B (3:17)

I was. Sorry. 14 years old. I was in middle school.

A (3:22)

Wow. So, hold on. Watch this. So you're 32 now?

B (3:27)

33. Sorry, did I just map that up?

A (3:29)

Sorry. Whatever. What a bummer way to start. Wait, wait, is 14 and 18 not 32? Well, but it happened, like, towards the end of the year or something like that. That's fine.

B (3:41)

Yeah.

A (3:42)

All right. Hey, it's not my fault. Okay, good. Boom. 14 years old. 18 years or.

B (3:48)

No, no, no. I was 15. Sorry?

A (3:49)

I was 15, you son of a bitch. Okay. No, I'm just kidding. All right, so you were 15 years old. Awesome. So what's that, 2010? No. 2007?

B (4:00)

No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was in middle school. It was spring break. So I guess I can go into the story now.

A (4:08)

I'd love to.

B (4:10)

Yeah. So every spring break as a kid, I have two brothers. I have an identical twin, and then I have another brother. My dad would always take us up to the lake, and we live in. We lived in Northern Indiana, and we go up to the lake and we just, you know, put the boat in and put the Jet Ski in, get the dock and everything put into the lake, and we stay in this small little lake cottage that my uncle owned. And we're also. We're a big wrestling family, so we wrestled every weekend. But anyways, so we're up at the lake, and I remember I'm sitting on the couch at the lake cottage and I'm trying to read the clock. And normally I just look at the oven and I can read. I can read the clock fine. And I'm looking at it, I'm like, wow, my eyes are, like, going bad. I need to get glasses. So I thought that was kind of weird. And then, you know, throughout the week, I was so. My dad worked at Pepsi, so we always had the fridge loaded with, you know, like, Mountain Dew, root beer, all that good stuff. And I was just drinking so much of it, and then I was peeing all. All the time. And we. We had Two small little bedrooms in the lake cottage. And one was, you know, just a king size bed where normally my dad, my mom slept. And then the, the other one, we had two sets of bunk beds where me, my brothers and my cousins would sleep. And I, I literally would get up in the middle of night, it seemed like every half hour to go pee. And finally I got so tired of it that I just, I slept in bed with a milk jug just so I really. Yeah, it's just so I, I didn't have to get up and go pee all the time. And, and the, the. So my dad, you know, during that week we got to eat. Like, I remember going to Buffalo Wild Wings and just stuff in my face and we go to pizza and I'd stuff my face and I still had to go make weight the next weekend for whatever wrestling tournament we're going to. And I remember checking my weight and like I was underweight and I was like, wow, this is crazy. Like I'm eating so much food and I don't even have to worry about my weight. It's. This is kind of awesome. But I, I wasn't, I wasn't feeling the best, but I don't think I wasn't in DK yet. Yeah. So we go to the wrestling tournament after. Well, we're still on spring break and after. I'm feeling terrible. I lose to everyone. But I wrestled my twin brother and I still beat him even though I was, I was feeling terrible at the time.

A (6:58)

I like how earlier you said, I have a brother, a twin brother and another one. I was like, oh, that must help be how it feels for him. Well, he's the other one.

B (7:08)

He's the other one. He's. I mean we're all, we all did pretty. Yeah, we're all very close.

A (7:15)

Nice.

B (7:17)

We all did very well in wrestling, but the other.

A (7:19)

Hey, did you ever miss the milk jug when you were peeing in it?

B (7:26)

I don't, I don't think so.

A (7:29)

Can I share a story I've never said on here? It's been 11 years and you know, every once in a while something pops into my head and I think, oh, I've never said this.

B (7:36)

Yeah, go for it.

A (7:37)

I grew up. Boy, this is going to be something. My parents rented a house from a local church. It's. I always think of it as like, I grew up in a three story home, but it was rented and I didn't realize it when I was younger, but I know now that it was, you know, it was the church being nice to My broke ass family. Right. And. And running us this. This house for like next to nothing. And I lived in the third floor, which was really a converted attic, but, you know, you had to. Because it was a converted attic, you entered it through my parents bedroom. So you'd go into my parents bedroom, into their closet, and then inside their closet was stairs that led upstairs to my bedroom. And so one night I woke up and I was like, I just had to pee so bad. And I didn't. I just didn't want to go down through my parents bedroom and then onto the hall and the whole thing. And I am here to tell you with absolute shame, Connor, that I peed out the window. And then I realized how handy that was. And I may have done that a couple of times.

B (8:42)

So.

A (8:43)

Yeah. Anyway, I feel bad saying it out loud now.

B (8:46)

Well, it's probably something that's maybe more common. Well, I don't know.

A (8:52)

Can I say something in my defense?

B (8:54)

Yes.

A (8:56)

The house was so old. This is important to me. It did not have screens. So you just. When you open the window, there was no straining that went on and. No. And. And very low ability to get other things other than what you wanted.

B (9:13)

Well, that's good.

A (9:14)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Does it sound like I'm. No, I don't want to say that on the podcast. Never mind. We'll stop now. Okay, so you're at the. You're at the lake house. You've just beat your brother in wrestling. And what happened next?

B (9:26)

Yep. So then I'm guessing that I think that was probably on a Saturday. The wrestling tournament was. And then I'm starting to feel really, really bad. Like I don't. I don't know, like I. I'm sick. I can't get out of bed. We're. And now we're back home at just our. My parents house and my. My family's going to church and I'm sick. Like, I can't get up and move. So my grandma comes over to watch me. And then when my parents get home, she's like, I think he, he might have diabetes. Which I have no clue how she would know that.

A (9:59)

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B (12:07)

Because no one in any, either my mom's side or my dad's side has any autoimmune. Well, my mom's mom had type 2 diabetes.

A (12:19)

Okay. And that's not autoimmune. Hey, maybe she learned it on Merv Griffin.

B (12:25)

I don't know what Merv Griffin is.

A (12:27)

I know might be. I know you don't because you're young, but my grandmother would have called him Merv Griffith. Just wanted to say that he was like probably the one of the OG talk show hosts. Like afternoon talk show hosts a long ass time ago. Yeah.

B (12:40)

I mean, you really don't know who.

A (12:41)

Merv Griffin is, huh? No. You ever watch Wheel of Fortune?

B (12:45)

Absolutely.

A (12:46)

Came out of his brain. He thought it up.

B (12:48)

Oh really?

A (12:48)

That's right.

B (12:49)

It's a good show.

A (12:50)

Yeah. All right, never mind. We can keep going. Your grandmom, like, sniffs out, no pun intended, sniffs out diabetes, like simply. Does anybody listen to her?

B (12:58)

Yeah. So my mom, I remember for whatever reason, I was sleeping in my brother's room. I don't, I don't remember why, but my mom loads me, I'm feeling terrible. My mom loads me up in the car and we go to the local hospital, which, I mean, this, it's not a very small city. So it's, it's a decent sized hospital. And I, I remember like I, I can, like I'm not functioning. I'm in full blown DK and takes me to the hospital. And I don't really remember a whole lot from getting to the hospital except that I didn't even do inpatient stuff. Like they, I don't remember because I was 15 and I had. But I do remember them like teaching me how to give shots and all that stuff. But they did whatever. I think they did a finger test and I was hi. High on the, the glucose meter, so I didn't even read how high I was. And then I remember they sent me home that night and they told my mom they were going to do another blood test the next morning and that I was supposed to eat food with not a lot of sugar. And I remember my mom being like, I don't know what, what foods you should like, what foods have a lot of sugar and what don't. And so. Oops, sorry, my phone is going off.

A (14:24)

Yeah, you're fine. Don't worry. I can't hear it. But you, you know, please go and do what you need to do just while you're doing that. Let me tell you something. Not only did Merv Griffin dream up Wheel of Fortune, he made Jeopardy. Too. He also, he also made the theme song for Jeopardy.

B (14:41)

So this guy's like a really smart guy.

A (14:43)

I mean, listen back. The man was born in 1925. He was famous before, you know, when television had, you know, no color. And into that time, I mean, he was just a white guy in the right place at the right time. But like, you know, he was also like. He wrote this, actually. The, The. The Jeopardy. Theme song has a name. It's called A Time for Tony. He wrote it as a lullaby for his son. And later it. He's. He's earned tens of millions of dollars off it in royalties from it being the, The. The Jeopardy. Theme song. Boy, we're in the wrong business, Con. I don't know what you do For a living. But we should be writing theme songs to game shows.

B (15:17)

Yeah, no kidding.

A (15:19)

That's crazy. Anyway, what does Merv mean? Before we get back to your thing, Is Merv his real name? I mean, I'm not asking you. Obviously I'm asking. I'm asking the computer. You didn't know who he is and still don't, by the way. But that's not exactly. Merv is short for his real name. Mervyn M, E, R, V, Y, N. Mervin Edward Griffin Jr. Merv. All I know is, man, he sat behind a desk, talked to, like, famous people back before it was a thing. It was in the afternoon, and my grandmother watched it every day, so.

B (15:51)

Oh, my grandma probably watched it every day, too. And he's probably the reason that.

A (15:56)

Well, let's just give Merv Griffin the credit, okay, for you getting diagnosed. Is your grandmom alive?

B (16:03)

Yeah, the one that thought I had diabetes is alive. Yes.

A (16:06)

Let's. Boy, is she. Do me a favor. Next time you talk to her, ask her how she knew, see if she remembers, and send me a note. I'd be super interested. But the rest of you listening, you'll never know, so screw you. But I'll get to know.

B (16:21)

Yeah, I'll see her at family Christmas, so.

A (16:22)

Very nice. Very nice. Okay, I'm sorry, continue on.

B (16:26)

Yeah, so they. They basically sent. Sent us home, and they were like, don't eat a lot of sugar or don't eat a lot of foods with sugar, and then come back and we'll do like, the. A real blood test or whatever the next morning. And so we had no clue what to eat. So I remember my mom took us to Sonic, and we're just like, loading up on, like, burritos and stuff, and then we go and do the test, and I can't find the results anywhere for those tests. But anyways, we did out outpatient. Just. They just taught me about type 1 diabetes. And I remember going home, and for the next week, my blood sugar would not go under 250. And my mom was so mad. She's like, his blood sugar is so high, we can't get it under control. And that the doctors and whoever it was that was in charge of doing all that stuff, they weren't really helping out, I guess. I don't really know.

A (17:28)

Well, also, I mean, based on what your mom took you to eat when she was told to avoid sugar, she didn't really understand carbs either, right?

B (17:35)

No, no, absolutely not.

A (17:36)

You know, I just interviewed a lady yesterday who works for The Daphne Organization, which is a nonprofit in England that teaches people about their diabetes. It's really kind of wonderful. And when she was talking, she said, make big part of what they do is still to teach people what carbs are. And I'm saying if they would have.

B (17:56)

Just said carbs instead of sugars, it would have made a little bit easier, at least for that one day.

A (18:01)

Yeah. Who knows? Okay, so your mom couldn't get your blood sugar down. And what happened after that? I'm sorry.

B (18:06)

Yeah. So we spent a week doing just what the hospital in Northeast Indiana was telling us to do. And finally my mom just got so fed up and called down to the children's hospital down in Indianapolis and was like, hey, my son just got diagnosed. We're having a bunch of issues. And they were like, oh, yeah, come down here. They admitted me for, I think it was three or four nights. Both my parents went down there and they, they taught me a lot more than the other hospital did. And we got everything under control and yeah, we started MDI from there. So I was on, it was either Novolog or Humalog, I don't remember which one of those. Atlantis. So I was on pens and started the journey from there. And I, I, I remember, I remember not. I, I hadn't had a low in such, well, I never had a low prior to then because my blood Sugar is always 250 the prior week. But, but I remember just wondering what it was going to feel like to be low. And one night before I was going to bed, I was up there brushing my teeth. I was like, I feel really weird. And I go down there, I'm like, mom, I'm feeling weird. And she would check my blood sugar and I was, I don't know, probably in the 60s. And she, she pulls out this big like gallon sized bag of Skittles and she's like, connor, start eating. I was like, yes, because I had to be on such a strict thing to make sure that my basal rates and everything were together. So I just start stuffing my face with Skittles. And I remember, I like that.

A (19:47)

Yeah, no kidding. You were basal testing for a week probably, and you're just like, ah, finally. So then, I mean, you're 15 years old, then you have a couple more years of high school. You're wrestling through high school and you, I know this, but everybody listening doesn't know yet. You wrestled in college as well, right?

B (20:03)

Yes.

A (20:04)

How did you manage all that?

B (20:07)

Yeah, so it was, man, it was tough because I don't know when CGMs first became popular, but I. I hated. Like, I got on a. So I got on an insulin pump, and it was actually January 1st is the day. The first day I had an insulin pump. So a little under a year of being diagnosed, I got an insulin pump. And I didn't want it at first because I didn't want to have the. Just the site and everything. Like, I just wasn't a fan of it, and I didn't want people to know I had diabetes. Like, I. I don't know.

A (20:49)

Okay.

B (20:50)

I just didn't want it. And then. So. But eventually my parents talked me into getting an insulin pump, so that was nice because, you know, before wrestling practice, I could suspend my insulin, so I didn't have all the basil and insulin. Going into practice, just driving my blood sugar down and then just eating, like, snacks or something before practice. This is how I started off in high school and just checking my blood sugar all the time. Like, man, it was constant, like, every. Every, like, half hour, you know, I'd be at least checking my blood sugar, making sure that it was going, you know, staying in range or starting to go up and not going down, because I could handle, you know, a little high blood sugar. But, you know, if you go low.

A (21:43)

Like, it's different, right?

B (21:46)

Yeah. And especially in the sport of wrestling where, like, you have to be so explosive and, and all the different positions that you're in, like, you go low, you're, you're, You're. You're going to be. You're going to be hurting. So, yeah, got through high school. And actually, so this is the interesting part. My freshman year in high school.

A (22:07)

I.

B (22:07)

Broke my thumb, and I. They told me I was going to be out the whole season, but I ended up getting it healed, ready for, like, the postseason. So we have sectionals, regionals, semi, state, and state. Those are the. That's the postseason for wrestling in Indiana. And so I get cleared to wrestle, like, a day or two before the sectional tournament. And I was a little overweight, but going into practice on Friday, which is the day before the sectional tournament, I was, like, a pound overweight, which wasn't a big deal at all because normally you go to sleep and you wake up and you're a pound lighter. So I'm going into practice, and my blood sugar is just not cooperating. It's going low, going low, going low. And I drank a Gatorade and gained however much weight just from drinking the liquid. And my body was already dehydrated just because I probably wasn't eating very healthy, I worked out so much and I could not make weight. So I missed weight my freshman year because my blood sugar went low and I had to overcorrect. So that wasn't fun that easy.

A (23:20)

It was that easy to. For that to get messed up. Yeah.

B (23:24)

Yes.

A (23:24)

And there's no. I don't know what the word would be but. But no. No way. They could just say, all right, well, I mean, you have diabetes, but we, you know, we can't ask him to drop dead because he doesn't want to change his weight. That no consideration for that whatsoever.

B (23:41)

No. I mean, there was already someone up at the next weight class and I would have had to wrestle them off and it was actually might have been my brother or something. Who knows? I don't remember.

A (23:51)

I see.

B (23:53)

Yeah. So I missed weight and the backup had to. Had to make weight and wrestle. So that sucked for me, sucked for my team. But I learned to not do that again. Well, at least I learned how to control my blood sugar a little bit more. But on top of that, like my parents, they. They were so on top of like my blood sugar as well. Like my mom, she would stay up late and check my blood, come in and check my blood sugar while I was sleeping. And then my dad, he always went to work early at like 2 or 3 in the morning. And I remember him opening up my door and come in there and checking my blood sugar and he. And making sure I was in range and if I wasn't, give me a shot or.

A (24:41)

Connor, did your. Did you dad have copd what was going on there?

B (24:45)

No, it's. I don't know. It's just how I picture you.

A (24:48)

Just. You remember him kind of huffing and puffing?

B (24:50)

Yeah.

A (24:51)

It's interesting.

B (24:53)

He doesn't have any issue. I. I don't know.

A (24:55)

No, it's just interesting the way you like, like your remembrance of it is interesting.

B (24:59)

Yeah.

A (25:00)

Yeah.

B (25:00)

So, yeah, my. My parents would always come in and be checking my blood sugar, making sure I was in range or if I was high or low, they would, you.

A (25:11)

Know, do what was appropriate.

B (25:13)

Yeah. And I remember one time, it was my senior in high school, after whatever wrestling match it was, my mom comes in to check my blood sugar and I must have been dreaming or something and she said she. She like pricked my finger and like I started like trying to wrestler or something when we were in bed.

A (25:33)

Did she wake up? Did you ever in a full nelson when you woke up or.

B (25:36)

Yeah, I don't remember. I had her in something though, and.

A (25:40)

That'S a real wrestling move, right? It's not a thing I learned from the wwf, is it?

B (25:44)

Yes, Full nelson is an illegal move in wrestling. Half nelson is legal.

A (25:49)

Half nelson's legal. Okay.

B (25:51)

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, just a lots of blood sugar checking. This is in high school and I had no cgm, so all, all I did was finger pricks. So then I move on to college and this is when, like, I really especially.

A (26:09)

Is this when the. Went off the rails? Is that what you're about to say?

B (26:12)

Well, I, I, my, my first three years in college, I, I did not eat the healthiest. I, you know, I pretty much ate whatever I wanted and you know, I took. My, my blood sugars were fine, but like, you know, for someone who's an athlete who wants to perform at the highest level, you should probably be eating healthier and not like going to the dining courts and eating, basically making your own McFlurries and eating a bunch of pizza and stuff every night.

A (26:48)

Did you, Can I ask, did you stop caring about wrestling or was it just like, was it the freedom? Do you think it had anything to do with restrictions from diabetes or, like, why do you think you shifted like that so drastically?

B (27:02)

Well, I mean, I guess it kind of was the freedom. I mean, I, we always, at our household, we always just kind of ate what, whatever we wanted, like, just as kids. And we, we were always so active that, like, we're always pretty fit. And so I moved on to college and, you know, you got the ice cream machines, you got the buffets at the dining courts and stuff. And I was just like, you know, you get out of wrestling practice and you're just, you're tired and you're hungry. And I'm like, man, you know what sounds good? A bunch of ice cream with Oreos and M M's in it. And then, you know, one thing, I, I stopped drinking soda. All I drank was water, though. So my first three years in college, I, I ate like crap. And you know, I covered it with insulin and I was, I was able to control my blood sugar. I was always under a 7, a 1C. But my senior year in college is like. So my senior year in college was my little brother, you know, the other one, he was an A national champion. So we all wrestled at a small Division 3 NCAA school in Indiana. And my junior year, my twin and I's junior year, my, My little brother's freshman year, he wins the national championship his first year there. And that was really eye opening. We're like, wow, man, that was so cool. And I was like, I need to lock in and do whatever I can to. To do that, because I don't want to. I don't want to be sitting in the stands watching my brother do that. I want to be out there with him, right? So I locked in. And, you know, my d. I had a. Every. This is literally what I ate every day. I wake up in the morning, and I would have a huge bowl of oatmeal. I'd throw a bunch of peanut butter in there, and I'd make six eggs, and I would eat that every single meal. So I ate 18 eggs a day and, like, three humongous bowls of oatmeal, and then I had that every day. So, you know, eating the same thing for every meal. I learned how my body was going to react to it, and I knew how much the. Like, you know, the exact amount of insulin that I'd need to take. So, you know, I don't know if it was, like, the healthiest thing in the world to be eating, but at least I. I could lock in my blood sugars. And I'm sure it was healthier than, you know, going to the food court and eating ice cream and whatnot. So that's what I would. Would.

A (29:40)

So you did this, Connor, just to catch up to your brother? Like, I don't. Like, did you make that shift because you're like, that. He can't be the only one to win this or. No.

B (29:51)

Well, I mean, I was, like, I was a national qualifier that year. My twin was an All American. And then, yeah, my little brother was a national champion. And I. Man, like, I just knew, like, my. My little brother worked so hard at everything, and we always did the same stuff, but, like, you know, there's just, like, the little things. It's just the little things that, you know, get you up over the top. And I was like, if I start eating healthier, I think that'll help. And then just my mindset at practice, too. Like, you get tired and, like, you. You gotta not break mentally. You gotta be so mentally tough, too, you know, in certain, you know, wrestling positions. Like, you know, if I take someone down on the wrestling Matt, I can lay on top of them for the rest of the. The live. Go and practice and, you know, just kind of relax. Or I can work hard and try to turn them and pin them and score more points, or if I'm on bottom, you know, I can. I could just relax and. And wait until it goes over, or I can, you know, have A mindset that I need to get up. Like, nothing is going to stop me. And so like, my, my mindset changed a little bit because that's how my little brother's mindset was. I had to, I had to have that same mindset. And, you know, it eventually, you know, it worked out. And on top of everything changing my diet, it, it allowed my weight to, to I, I made weight so much easier. Like, I wrestled £174 my senior year in college, and I had to have been the smallest guy at the national tournament. Like I remember normally people are cutting weight. Like I, I would imagine like ten pounds or something like that. Five to ten pounds. Like in a, in a wrestling practice, a two hour wrestling practice. Like, if you have a good practice, like just wearing T shirt and shorts, you can lose like nine pounds just sweating really much.

A (31:52)

Jeez, that's crazy. Although my son goes out and plays basketball and he's fascinated by. He weighs himself before he leaves and he weighs himself when he comes back and he's like, I lose like five pounds playing basketball.

B (32:02)

Yeah, yeah. Anything, anything physical when you're sweating and stuff. And like a lot of times they crank the heat up in the wrestling room and stuff like that. Yeah, you'll sweat a lot.

A (32:12)

Hey, do you have cauliflower here?

B (32:15)

Yes, I do. In both ears.

A (32:17)

Both years. Also, this has fascinated me since you mentioned it, but at today's prices, you were eating over 200 worth of eggs every month.

B (32:26)

Yeah, so my mom, my mom would buy like, she would come down to, to the rental house that we had and she'd have those humongous cartons of eggs and just, we'd fill our fridge with them and then she'd buy like the huge big boxes from Sam's Club of.

A (32:44)

Yeah.

B (32:45)

And yeah, my brothers, my brother and I, like, we just, we went after it and we ate a lot of eggs.

A (32:53)

Eggs and a lot of oatmeal.

B (32:54)

A lot of eggs and oatmeal.

A (32:55)

And yeah, I just found myself thinking about today's like, prices. And I was like. Because I saw, I bought eggs the other day and I. My options in the grocery store were somewhere between like $3 and 50 cents and like up to $7. Like, I don't know why one egg costs twice as much as another egg. I mean, it like says free range and the package looks nicer, but other than that I'm not sure. And I just thought, oh my God, you guys must have been going broke. So it wasn't just you eating the eggs. It was Your brother too?

B (33:25)

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, my brother and I, we did the exact. My twin and I, like, we always did the exact same thing. Yeah, we are literally twins in pretty much every way.

A (33:35)

Your parents should have bought eggs or bought chickens. I think that would have been quicker. Maybe.

B (33:39)

Probably.

A (33:41)

So what'd you do in college? What did you study besides wrestling?

B (33:45)

So started started off at a school in northeast Indiana. My brother and I both did, and, and we started off, we were like, oh, my mom's an accountant, we want to be cpa. So we started off with accounting and then that school didn't really work out. So then we transferred to another school in Midwestern Indiana. And it's a liberal arts school. So they don't have like the regular degrees.

A (34:19)

You can't learn math there. They teach, they teach you about poetry, Is that right?

B (34:23)

Yeah. So I didn't know what I was going to study. I was like, man, I don't know. And I didn't want to go to school. Like, I didn't want to have to go to school like an extra year. Like, I wanted to get school done. And so my brother and I just ended up picking history because, you know, we're twins, so we picked the same thing.

A (34:44)

Okay.

B (34:44)

And so, yeah, I studied history and that's what ended up. I had no clue what I wanted to do after school when I got diagnosed with diabetes. This is one thing I do remember them telling me is they were like, hey, you can't be police officer, firefighter pilot in the military. And I was like, man, because I always wanted to be a fighter pilot. I always thought that'd be so cool. So I didn't know what I wanted to do. So then I was like, well, I guess I'll just become an accountant because my mom's an accountant and she seems to be doing pretty well. And. Yeah, so went to college and studied history and didn't know what I was going to do with the history degree.

A (35:30)

But did you enjoy it?

B (35:34)

I mean, that sounds like.

A (35:35)

I know. Finish this sentence. Four score end.

B (35:39)

Four score end.

A (35:40)

Yeah, finish the, finish that sentence. Four score end.

B (35:43)

Yeah, I'm.

A (35:44)

Yeah. Oh my God. It's. That's the preamble. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You weren't.

B (35:49)

Okay.

A (35:49)

I say, was there at least a pretty girl that was keeping your attention?

B (35:54)

I went to an all guy school. You could. So you could literally like there, there were like everyone. They would have like interns or, you know, like people from other countries that would come in and, and like teach classes or whatever. And sometimes they'd be girls, and you could literally smell them from across the campus because.

A (36:15)

Because everything else just smelled like guys.

B (36:18)

Yeah. You're like, yeah, exactly.

A (36:20)

I want to say I misspoke a second ago, and now I feel silly, but four score and seven years ago is the beginning of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Not. Not the preamble to the Constitution, but damn it, I was on to something anyway. So you didn't particularly care for history. You cared for getting a degree and keeping wrestling. That's what you were trying to do in college.

B (36:43)

Yes.

A (36:43)

Yeah, fair enough. Okay, the boys school thing is all weird. Like, how did that happen? Like that. Yeah, yeah, seriously, like, when somebody said, go here, you didn't go, but there's no girls there. Because that would have been the first thing I thought.

B (36:55)

No, that's exactly what. What I thought. Okay, so, yeah, we went to the one college at first, my brother and I, and then we're like, okay, we need to find a different school. And, you know, this school is the, the all guy school. We were like, my brother committed, and I was like, dude, like, I don't want to go to an all guy school because I'm never gonna find a girlfriend. I've never, like, I, I want to get married someday. I, I, you know, how am I gonna find a girlfriend if I go to an all guy school? But eventually talked me into it. So, yeah, I don't. It all worked out in the end.

A (37:33)

Yeah.

B (37:34)

Great school.

A (37:35)

Where'd you find the girl?

B (37:37)

Tinder. My brother and I both met our wives on Tinder. My twin and I.

A (37:41)

No kidding.

B (37:42)

You know, we're identical twins, so we do the same.

A (37:44)

Oh, my God. Do you match to the same girls?

B (37:47)

I don't know.

A (37:48)

What do you mean you don't know? Stop it.

B (37:50)

Well, no. So I met my wife probably a year or two before my brother met his. It was funny. So I met my wife on Tinder. And yeah, I mean, she, My, My wife is only the second girlfriend ever had. And yeah, I met her. And then.

A (38:11)

And your brother was like, it worked for him. I'll try it too.

B (38:14)

Pretty much. We had one of our wrestling coaches, so how I got mine, he literally made a Tinder account for me because I, I was always so shy. And so he made an account for me and pretty much just swiped right on every girl and made me start.

A (38:29)

Oh, thank God. That's where that story was going, because I thought for sure you were gonna say one of my wrestling coaches hit on me on Tinder. I was like, where is this headed? So somebody took your phone and was like, look, man, you gotta find some ladies. And then, like, put, put, put. Helped you with your profile and then just, like, swiped on all of them. It was like, here, go meet somebody.

B (38:48)

Yeah. And I was like. Like, I was super shy and, like, I had no clue how to talk to girls and.

A (38:54)

Yeah.

B (38:54)

And.

A (38:56)

Yeah.

B (38:56)

I don't know.

A (38:56)

Well, you spend a lot of time rolling around on a mat with guys, I would imagine. Like, I've seen the same thing. I mean, my son played a lot of baseball growing up, and sometimes you get those kids off that baseball field and start talking to them, you're like, oh, somebody's been standing in a piece of grass by themselves a little too long. You know what I mean? Like, you. You don't have a lot of social skills. You're really good at baseball, and, like, sometimes not. Nothing else.

B (39:18)

Yeah, exactly.

A (39:19)

That's. How long have you been married?

B (39:21)

Eight years.

A (39:22)

You're a Tinder success story.

B (39:24)

Yeah, absolutely.

A (39:25)

Do you have little Tinder babies?

B (39:26)

Got one little Tinder baby.

A (39:28)

Kidding. What'd you name them?

B (39:30)

Zoe.

A (39:31)

Zoe. Oh, yeah.

B (39:32)

She's awesome.

A (39:32)

That's an awesome name for a girl. That's really awesome. Look at you. Wow. And what, may I ask, since we're talking about this, your. Your wife, when she found herself on Tinder, have you guys talked about it? Like, what led her there? Did somebody grab her phone and stick her there? Or how did she end up on it?

B (39:49)

You know, I'm not really sure how she ended up on Tinder, but she said that she was. She was like, the name Connor, which. That's my name. So it was either she liked named Connor or guys that start with the letter C. And I'm trying too hard.

A (40:10)

I didn't know that's what was going on.

B (40:12)

She, like. She liked what my bio said. I don't really remember what it said, but my picture, my profile picture was like a picture of me, like, in my wrestling singlet when I won the national championship my single senior year. And apparently, the. The pictures, like, from behind, like, I was, like, yelling at them to the stands. And it's only my back, so you can't even see my face. And my wife was like, you didn't even have a picture of your, like, your face, So I didn't even know what you look like in your profile picture. So I didn't know if you were just, like, ugly and didn't want to show yourself or what. But.

A (40:47)

But she still. She still learned. How about that? It's really interesting because you had a C in your name or your name is Connor. Yeah, exactly. Let me tell you something. This is, this is. Should I say this? Probably not, no. Well, my son and his longtime girlfriend, they broke up last year. And so he's very private about, know his dating habits and stuff like that, but every once in a while, like, he'll be like, on Friday, he'll be like, ah, I'm. I'm going to the city. And then he doesn't come back, you know, that night. And I'm like, where are you? You, would you meet somebody? No, no, no. Just, I just met some friends and my, and I'm like, that's not what's happening. I know what's going on. So, yeah, anyway, it's, it's cute that he doesn't want to, like, tell us, but that's crazy, man. So you just, you're just a shy person now. Is your twin brother shy?

B (41:37)

Yeah, I mean, we're, we're identical twins.

A (41:39)

We're literally similar.

B (41:41)

The same thing. So my brother starts using. Well, so he, he, he has Tinder. He's like Christian Mingle and like all that, whatever, other dating websites. And I remember my wife and I were trying to create him, like an eharmony profile, and we type his email address into it and it says, already account, already created. But it was funny because, like, he would, he'd be going on all these dates with all these different girls and like, it was just fun watching the mayhem.

A (42:15)

So, so you go on this. I, I guess I don't, I'm not asking like, a lot of details about him, but did you go on a lot of dates or did you meet your future wife pretty early in the process?

B (42:25)

Oh, no. It's like she was the first person I ever went on a date with.

A (42:30)

It's kind of boring, but okay. All right, so, but, so when do you tell her about diabetes? That's interesting. I'm really interested about that. Like, so she's meeting you almost sight unseen to begin with. You're getting to know each other completely cold. You're pretty shy. But when does it occur to you that she should know about the type one?

B (42:46)

I would imagine. I, I, you don't remember, but I would imagine I told because we talked for like a week or two before we even went out on a date.

A (42:55)

Okay.

B (42:56)

And I would imagine I told her, like, boy, I would do good in.

A (43:01)

This new ecosystem because I think the, the chatting up front part, you know what I mean? Like, I think that would Overcome a lot. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I think they wouldn't care that I wasn't very tall by the time they liked me. It's a whole, like, there's a whole vibe to that. Hey, did. Did you know that there's a. There's a height cut off that, like, a large percentage of women won't. Won't consider men on dating apps under a certain height? So there's a. A rash of men lying about their height.

B (43:30)

I've heard of that. And, you know, I'm 5 6, so I'm not the tallest person.

A (43:33)

Oh, my gosh, Connor.

B (43:34)

No.

A (43:36)

And there's this other. There's this other stat I find fascinating, but it's not popping right to my head. But, like, let me see if I can find it. There's a stat about. About dating that women have. What is it about dating? Hold on, let me see. Women, like, they have a better, like, choice of, like, what is that? Like, a certain percentage, the top percentage of women are only going after certain, like, percentage of guys, and so most other guys aren't getting, like, queried. And it's like, it's leaving to this whole imbalance of, like. There's, like. I don't know how to put it exactly. Have you. Am I making sense right now? Hold on a second. Let me.

B (44:23)

I've heard the, like. I don't, like, certain, like, dating apps or whatever they have. Like, they make a whole bunch of, like, fake women, like, female profiles or something like that. I don't know if that's what you're trying to.

A (44:39)

No, it's not, but that's happening too. What do you mean? They're making fake profiles? What. So they can. Like, how. What would that. What would that.

B (44:46)

I feel like I've seen it on, like, Netflix documentaries.

A (44:48)

Like, what's the.

B (44:52)

Whatever the. The website that people go on and cheat on their spouses. Oh, like, they would. Oh, they would make a whole bunch of, like, fake female profiles because, like, a lot more dudes are getting onto that website than. Than.

A (45:11)

It's a whole weird ecosystem, so. Okay, well, neither here nor there. I guess I'll figure it out while we're talking. But when. When you tell her about the diabetes, does she have context for it or is like, you're just like, hey, I give myself a shot, or, this is my pump, and she's like, right on and who cares? Or, how did that go?

B (45:26)

Yeah, that. I mean, that's how I remember it happening. It didn't really seem like a big deal. At all. And our, you know, we went on our first date at a, a restaurant and I showed her. I, I, I, I'm guessing I told her everything about diabetes. Like, the first two weeks that we were talking in Texan, because I remember going on our first date, I was like, man, we've been talking for two weeks already. I feel like I've already told her everything there is to know about me. Like, what are we going to talk about on our date? Because I've already told her everything. That's what I remember thinking.

A (46:01)

How old were you then?

B (46:03)

So that would have been. I was probably 22. Okay.

A (46:12)

Wow. And she's like your first, like, or your second girlfriend.

B (46:16)

Yep.

A (46:17)

I'm. No kidding. And how long had it been between the first one and the second one?

B (46:22)

Probably like six months. Maybe a little less than that.

A (46:27)

Okay. Okay. All right. So you were, you were doing it then. So this. I, I found the thing that I'm talking about, and I think it is a thing that maybe sometimes people say isn't true, but there's this idea that, like, 80% of the women are only looking at the top 20% of the men. Like, so, like, so if you don't, like, fall somehow into a, you know, a desirable category at the top 20 of whatever that desirability is that most women aren't looking for you. And some, something about the, the, the dating sphere being online, like, that allows it to, like, I guess it lets them, I don't know, be more choosy. And, and it's easier because you can probably just filter by height or filter by like. I did. My son did tell us once on a dating app that he started talking to a girl and she said, you listed your height as this. Is that really how tall you are? And, and he said, yes. And she was like, basically like, do not show up here if you're not that height.

B (47:26)

Oh, my God.

A (47:27)

It's pretty interesting, you know?

B (47:29)

Yeah, Yeah, I think, I think I did put my height on there, I guess.

A (47:32)

Is your wife shorter than you?

B (47:34)

We're like the same height. I think I might be a little bit taller than her, but every time we go out somewhere, she's always wearing like heels or something, so have to wear like, thick. Thick sold shoes.

A (47:44)

My wife is 5, 9, and she walks around, she's like over 6ft tall in shoes. And I think she does it just to screw with me. But, but she wore shoes like that before I knew her, so maybe not. I don't really, I don't care. I like that My wife's tall, actually, so nevertheless. So, okay, we. So at that point, when you're dating and you're using a pump at that point, right?

B (48:07)

Yes.

A (48:07)

Okay. And how long? Or maybe never. Like, you've been married eight years. I don't really know how long the courtship was, but it sounds like it's been about a decade here. So how much does your wife know about your diabetes, present day? And how comfortable were you giving the information that she has?

B (48:29)

I mean, she knows, I guess. Like, I. Like.

A (48:36)

She.

B (48:36)

She knows, like, if my blood sugar's high to give me insulin. Like, insulin. She knows, like, how to look it up because I use Tandem obi. She knows it's all on my phone, how to plug in the carbs and all that stuff. And, like, if I go low, she knows I need to eat, you know?

A (48:53)

But if I brought her to my house and said, hey, take care of my daughter, make all the decisions, she wouldn't be great at it.

B (48:59)

Yeah, I don't think so.

A (49:00)

You don't think so? By the way, I want to just say tandemdiabetes.com juicebox if you'd like to get a Tandem Moby.

B (49:05)

Absolutely.

A (49:06)

Yeah. Thank you. Okay. So she's got enough of an idea of it that, like, I don't know, like, if. If you passed out, would she give you glucagon?

B (49:17)

Yeah. So that's a funny thing. I hadn't had a glucagon the whole time we've been dating. And then, like, my last endo appointment, I would. Because I started listening to the podcast. I was like, you know what? I need to get it. I should probably just carry around a glucagon just in case. So I ended up getting the bisquemi. Is that the nasal one?

A (49:38)

I ate back semi. Right. They you squirt the powder up the nose?

B (49:42)

Yep. So I got that one. So I have one that I keep in my little fanny pack.

A (49:48)

I think everybody should have something like that. Also, they're not a sponsor, but, you know, it's fine. I'm happy to talk about it. I don't just talk about people or sponsors. Although, in fairness, I think I got most of the companies as sponsors, so we're pretty close. But, no, I want people to have glucagon. I really don't care which one you have. I just. I would really like you to have it when you're walking around, and I want the people around you to know how to use it, when to use it.

B (50:11)

Yeah. And I figured that would be, you know, just Shoving it up your nose. Because the old glucagon I had was the one the. In that red box. Mix it, Mix everything and give them a shot. And I was like. And it'd probably be easiest just for my wife to shove something up my nose.

A (50:26)

And I'm pretty sure Lily stopped making that anyway, so.

B (50:30)

Oh, really?

A (50:30)

Yeah.

B (50:31)

Yeah.

A (50:31)

I think the red box is gone. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, if you use gvoke or you use back semi, like, I just. I just really think it's important to carry it with you.

B (50:40)

Yeah. Yeah. So my wife, like, if. If I needed help with something, she could do it. But, like, I'm taking care of yourself.

A (50:49)

Yeah.

B (50:49)

Like, I'm very on. On top of all my management.

A (50:54)

What's that mean, Connor? Like, where's your A1C set? How's your variability?

B (50:59)

So my last A1C that I had was a 4.9.

A (51:03)

Holy hell.

B (51:04)

Yeah, I was. I was surprised. And then. Well, I guess. And then what's the. The standard deviation or variability was like 28. On my last Dexcom clarity thing.

A (51:17)

Incumbent upon me to say congratulations and to ask you. You get low a lot?

B (51:24)

No. So, like, I. I've just, like. So, like, there's the whole big story. You know, I get out of college and, you know, I. I win my national championship and I do all that. And, you know, after I'm done wrestling, I continue. I go back to like, kind of eating whatever I wanted because I was like, you know, I can eat whatever I want. And so I ate whatever I wanted. And you know, from 174 up to two years ago, I weighing like 225 pounds.

A (51:59)

Wow. You put 50 pounds on. I'll tell you, man, I. My son stopped playing baseball at the end of college and we preached to him like whole. That eating you were doing, that was because you were so active and you were working out so much. And like, in a regular life, that's not gonna work. And he. As soon as it. To his credit, as soon as his weight started to tilt one way, he was like, oh, no, no, no, no. But, like, that happened to you, huh?

B (52:22)

Oh, it happened. And yeah, I. I just thought, like, I thought I was always going to be able to eat as much as I wanted and that I'd be fine. Like, I would literally, because I was working night shift most of. The. Most of the time because I'm now up. I'm a police officer.

A (52:41)

And I knew you weren't a history professor.

B (52:43)

Yeah. So I get home. I get home from work and I was like, man, what do I want to eat? So I would literally like pull out a bag of tortilla chips and then like a huge tub of buffalo chicken dip. And I already like the whole thing and I'm like, man, I'm still kind of hungry and I would eat like re seasoned KitKats out of the freezer.

A (53:04)

You're doing shift work so you, you're having these meals at what midnight? Sometimes, sometimes 7pm like, or do you.

B (53:10)

No, I would, I, I would work from like 6pm to 6am So I get home like 6am oh, eating like.

A (53:18)

A monster in the middle of the morning.

B (53:19)

Yeah, I get home, eat, take a shower, go to bed. That's what I did.

A (53:24)

Eat a tub of buffalo chicken dip, which I'm going to tell you is grease and protein and chips then go sleep it off for eight, 10 hours.

B (53:33)

Yeah. And yeah, I don't, I don't know how like I was able to control my blood sugar. Like I'm sure it wasn't that great but my, my A1Cs were always, you know, mid sixes and whatnot. But my weight was always going up and, and I didn't have a cgm. Like my doctors were always like we, we want you to get a cgm. And I'd had a CGM before so right when I got out of college because I didn't want one when I was wrestling because yeah, I did the, the med. I was on Medtronic pump at the time when I was in college and they had the, the Guardian CGM and I was like, man, that thing is so big. And I remember they gave me, I tried it out during one summer and like it was just such a hassle for me to, to put that thing on there. It was just so many different steps and it was big.

A (54:27)

I think Medtronic is super excited to get their new sensors out to people by the way. Medtronicdiabetes.com juicebox and yeah, I think the, the Simplera and then the other one like that. Right. They have one, they're making, yeah, they're making one in house and then they're. And they have Libre's making another one with them. Right. For their devices. Yeah, it's going to be like a whole little offering now from them.

B (54:51)

Yeah, that's, that's ex.

A (54:53)

That's exciting for people because that metron. Because those Medtronic pumps are like that algorithm's good, that 780G algorithms is. Yeah, pretty good.

B (55:01)

Absolutely. And they, so I, they, I tried out the Guardian the first time and I was. And it kept falling off because I go to the lake and it would get ripped off. Like wakeboarding and stuff. They get ripped off, you know, wrestling. And I was like, I'm not gonna do a cgm. So go another however many years. And then when I got out of college, I was like, well, I'm not wrestling anymore. I'll try out the Guardian CGM again. And they got me. Whatever. I don't remember which version of the pump I had. Oh, it was, I think the 680 maybe. Okay. And so I try it the, the Guardian CGM again and man, I, I don't know what it was, but the alarms and stuff, like you couldn't control them as much as you can with the Dexcoms or the Libre's. At least that was my experience at the time. And I was just like, I, I can't do this. Like, I'm, I'm better with just finger pricking. So I, I did finger pricks all the way up into a year and a half ago. And then my warranty had been up on my insulin pump, my Medtronic, and I was like, I. So I started doing a whole bunch of research and watching YouTube videos and, and I saw a tandem Moby. And there's a whole bunch of different reasons why I went with the Moby. But like at work, you know, I'm wearing my whole police uniform and for me, like, I, I like cut holes in my pockets and would run the tubing through, like my pockets. So like the tubing never got caught on anything.

A (56:37)

Yeah. And.

B (56:38)

But I always had to pull my insulin pump out of my pocket and it's hard with like the gun belt and everything. So I was like, it'd be nice to have something else. And you know, the idea of Omnipod is cool because like it's all controlled through your phone or the PDM or whatever it is, but I just didn't like how you couldn't take it off. Like if I was going to go wakeboarding or if I go to a wrestling practice or something, like, I'm going to tear that thing off.

A (57:06)

You wanted there to be an infusion set still.

B (57:08)

Yeah, because I like, I mean, I tore infusion sets off a lot of.

A (57:13)

Well, let me just say if people disagree with you. Omnipod.com Juicebox links in the show notes links@juicebox podcast.com now we keep going. So you went with the Moby, which was a great pump. Love the algorithm. Absolutely awesome. Right? Did you do the update recently. That gives you.

B (57:28)

Absolutely, yeah.

A (57:29)

Good.

B (57:30)

Yeah. So I go with the Moby and I ended up getting the Moby, like the day that it got linked, that it was able to get linked with the G7.

A (57:42)

Oh, okay.

B (57:42)

So I, I first. So how I got introduced to CGMs was I, I'm on a, I was on a special unit at my police department that's like a whole, made up a whole of a whole bunch of different agencies in our area. And one of the guys on our unit was his son's type one diabetic. He's like, oh, you need to get a cgm. I was like, I don't want another thing to stick on my body. He's like, trust me, you need to get one. They're awesome. And so the funny thing is, is we were fostering this dog. My wife was, and the dog's diabetic and they would give her, they gave her CGM to, to measure the dog's blood sugar. And so ended up adopting the dog. And we had like an extra Libre CGM laying around and I was like, you know, I'm just going to throw this on and try it. And it was really nice. So then I was, I just asked my doctor, I'm like, hey, just the Libre Libre 3 was the smallest CGM. I was like, that's the smallest one. That's the only one I want to use. So I use the Libre 3 for like two weeks and then I ended up getting the Moby and the, it connected to the G7 and I was like, I really don't want to use the G7 because it's bigger. But I did and I, I love it. Like them, the, and especially with the new control iq plus like being able to do the temp Basils, man, it's, it's amazing that like, I have such good control. Like, I guess like, because I'm like, I, I've started working out a lot more like just trying to be really healthy because, you know, I gained all the weight and then basically it took me about a year just with eating and exercising. I'm down to about 160 right now. Maintaining 160 for about the last year.

A (59:44)

That was just calories. Exercise, that's how you got about it.

B (59:48)

I had no clue how to lose weight at the beginning. I knew that you had to eat less calories than what you burned. So I had like, I downloaded my Fitness Pal or whatever and I remember when I first started losing weight, I was like, I don't know how many calories I should be eating a day. I was like, I'll just like, I'll eat like 1600 calories a day. That's how I started. But I still wasn't eating healthy. Like there's like leftover pizza in the fridge. Like my wife had pizza, pizza that they had from her work that she. Leftover pizza. And I was like, you know, I'm just going to eat this pizza until I reach the calories and then. But eventually I started, you know, eating healthier and you know, now like I meal prep pretty much all my meals.

A (60:32)

Right.

B (60:33)

So I know. And I pretty much eat the same things for all my meals. So I know, you know, it's kind of like I was my senior in college where I know what I'm going to eat and how much insulin I need to take and how it's going to affect me. And so I've got it down to a science. Like I wake up at like 5:50 every morning and I do like an hour workout on my peloton. And so the cool thing about the mo. Gosh, I feel like I'm all over the place.

A (61:03)

No, you're doing fine. I'm interested. Keep going.

B (61:06)

So the really cool thing about the Moby, I mean you can do this probably on any of the insulin pumps, but you have all the different profiles that you have set. And like I have a, a morning workout profile that I, I set before I go to bed every, every night. And basically whatever time I wake up, normally I wake up at like 5:50 in the morning on work days and I have it set. So two hours before I wake up, I set my basal to zero. And, and so then I'll have no onboard insulin. So I'll wake up depending on like what I, what I eat the prior night. Like I'll wake up anywhere from, from like it's really cool to watch it on the cgm, how, how it starts to work. But like if it cuts off my, my basal insulin at like, let's say 4 o', clock, at like 5 o', clock, it slowly starts rising up and then by the time I wake up, I'll be anywhere from like 150 to 160 normally. And then I know I work out and for my hour and by the end of my workout, because I do pretty hard workout normally I'm anywhere from 70 to 80. And I know, but the thing is, since I haven't had the basal insulin for the last, by then three hours, by the end of my workout. Yeah, I know. Even if my blood sugar 70. Like, when I'm doing my cooldown, I. I give myself 0.6 or 0.7, depending on if I'm 70 or 80. I'll give myself 0.6 or 0Point7 units of insulin my last 15 minutes of the cooldown. Even if my blood sugar's at 70, I'll still do that. And then I go and take my. I throw my food in the oven and I go and take my shower. When I hop out of my shower, I hit my pre bolus for 1.6 units.

A (63:02)

Yeah.

B (63:02)

And then, you know, you got 10 minutes later, my food's ready, I eat it, and then my blood sugar's, like, steady at, like, 80 to 90 to 100 until I eat again. And then. Yeah. And then so I do that. And, you know, in the afternoon, I like to take my daughter to the park and take her on walks and stuff like that. Right. And normally, like, my second meal, I'll have, like, I don't know, probably around, like, 20 grams of carbs with potatoes and broccoli and stuff like that. And you're kind of.

A (63:40)

You're taking that. What you learned, like, wrestling with how to manage food and you're just doing it with this now?

B (63:46)

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

A (63:48)

Specific with it and careful. Yeah.

B (63:51)

And yeah, it's like.

A (63:54)

I have a couple of questions, though. How did you. Like, so. But first things first is I looked you up online because I didn't. Like, I saw you when you came on, and I've. And now I found a few photos of you that are just a few years old. Man, you really did. You lost a lot of weight. It's awesome. Like, congratulations. Also, I saw that girl. I don't know how the hell you tricked her into marrying you, but good job.

B (64:15)

I know.

A (64:16)

I mean, really, seriously, way too pretty for you, Connor.

B (64:20)

But I did get lucky.

A (64:23)

Yeah. No. No kidding.

B (64:26)

But.

A (64:26)

But you. You decided to do something. Obviously, you found the podcast. At some point, you look, you were looking at ways to change your health. Like, did you have. Has your diabetes management gotten any better, or is this all been food for you?

B (64:40)

Yes, so my diabetes management has gotten a lot better. Like I said, I've always been in this. In the. Below this 7A 1C that you're supposed to have, you know, but, you know, I would just, you know, eating. Eating unhealthy and then just. I would just, like, load myself up with insulin and my insulin sensitivity has.

A (65:05)

I dropped that blood.

B (65:07)

Oh, my gosh. Like, it's. It's insane. Like, I would go from. I would take, like, 60 units a day. I mean, granted, I was probably eating a lot more. More carbs than what I do now, but I still. I mean, now, like, I feel like I'm eating, like, different kinds of carbs, like veggies and stuff like that. But I still, like, I'll eat 300 carbs a day.

A (65:32)

Wow.

B (65:32)

But they're like my total daily. My total daily units. Like, I'll take, like, 15. 15 to 18 is how many units I. I take a day. And if I ate that same thing back when I was. When I was, you know, 220, £25, like, I'd be. I'd be up over, like, 50 units.

A (65:53)

Well, sure. Well, the extra weight's gonna have something to do with your sensitivity and, you know, the types of carbs as well. But, like, you. You start changing all of that, you get your weight down by 50 pounds, right.

B (66:04)

And.

A (66:04)

And you. You eat cleaner even though you're still eating a lot of carbs. That's. It's a big difference for you. I. Yeah, I'm happy for you.

B (66:12)

And it's not only the diabetes. Like, I. I had, like, acid reflux. Like, I mean, buffalo chicken dipping candy before going to bed, But I remember, like, being in bed and, like, getting acid reflux and having to go take omeprazole or whatever, and then, like, my blood pressure and, like, just, like, little things. Yeah. And I remember. I mean, just looking at yourself in the mirror, I remember telling my wife, I'm like, I think I'm fat. And she's like, oh, you're not fat. I was like, I think I am. And I remember the thing that. That got me to actually start losing the weight was we had a training at work where it was like a firearms training and defensive tactics training, like, mixed together and whatever. The defensive. Like, we had to, like, wrestle around with these guys and then go shoot a handgun course or whatever. And I remember I was so tired after doing the defensive tactics portion, and I was like, man, I was a national champion in college. Be, like, this tired after doing this.

A (67:16)

Yeah.

B (67:16)

And I was like, I got. I got to change something. And then that. That was right after I had my daughter, too. And I was like, I. I need to get healthy so I can. Yeah.

A (67:24)

Go to the park.

B (67:25)

Yeah, absolutely.

A (67:27)

Listen, my buddy just retired last year, but I remember from years ago, like, the vests were really something. Like, are they different now? Are they not as bulky as they used to be? Because I imagine that gets tougher as you're putting on weight. And you're trying to wear a pump and like all the other stuff too.

B (67:42)

Yeah, I mean, it's luckily the department that I work for. You know, you, you, you, you have the, the old school police uniform. You know, like the, the, the shirt and tie with the, you know, the trooper hat or whatever. That was kind of what we, we had when I first got hired. But now we have like the, you know, the load bearing vest where like you can put your radio vest on the outside now. Yeah. So like takes a lot, a lot of the weight off your hips and stuff because you used to have to have. Everything that you carried was on your gun belt and it was like a leather gun belt and it was like, you know, just like not very comfortable. And like now we are uniform. Like the, the pants are a lot more comfortable, the shirt's comfy. The vest just takes a lot of the weight off of.

A (68:35)

Yeah, it's almost like you're, it's almost like a rucks, like a rock then because it's up on your torso. Yeah, my, I mean, I just, I can picture Ray, like if that thing stuffed under his shirt, like you're wearing a shirt and like you said he wore a tie in the beginning, like over top of it. They got rid of the ties eventually and he was always pulling on that vest and pulling on that belt like constantly. Yeah.

B (68:57)

So it's, it's. And it's still like there's so much stuff like. Sure, it, it gets, it wears you out. But, um, it's better than what it was. And the thing with me is they measured me from my new, the vest that I have now, like right before I decided to lose all the weight, so it's like kind of big on me, so.

A (69:15)

Well, I was gonna say, like, it must just be more comfortable working and, and managing your diabetes with your pump and, and all that other stuff.

B (69:21)

Yeah. So that with the Moby, it's really nice because how I wear it is I use the 23 inch tubing and I have like compression short underwear and I have like phone pockets on each side.

A (69:33)

Yeah.

B (69:34)

So I just put the, the Moby on the same side that my CGM's on and then like it. So it's, it connects better. And then like, if I need to adjust my basil or take a bolus or whatever I need to do, you know, I can just do it from my phone, which is so nice with all that gear on, which is why I love the Mobi.

A (69:55)

Yeah, no kidding. We should call this episode four score and fifty pounds. Ago.

B (70:00)

Yeah.

A (70:01)

I'm happy for you, man. And how old are you? 33, did you say?

B (70:04)

Yep, 33.

A (70:05)

I mean, you got a lot figured out and changed around for yourself in a short amount of time while you're still young, which I. I just feel good about. That you didn't spend decades, you know, suffering and then figuring something out as it got worse and worse.

B (70:19)

Yeah.

A (70:19)

And really, like, what it just was there, all the things you mentioned, just like wrestling around on a. You know, in a training and realizing you were out of shape and looking at yourself in the mirror and these things just all kind of, like, piled up on. You're like, I gotta do something here.

B (70:33)

Yeah, yeah, I'm. I'm. I'm definitely a person that. I guess I. I live for the future. Like, I. I don't wanna, you know, like. Like how I even got into this podcast. Like, I used to. I used to just listen to, like, finance podcasts, like the Money Guy show and Dave Ramsey and stuff like that to try to set myself up for the future financially. And so that's all I did. And then I came across Juice Box someone. There was a picture of someone wearing a Juice Box Podcast shirt on Facebook. And I was like, juice Box Podcast? I was like, that sounds kind of weird. But then I looked it up, and then I started listening to the Juice Box Podcast probably. I don't know, probably like five. Five months ago. And like a man, I go through all the episodes. Like, I'm glad. Yeah, I love. I love it. I wish I would have started listening earlier because definitely would have helped me.

A (71:33)

But don't worry, there's 1500 episodes you probably missed. You can go find them somewhere. But that's interesting. So you didn't learn about it through, like, somebody saying, hey, this is a diabetes thing. You should check it out. You just, like, literally saw it and thought it was odd and checked on it.

B (71:46)

Yeah, it was probably so. I wish I would have known about it when I got my Moby because it. I probably would have learned a little bit more about it. But, like, the funny thing with my Moby is, is I did all. All I did was, like, research the Moby on YouTube. I didn't really do a whole lot of research on, like, podcasts and stuff like that. And I never went to a formal training with my Moby because I just plugged in all the same settings from my Medtronic and I watched a whole bunch of YouTube videos, and I was like, I'm throwing that thing in sleep mode 24,7 and that's what I. How I do, and that's how I manage it. But then, yeah, somehow on Facebook, when I was just kind of digging in on the Moby a little bit more, I saw someone wearing a juice box podcast T shirt. That's great, I think. And I was like, I'm gonna start listening to that. And. Yeah.

A (72:41)

Yeah. I'm in the process of putting a. A whole tandem, like, control IQ series together with tandem. So it's taking a little bit of time, but I think it's gonna be really good when it gets done, it comes out. So hopefully that'll help you out a little bit too.

B (72:55)

Yeah, yeah.

A (72:56)

It's awesome, man. I'm just thrilled for you. Do you ever. I mean, you said you think about the future. Do you ever worry about your daughter? Like, do you think about testing or, you know, is anything like that in the back of your head?

B (73:07)

Yeah, I do worry about it. I mean, I don't, like, worry a whole lot, but I don't. I. I sure hope she doesn't have to deal with. With type 1 diabetes. But my wife and I actually just did the. The trial net. You know, they mail us the little kit, and you prick her finger. And we did that, and luckily, she has none of the antibodies right now. She's. She's two and a half. So they said we could check her again. And the funny thing is, is we were not growing up when I. When I was diagnosed. They had me in a whole bunch of studies, me and my brother, because we're identical twins. We did the exact same things our whole life, and somehow I got it and he didn't. And so I told my brother. I'm like, hey, you should. You should do this trial net thing and see if you have any antibodies right now. So he contacted them, and they were like, yeah, we've already tested you, like, five times, and you don't have any of the antibodies. And we had no clue.

A (74:05)

Oh, because when you were little, it was happening in there. They didn't. Your parents probably not telling you all that, huh?

B (74:10)

Yeah. Yeah. So. So, yeah, we tested my daughter, and she doesn't, luckily, right now have any of the antibodies. So that's good news, I guess.

A (74:19)

Yeah. I'm glad. No, it's. It's great news. I'm happy for you. That's awesome. Anything we didn't talk about that we should have? Anything that we missed or that I skipped over or anything at all? Just want to make sure.

B (74:30)

No, I mean, I just. Man, there's a. There's a lot like, I guess just for my wrestling, like back to the year that I won my national championship. Like I was still on the insulin pump. But you know how like I said, like sites get torn out and stuff like that. So like I would, during wrestling tournaments I would still carry syringes and stuff and I would take shots manually because like I knew if I took it with like, if I went and warmed up and somehow my sight got torn out. But like it's still sticking to your body so you don't like, you can't really tell if the cannula is still in or not.

A (75:12)

Yeah.

B (75:12)

So I would always take shots and then, I don't know, I, I would, I would like to help other people with diabetes and who are active and who just need more information.

A (75:31)

How, how would you like to be helpful to them? I'll tell you how you could actually be helpful to him is tell me how you trick this girl into marrying you. I think everybody like, seriously man, I gotta click off this. It's freaking me out. Well done. Like you, you out kicked your coverage so. And you're not a bad looking guy. I'm not saying otherwise. But I'm just like, but, but, but seriously, how, how do you want to help people with diabetes? Like, what do you feel like they need?

B (75:57)

Man? I don't know, I just, you know, you see on the, the Facebook groups like just people just having issues and I, people not, I guess a lot of people not taking things as seriously as what they should because you know, as a diabetic you can, you can have the same quality life. You can live just as long or heck, I think, you know, I'm healthier because I, I think if I didn't have diabetes I wouldn't be as healthy because I, I probably wouldn't have taken, you know, my health as seriously. But like you can just, I, I don't know, man. You like being, eating healthy, working out, learning how to, you know, adjust your ratios on that. That's another thing is like don't, don't rely on your doctors because my, like, I don't want to talk bad about my doctors, but like, man, like I asked them about Afrezza and they, they were like, they had no clue. I told them I was in sleep mode 247 on the Tana Moby and they were like, huh? Like what, what's that? Like they, they just, I don't know, like I, I do all this research on my own so I can help better myself.

A (77:23)

Yeah.

B (77:23)

And I feel like that's what people need to do, like, to, you know, take control of their, their diabetes and do the best that they can. Like, don't rely on other people. Like, you got to figure it out for yourself and do the research for yourself and, and reach out to other people. You know, listen to the podcast and figure out what you need to do. Like, don't, don't rely on your, your diabetes doctor, your endocrinologist every three months or whatever to change your basal rates and your, your correction factors and stuff like that. Like, if you see like you, you, you're going high, like, change your. Up your basil. And if you're going low, lower it if, if you need to pre bolus, like, man, like all these different things.

A (78:14)

I, I'm glad you said that, actually.

B (78:15)

Kind of.

A (78:16)

I, I really genuinely believe that where people end up having the most success is when they have the knowledge and the tools to make changes to their settings and make adjustments to their insulin. Like, I think that's just incredibly important, a hallmark of, of people who are successful and, and keeping their numbers where they want them to be.

B (78:37)

Yeah.

A (78:37)

Yeah. And not that you can't get a great doctor because you, you might like that and that would be awesome, but you also might get a bad one. And I'm always struck by the idea that, like, how would you know the difference?

B (78:49)

Yeah, right, Absolutely. Like, when the last one of the last times I went to the doctor, she was like, she was concerned because, like, my blood sugar was like, leveling off at 80. And she's like, I don't want it to go low. I was like, well, it's, it's not going to go low. Like, I know it's going to be fine. And she was trying to change, she wanted me to change my correction factor.

A (79:15)

For whatever reason, blood sugar higher.

B (79:18)

And I was like, I was like, hey, I'm in, I'm in sleep mode 24 7. And I don't remember the last time. Like, I had, I've had to take like a correction, like a big correction. And she's like, what do you mean? Like, how is, how would changing. Changing the correction factor, like adjust. Adjust. Not make your blood sugar go higher is like, because my pump doesn't give me automatic boluses because I'm in sleep mode 24 7. It only adjusts the basil. And she didn't, she didn't understand.

A (79:52)

Yeah, now listen, I mean, you're not gonna, obviously everybody's not going to have the same level of understanding. And for people who are new to this or, you know, you know, I, I guess it would make them a little weirded out to hear that your doctor might not understand something simple about how your pop. Your pump works. But at the same time, like, I mean, they're busy people and they do a lot, and I've just, I've interviewed enough of them now to realize that you're going to get one that knows you're going to get one that doesn't, and the rest of it's up to you.

B (80:23)

Yeah, yeah. I'm at the, the point where, where I, I kind of like, just, you know, doing the research on my own, like listening to the podcast, learning new things, doing my research on YouTube, just.

A (80:38)

Yeah, you're not looking for a buddy at the doctor's office. You're looking for somebody to give you some scripts and. Yeah.

B (80:43)

Get out of your pocket. I would, I would like to. I would. I, I asked him about Afrezza because I was kind of interested in it. Like, I'm not, I'm not going to switch off the tandem mobi. I love the Moby. I love how.

A (80:55)

But you might want to try having the inhale with you. Yeah.

B (80:59)

Yeah. Because one of the issues that. Sorry if this is going too long, but you're fine. One of the, the issues, like every once in a while, you know, like, I'll take, I'll do my pre bolus or whatnot and like, if I put a new side in or something and it, it's, it doesn't work out, like, my blood sugar will shoot up and it would be really nice to, you know, if my blood sugar is 200 or smack it down, like just taking a Fresno and bam, it's back down. And also on top of that, I, My, my meal timing, how I eat is like, I kind of plan it around my activity. So because I don't want to take insulin for the food I have. And then like, because my insulin sensitivity is so high just because of, of how active I am and how much weight I lost, that, like, my blood sugar will just drop, like, drastically even, like, if I go for a little walk, like, I'm going low. If I just took insulin with Freza, like, it will, it won't. I don't think it would. It doesn't stay in your system as long. So that's another reason why I wanted to, to try it. And it would have been. It'd be nice. I, I also, like, I would love to try the Eversense implantable. Oh, I, I would really like to try it because Like, I love the Dexcom. Like it's awesome. But I do have like issues with it just because of how active I am and how much I sweat. Like, I feel like, you know, I, A lot of my sensors, they'll fail or the, the, the numbers will just start jumping around so much that they end up having to replace a lot of them.

A (82:39)

Are you, are you waiting for the. Ever since CGM to work with like your system? Is that your hope?

B (82:46)

That's, that's my hope. But I don't, I can't see it coming. I mean, maybe it will. I would love for it to come to the mobi, but I don't. I really like the, the algorithm of the Moby.

A (83:04)

Yep.

B (83:04)

So, but you know that there's the Twist pump and that's kind of appealing to me too. And the, ever since is supposed to be able to link up to the twist pump eventually. So that's an option. But the another thing is like I love how the Dexcom has direct to Apple watch. So you know, like I just got an Apple watch like a couple months ago and that's super nice because like, you know, you just gotta look at your wrist and you can see your blood sugar and I can look at the graph and that's the major thing with me is like I can see the trend of where my blood sugar is going. And you know, your pump, it, it will like suspend your insulin or whatever. Like it can, it can make the guesses or whatnot. But I know, I know what I'm going to be doing in the future. Like I know if I'm going on a walk or I'm going to do an operation at work and my blood sugar will probably go low because I'm going to be active or stuff like that. So I know that like, oh, it looks like it's kind of trending down a little bit. I should probably, you know, do a temp basil of like 50 or 20% or whatever it is. So it's really nice to be able to like just glance at my watch, see, see how, how my blood sugar is. And I don't know, I don't know if there's. I know you can have watch settings on other devices, but I don't know if it's like as real time. Like I know the G7, it's real time, but I. Either way, like, I would love to have the. Ever since because it's just like I'm not gonna have the issues of, of you know, the sweat and the stuff that's Gonna make it about CGMs.

A (84:56)

You don't like. Yeah, yeah.

B (84:57)

And on top of that, like, I get a lot of, like, the pressure lows and stuff like that, like compression. But I mean, all that. Yeah, all that stuff is just like. I deal with it and I'm fine with it. Yeah. But I would. Yeah.

A (85:15)

Connor, listen to this. This is a press release from September 2025. I'm just gonna, like, jump around it for half a second here. CGM commercial operations to transition from Essenzia Diabetes Care to Senseonics. Brian Hansen to be appointed Chief Commercial Officer. Looks like they pulled some money together, but here's the gist of it. Since 2020, Essenzia has held the exclusive worldwide distribution rights for Eversense products, including Eversense 365. Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Senseonics would assume responsibility for all global sales, marketing and commercial in the US beginning January 1, 2026. Blah, blah, blah. Here's the part you might like. Brian Hansen, president of CGM at Ascenzia since February 24, who is formerly the Chief Commercial Officer at Tandem, will join Senseonics as the Chief Commercial Officer in January. So it sounds like somebody is going to be working at Senseonics. They're take. They're taking back over control of Ever since. These are pretty broad terms, but this guy's got a connection to Tandem, so maybe that'll help you.

B (86:23)

Well, I hope he had a good relationship and left in good terms.

A (86:27)

I guess I hadn't thought about that, but yeah. And I will probably have the opportunity to ask them about it in the coming months.

B (86:34)

Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. Because I would love to. I mean, it would be so nice just to have something that, like, I didn't have to worry about bumping into things. And if I do, you just, you know, slap it right back on and you don't have to worry about the accuracy or whatnot.

A (86:51)

Hey, the next line of this, by the way, says, as awareness of Ever since continues to grow with the momentum of the Eversense365, I'd just like to say to that, you're welcome. I mean, that's good news. Yeah, I feel like I've had a little bit to do with the. The understanding of Ever since being. How did they put it here? Growing.

B (87:11)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'd never. I'd never really heard of. I mean, I hadn't heard of Ever since until I started listening to the podcast and, you know, doing my research and stuff and, man. Yeah, like, I've learned a lot about it and it's, it's really interesting to me. I just, you know, it's kind of hard to, to. I guess if ever since was like, oh, yeah, you, you want to just try it? And I, I would wear two CGMs just because you could shock. But like, I'm not going to go.

A (87:43)

Out and Connor, the thing I really heard is that ever since you buy more ads in 2026. Is that what you're saying? Really?

B (87:49)

Yes, absolutely.

A (87:50)

Okay.

B (87:50)

Hey, it should because, like, yeah, I don't know, you know, get more people aware of it and that's why you know about it.

A (87:57)

Right?

B (87:58)

Yeah. Right on.

A (88:00)

Yeah.

B (88:01)

Yeah. And hopefully they get it to link.

A (88:03)

Up to them Tandem and all the other stuff. Hey, I like this. I like, I like how our conversation has gone. A couple of quick questions at the end here.

B (88:12)

Yep.

A (88:12)

They're not to do with diabetes, so I'm just interested. Have to draw your gun at work. This is episode 1749. If you want to hear Connor's answer to that question and a few other stories about being a police officer, they're in episode 750. It's available right now in your podcast player. Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? Give the Eversense 365 a try. Eversensecgm.com Juicebox beautiful silicone that they use. It changes every day, keeps it fresh. Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. So I mean, that's better. The podcast you just enjoyed was sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. Learn more about Tandem's newest automated insulin delivery system, Tandem Moby with control IQ/technology@tandomdiabetes.com Juicebox There are links in the show notes and links@juiceboxpodcast.com. My Diabetes Pro Tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward, practical insights that truly make a difference. This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin dosing adjustments or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. I'm joined by J. Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over 35 years of personal experience. And we break down complex concepts into simple, actionable tips. The Diabetes Pro Tip series runs between episode 1000 and 1025 in your podcast player, where you can listen to it@juiceboxpodcast.com by going up into the menu. Okay, well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me. Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show? Or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app. Go to YouTube and follow me. Or Instagram TikTok. Oh gosh, here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't want to Miss, please. Do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active, talking about diabetes, whatever you need to know. There's a conversation happening in there right now, and I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi.