you into a college athlete. It also has something to do with, like, your. Your mental makeup, right? I watched a kid make it to a school as a pitcher and couldn't have felt better for the kid. You know what I mean? And one day you hear, like, he's pitching. Like, you can watch it on espn. I was like, this is crazy. And I flipped the TV on, and I was like, oh, my God, good for him. Look at him there. And five minutes later, I watched a ball leave that stadium that he pitched, and it went so far that I think it knocked him right out of the school and took him right home again, you know what I mean? Like, he was in over his head. He took a spot that he wasn't going to be able to compete in, but thought he was lucky and everything. And instead of just saying, like, oh, I don't fit here, I should have gone somewhere where I fit better. He shot the moon. He threw a half. I mean, one half of an inning where they shelled him so hard, they literally, like, kicked him off the team. Like, that was another person who, at four years old, started playing baseball and made it all the way to the thing. And then one day, it was just like, now get out of here, and gone. So that's the one kid that made it. My son made it. Played the whole four years. And then, by the way, Covid happened in the middle of it. And just a horror for kids playing school sports in college at that point. The bigger issue is that it's. Unless you're just a giant and you're just gifted in a way that literally just feels like it's handed down to you. You know what I mean? Like, God decided you're going to be a baseball player, if you're not one of those people, and very few people are, then the things that have to come together, and you still have to love it. You have to not get hurt. And all this stuff has to happen. It just. It's not something you can plan for.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (51:20)

Right, Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (51:20)

If I had five seconds to talk to those people, those people you tried to speak to, who, by the way, probably just thought you were, you know, a loser for saying that. Not everybody, of course they're all going to make it.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (51:31)

Yeah, yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (51:32)

You know, like, if I had five seconds to talk to them, I'd say, listen, you know, I watch professional baseball, you know, every day. There's 30 some teams. On each one of those teams, there's five middle reliever pitchers that suck, which means that there's like 150 guys in the league who suck, but they're still the best. That's going.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (51:51)

Yeah, exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (51:52)

And you think your kid. There are these two people. I wish. I don't know them. There's no way they're listening to this. But I've never met two shorter people in my entire life. And the entire time through Little League, they were a little younger than my son, so you kind of got to watch them through the rearview mirror a little bit. And they acted like that kid was just the second coming of anything. And I kept thinking, he's going to be very tiny. Like, you're tiny people. He's going to be tiny, too. Like, this doesn't work. Like, go turn your television on. You know, do you see a lot of five, four guys playing professional baseball anywhere? You know, but they still, like, they burdened that kid and tortured him, like, and everything that could have been fun about that experience was a horror for that child. So, yeah, you know, he could have just had a great time playing baseball while he was a kid. And instead he got told that he had a job to do and he failed at it. I'm like, oh, man, you guys are misunderstanding parenting, that's for sure.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (52:52)

So, yeah, so now we're doing basketball. Tryouts are in a week from now. And that was a. Interesting story how that all came about, too. That actually happened at Friends for Life.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (53:05)

Really?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (53:06)

It was. Yeah, it was the last day. There's a organization that was working with Medtronic called Diabetics doing things.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (53:15)

Oh, Rob. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (53:19)

Yeah. So it's Rob and Gary Forbes. And then there was a female WNBA player as well. And I can't remember her name off the top of my head, but Lauren Cox. Lauren, yes, yes.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (53:33)

Well, that was right off my memory.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (53:34)

Hey.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (53:35)

But I'm taking a victory lap on there. Like, I'm so Bad with names. I'm so impressed with myself. Okay, so go ahead.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (53:40)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So we went through Lucas and I went through this, like, hey, you know, these professional athletes, they have type 1 diabetes phase, and he's got cards from, you know, all the famous people. Like, now, of course, none of the names are coming at the top of my head, but. Yeah. And so I sign him up for this basketball thing, and Gary is amazing. So Lucas goes right up to Gary, and he's like, hey, Gary, you're my favorite basketball player of all time. And he's like, oh, well, thanks. I think Lucas was on his Instagram and stuff like that, and it was really cool. But Gary actually came, talked to me, and I kind of told him the baseball story and all that. He's like, get him the F out of that and put him into something that he enjoys. I'm like, okay, but did your son.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (54:35)

Not enjoy baseball, or did he not enjoy what came with it?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (54:39)

I think it was what came with it. Right? Like, he enjoyed being out there. He was proud to wear his hat. You know, he would wear the baseball hat to school every day, all this stuff. But I think it was the. He had a hard time hitting the ball. Like, we went from machine pitch to coach pitch, and, you know, he had the timing right on the machine, but then the coach, who knows, you know, how they pitch. Right? And I think it was just a lot of variables, plus then you add the type 1 on top of it as well, and, you know, he's up and down depending on, you know, the day. So I think there was a lot of that.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (55:17)

If you're not very naturally inclined to baseball, it's a lot of work, and it doesn't pay you back right away, you know?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (55:24)

I mean.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (55:24)

Yeah. And there's a couple of people who, when you really stop and look at it at that age, the kids that are. Are excelling are just physically usually larger or stronger, and then they can overwhelm the pitching, and that's why they end up being successful. When they're younger, there's always some kid who grows to, like, their full size by the time they're 10, and they just are dominating the whole thing. And then you look up three years later, and they can't play. Yeah, because then everybody grew past them, and now they're dominating them. So if your son's a little smaller or a little, you know, or hasn't just been doing it every second of his life, you know, it's. It's just difficult to do, man. Like there's nothing harder than hitting that little ball. Like it really, it really, it really is hard. So, so why not do something that lends itself to some, you know, a more immediate enjoyment and success and you know, I mean, lets him have fun because that's really what it's about, is having fun.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (56:19)

Yeah, absolutely. And he's, he's very tall for his age too. And I mean, just the other day he was practicing and he's drilling like normal free throws like, like a madman. I'm like, wow, this is really good. So hopefully he keeps up with it, right?

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (56:34)

Yeah, enjoys it.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (56:35)

You know the, the arcades where they have the basketball hoops that you play those, I mean, Chuck E. Cheese or any one of those places. Right. He'll be drilling those like all the time. So I think he's got a natural ability at least as a 7 year old. But you know, like I said earlier, an aspiring athlete is probably a good definition. Not necess, I guess, you know, time will tell, right?

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (56:58)

Gotta be fun. Every year I'd say to my son in the off season, I'm like, look, you don't have to do this. Like, if you're not enjoying this, tell me. If you're like, this isn't for me, it's for you. If you want to keep doing it, keep doing it. If you don't say something, it's a lot of work, especially baseball. There's a lot of failure in baseball and you can make the simple statement that, oh, it's good for you, it builds character and stuff like that. Not for everybody. Some people just feel like they're failing.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (57:27)

Right, Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (57:28)

Do you really need to make a seven year old feel like they're failing? Like it's just, it's just supposed to be fun, you know what I mean?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (57:35)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (57:35)

Like it, trust me, if your son grows into a collegiate basketball player or if he grew into a professional baseball player, like, you're not going to know that right now. Like, it just. Anybody who thinks they know where these kids are going, like, they're going to be sadly mistaken, like at some point and they're going to realize how much time they gave away to something that in the end didn't, you know, maybe do much more for them than it could have done if they would have just taken it less, not seriously, but just, you know, not treated it like it was life or death and just let people have a good time.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (58:06)

So yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you hit, hit the nail on the head, I guess there because I think it's you know, you want them to have fun. And look, I mean, being a kid is hard enough, right? And then you throw diabetes on top of it and then the pressure to perform, you know, that some, some parents put on their kids. And look, I want him to do well, right? And I'll probably be yelling at him if he misses a shot or something, but you know, at the end of the day, if he's not having fun, like, let's do something else, right?

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (58:37)

So I could endlessly tell you a story. I watched the one boy be just chastised, like screamed at in his car every day after practice. Like, I mean, like you could see from a distance the screaming that was going on in the car from the father. And you know, now this many years later, that kid is 26 years old and you know what he does for a living? He's not a professional baseball player, I can tell you that much.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (58:59)

Right. All right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (59:00)

And I could tell you that on the last day my son played college baseball, he was a center fielder who has been, who had been told by numerous professional scouts that he graded out defensively as a professional baseball player who also pitched sometimes and had a 93 mile an hour fastball. And you know what my son does for a living now he's 25. He is not a professional baseball player. In case you're wondering, like if I said to you right now, hey, your 7 year old will one day be 21 and have a 93 mile an hour fastball, you'd say, oh, they're going to play professional baseball. It's not necessarily the case. And it's not because he wouldn't have wanted to or he didn't know how to work at it. It's this idea of best way I've ever been able to explain it to anybody trying to play baseball and probably any sport really, if you aspire to college and you know, is that it's like a pyramid. So if you can imagine at the fattest part of the pyramid, at the bottom, the most people fit around the edge of the pyramid. And so like, you know, that year my kid starts playing Little League, the number I think is 4 million American boys started playing Little league baseball that same summer and they all fit around the bottom of that pyramid. And then you take a step up and there's a little less pyramid and you take another step up and there's a little less and a little less. And one day there's so little room that you and your amazing talent and your 93 mile an hour fastball and your ability to play both ways is literally not as good as the people who are left over next to you. And then they all step up, and there's nowhere for you to hold onto, and you slide down and you slide off, and it doesn't make you not good. It just makes you trying to do something that only a few thousand people in the world do, like, so, you know, at some point, you have to be a giant freak of nature who also has all those same skills.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (60:51)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (60:51)

That's when you realize, like, you're. You've gotten yourself involved in something, that there's no way that when your kid was 7 or 8 years old, you would have known how it was going to end.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (60:59)

Right, Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (61:00)

As I look at it in the rearview mirror of my life and all I saw with other people's children, so many kids would have benefited if everyone would have just said, like, this is just fun. Like, let this just be fun, you know? Instead, you go find those kids now, and their memories are not positive, generally speaking, of their time playing sports. And that's a shame. But anyway, I'm sorry, Ron. Good.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (61:24)

No, no, no, That's. That's exactly right, I think. Yeah. I've even watched it. When I was growing up, I was on the swim team, and there was a swimmer on the team that could have made the. He went to the Olympic trials, and he actually told us he purposely tanked his trial because his parents pressured him so much to be this athlete. Like his. I mean, he was, what, 17 years old at the time, Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (61:50)

Looking for the pressure. Right?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (61:51)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So has every record, you know, in the city, probably still to this day. But, you know, when it came to the Olympic trials, he just blew it because he didn't want to do it anymore.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (62:02)

Yeah. So just wanted to get away from it. Arden tells me. She's like. She's like, I'm not happy I got hurt. But she's like, I am glad that, like, she's like, I don't think I would have enjoyed playing softball in college. And I was like, right. She said, but she could have. And I think that becomes, like, one of those things, like, you get to the point where you're like, oh, I guess if I could have done it, I would have done it. And, like, would I have done it because I wanted to do it or because it's the thing I do? Because I spent so many years being the person who does this, you know, like, that's the one worry I always have about my son. Like, I don't know. Like, did he just think that that's who he was at that point? You know what I mean? Like, of course I'm doing this because now, I mean, there's arguments to be made. He got into a good college because of it. He got a better education because of it. He didn't pay as much for that education before I was doing it. I will tell you that. That money we saved on his education just got spent somewhere else learning how to play baseball. That's a wash. Really? Yeah. You know, you just always kind of wonder if it's, you know, if we don't get a little too caught up in the whole thing. And then once you see other people taking it that seriously, you feel like, well, if I don't take it this seriously too, then I'll be on the outside and that'll be it. Like, I'll be on the bench or they won't ask me back on the team or whatever people end up thinking. And I don't know. I just tell people always the same thing. Like, there's so much travel, sports. Now, if you're not starting and playing, you're the one keeping the financial part of it afloat. You're either the check or you're a player. And if you don't know which you are, you're the check.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (63:34)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (63:35)

The most important thing about your kids playing sports is that it's fun, it's close to your home, and it's not expensive.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (63:41)

Exactly.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (63:42)

That really is. Exactly. That's what I would tell you is the best thing to do.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (63:45)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (63:46)

You all are going to not listen to me or Brian. You all think your kid is. Is the next coming of something, and God bless you. Have a good time. But I've lived. I've lived through it.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (63:55)

I just hope they get in a good college because that's a lot of money, Travel, ball and all that stuff.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (64:00)

So, you know, idea, like the. I mean, listen, some of it was fun. Like, I'm not going to lie to you, and some of it was a great experience. And just being together with my son and doing that stuff and with Arden and doing that stuff was awesome. But, like, it didn't need to be to the level it was. He was always going to grow into the player he was. He didn't need to go to Atlanta and play one summer. He didn't need to go to Florida and play. He didn't need to go to tournaments. And, you know, like, you know, everybody's like, oh, you got to play better teams. So that you can get better. Never once made him any better to do that. Like, it's. You know, you got to have a certain amount of skill, and you got to want to play, and that's what makes you better.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (64:36)

Just.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (64:37)

It's repetition. I mean, people are listening now, like, well, you know, if you're hitting bad pitching, how do you know if you can play? I'm like, yeah, I mean, I take your point, but there's not pitching that much better in Florida. And when it is that much better, Ryan, nobody can hit him anyway.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (64:51)

Right, Right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (64:52)

Because you're down there playing against some kid who is going to be playing minor league baseball in 18 months, and, you know, you're 15 and he's throwing 91, and you're just like. Like, I'm not getting better doing this. Like, we had this. This one situation where Cole's team went to Florida, and they were told, like, you know, like, look, the team you're playing on the first day, yeah, there's gonna be some scouts out there looking at their pitcher. And, man, I'm gonna tell you right now, there were 25 scouts there. The backstop was lined with guys with, like, guns, like, measuring this kid's pitching. And my son was like, I've never seen anything like this. Like, at the time, I think he was, like, 15. And this kid's, like, throwing, like, 92 miles an hour already. Like, we're talking before the game. And he goes, what am I supposed to do? And I just. I gave him what I thought was good advice. I gave him what I think ends up being good life advice. I said, he throws way harder than you're accustomed to. You're probably not going to hit it. I was like, but don't change who you are. Like, get in there, use your swing and put it on the ball, and just try to compete with him. And if he, you know. And I said, and look at the strike zone and swing at the strikes. That's pretty much it. And he went in there. He didn't change his approach. He didn't try to speed up. There were kids who tried to speed up. There were kids who tried to do little things, to touch the ball, and instead, he took three swings. He fouled off a ball. He struck out. Eventually, he came over to me after the game, and he's like, hey, I fouled one off. And I was like, yeah, that was awesome. And that ended up being a win for him. Like, he touched it. You know what I mean? And instead of putting the pressure on him, that what he needed to do was go hit a 92 mile an hour fastball, which is not a thing that he had ever seen before in his entire life. And like, and putting that pressure on him, I just said like, just be true to yourself and like this will come along and you know, three years later, my son get hit a 92 mile an hour fastball like it's nothing.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (66:55)

But like, yeah, there you go.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (66:56)

That wasn't the day to teach him to do it, but I saw other guys pulling their kids aside and they were like, what they thought was if you hit that ball off that kid, then these scouts are gonna care about you too. And that is not how any of that works.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (67:10)

Nope.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (67:11)

Yeah, so anyway, I could bum you all out about youth sports for longer if you needed me to, but we're out of time right now.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (67:19)

Oh my goodness.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (67:20)

Brian, is there anything that we didn't talk about that we should have?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (67:23)

No. I think if I were to say anything to the dads out there, just hang in there, right? And find other like minded dads. I know there was a great group at Friends for Life that all got together over some drinks and stuff like that. Take care of your family. Unfortunately we can't figure everything out, but you know, do the best you can. So.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (67:46)

Yeah. Hey man, listen, just in the end, like, you know, maybe not much different than what I just said is like, you know, be consistent, be yourself. Go out there and try to help other people. And that's your kid or your wife or your other kids in your family. Just put other people first and make decisions that you think are going to help them. And I think, remember that this is going to get easier as it goes, that you're going to get better and better at it. That child or your life is not going to be some terrible failure or horrible letdown because this happened. There are plenty of people out there living perfectly lovely lives with type 1 diabetes.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (68:26)

Yeah.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (68:26)

I think to Brian's point earlier, like, you can choose to sit and wallow in it or you can choose to get going. And you know, so it's that movie, son. We can get busy living or get busy dying, Right? There you go. I don't know what movie that's from, but you know, just choose motion, move forward, you know, as best you can. And it really does work out. So.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (68:48)

Absolutely.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (68:49)

All right, man, thank you very much.

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (68:51)

No, thank you.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (68:52)

That was a pleasure. Hold on one second for me, okay?

Brian (guest, father of a child with type 1 diabetes and army veteran) (68:54)

All right.

Host (likely a Juice Box Podcast host, possibly Dan or a similar figure) (69:02)

Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by the new tandem mobi system and control IQ technology. Learn more and get started today at tandomdiabetes.com Juicebox check it out Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US MED for three years. You can as well usmed.com juicebox or call 888-721-1514. My thanks to USMED for sponsoring this episode and for being longtime sponsors of the Juice Box Podcast. There are links in the show notes and links@juiceboxpodcast.com to us Med and all of the sponsors. Today's episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom G7, and the Dexcom G7 warms up in just 30 minutes. Check it out now at dexcom.com juicebox I can't thank you enough for listening. Please make sure you're subscribed or following in your audio app. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the Juice Box Podcast. I created the Diabetes Variables series because I know that in type 1 diabetes management, the little things aren't that little and they really add up. In this series, we'll break down everyday factors like stress, sleep, exercise and those other variables that impact your day more than you might think. Jenny Smith and I are going to get straight to the point with practical advice that you can trust. So check out the Diabetes Variable Series in your podcast player or@juiceboxpodcast.com if you're looking for community around type 1 diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast. Private Facebook Group juice box podcast type 1 diabetes but everybody is welcome. Type 1 type 2 gestational loved ones it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juice Box podcast type 1 diabetes on Facebook. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording wrongwayrecording.com.