#1916 Chilly Reception

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1916: Chilly Reception
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Christina (Type 1 diabetic, mother of a Type 1 teenager)
Date: July 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this deeply candid and raw conversation, Scott Benner hosts Christina, a 15-year Type 1 diabetic and mother of a newly diagnosed teenage son, William. Christina shares the gripping story of her son’s diagnosis on a ski trip in Chile, the harrowing journey through medical chaos, mental health struggles, substance abuse, and recovery, while reflecting on parenting, diabetes management, and the complexities of supporting adolescents through trauma and addiction. The episode offers not only practical lessons for families confronting multiple diagnoses and crises, but also underscores the profound importance of mental health support alongside diabetes care.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Christina’s Background & Family Dynamics (02:20–06:58)

• Diagnosed with Type 1 at 36, and also had gestational diabetes with her first child.
• Family has a history of autoimmunity (celiac, vitiligo, colitis).
• — [05:33]: “I just never knew there was the connection [between celiac and Type 1]. No one ever told me.” – Christina
• Follows a gluten-free, mostly unprocessed diet due to celiac.

Christina’s Diagnosis Journey & Diabetes Management (06:58–11:32)

• Initially managed on injections, was reluctant to use a pump due to not wanting attachment.
• Adoption of CGM after meeting another Type 1; later, travel/work demands led her to use an insulin pump (Tandem, eventually Mobi).
• Describes pros and cons of pump vs. MDI and how sometimes she still contemplates going back.
• — [09:34]: “I think I get tired of having something attached to me… but now it’s sort of just a way of life.” – Christina
• Anecdote about forgetting her pump at home and the realities/lapses of diabetes management.
• — [10:17]: “I left my pump on the charger. Until I was, like, looking at my numbers. I’m like, what’s going on?” – Christina

William’s Diagnosis: The “Chilly Reception” (13:26–24:42)

The Setting

• William, 15, on a competitive ski trip to Chile at high altitude, presents with persistent illness.
• Christina suspects altitude sickness but grows concerned as symptoms worsen (vomiting, lack of energy).
• Ultimately, local doctors discover an “air pocket” near his esophagus and evacuate him to a Santiago hospital.
• Critical moment: Diagnosed with DKA and Type 1 diabetes in a foreign ICU, all in Spanish.
• — [21:34]: “He’s in DKA.” – Christina’s pediatrician
• Christina can’t immediately reach her son; must fly out the next day.

Navigating Global Healthcare

• Describes the “total loss of control”: language barrier, lack of familiarity, unknown hospital protocols.
• Leverages friends, pediatrician, global rescue resources, and community to understand care and provide supplies.
• — [24:00]: “It was really hard because...Control was not—I did not have control. He was really freaked out. He was still very, very sick...” – Christina
• Bringing extra supplies—if not for her knowledge, the situation could have been “absolutely terrifying and debilitating.”

Mothering Through Crisis: Guilt, Hindsight, and the Double Diagnosis (25:44–37:00)

• Christina’s regrets about missing the signs, feeling she should have seen them sooner.
• William deeply resents being diagnosed, expressing feelings of “why me?” especially seeing his mother’s apparently easy management.
• — [28:21]: “You make it look too easy. And you never told me it was this hard.” – William (as paraphrased by Christina)
• Additional complications: anti-trafficking laws in Chile delayed their departure, requiring husband’s notarized permission to leave.
• Rapid hospital discharge protocols forced Christina to step in with U.S. supplies and knowledge.
• Reflections on making diabetes management look “invisible” and how that shaped William’s expectations—and resentment.

Returning Home: New Realities and the Descent (37:00–54:27)

Transition to Independence

• William put on Omnipod and CGM by choice (not wanting to mirror his mother’s gear).
• Returns to boarding school, encouraged by school staff with Type 1 experience and supportive infrastructure.
• Technology aids (remote monitoring, Amazon Alexa for overnight checks) become critical for safety.

The Unseen Battle: Mental Health & Substance Use

• Early management marred by overnight lows, resistance to supervision, and stigma—“he didn’t want anyone to see.”
• William begins self-medicating with alcohol and weed, progressing to psychedelics as depression deepens.
• Drug use discovered by school; several escalations lead to his removal and multiple therapy programs.
• — [41:25]: “...four months in...he was self-medicating with alcohol and THC and really was not okay with his sort of mental health… We really didn’t support the mental, mental health side...” – Christina
• Systemic barriers: Most residential treatment programs refuse to accept new Type 1 diabetics due to risk, exacerbating family crisis.

The Role of ADHD and Family History

• ADHD and learning disabilities (dyslexia, anxiety) identified as significant risk factors for adolescent substance abuse.
• Both maternal and paternal family lines have histories of ADHD and addiction; “the perfect storm.”

Recovery, Resilience, and Reflections (54:27–76:32)

Finding the Right Fit

• Eventually find a therapeutic ranch in Arizona that specializes in both addiction and Type 1 care.
• William spends 10 months there, transitioning to group living and managing his diabetes more independently.
• Education system mandates force the family to sue for reimbursement; costs are staggering (“not $20,000/month, but close”).

Practical Management & Acceptance

• Notable diabetes management strategies: technological aids, supportive school/team culture, and proactive parental communication.
• William’s care now includes WeGovy (GLP1 agonist), which improves glycemic control and coincides with better mood and less insulin—though Christina’s unsure which factor helps most.
• — [64:27]: “It also helps with addiction. It’s got a lot of good things. And he lost all of the weight, so he’s feeling pretty good about that. So his numbers are great.” – Christina

Emotional Reckoning

• William blames mom for passing down diabetes; Christina copes with guilt and frustration.
• Both parents work as a team; sending William away is heart-wrenching, but ultimately critical for his survival and recovery.
• Family becomes more open—sharing the story to help others.
• Quote: — [62:48]: “But it’s not over. It is like a journey that he is going to be on for a long time...but he does. It’s not what he leads with anymore. He doesn’t have resentment with it...” – Christina

Lessons and Broader Takeaways

• The mental health crisis of Type 1, especially in teens with compounding challenges, is acute and under-resourced.
• Parental control quickly dissipates in adolescence—“my desire for good management isn’t necessarily his.”
• Early mental health support should be prioritized, not just for the newly diagnosed child but the whole family.
• — [77:37]: “The mental health part of Type 1 diabetes is not to be ignored, even if it’s minor therapy...” – Scott
• Christina’s resilience, organizational skills, and “fixer” mentality are her armor—but she acknowledges luck of temperament.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On diagnosis surprise:
  [03:37] “Just a little high… And I was in full DKA, had been going on for a while.” – Christina

• On language barriers in crisis:
  [24:00] “Control was not—I did not have control. He was really freaked out…trauma of being in a hospital where no one spoke English and going through all of this so far away from home.” – Christina

• On emotional barriers and parental guilt:
  [28:21] “You make it look too easy. And you never told me it was this hard.” – William

• On addiction and co-occurring conditions:
  [51:33] “ADHD is a predominant trait for kids that struggle with substance abuse. It’s almost 100%.” – Christina

• Reflections on parental limits:
  [70:40] “My desire for it isn’t necessarily her desire for it, and that there’s really nothing you can do about that.” – Scott

• On the importance of mental healthcare:
  [77:38] “I wish we had just gotten in front of that mental health stuff earlier. Not to say we wouldn’t end up where we are. I just think it would have maybe shortened our journey a bit.” – Christina

• On luck and temperament:
  [78:27] “Maybe it’s because I make diabetes look really easy. I’ve never been super depressed about it. It just sort of is what it is, and it’s just who I am…” – Christina

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Useful Timestamps

• 02:20: Christina introduces herself—Type 1 and mother to a Type 1 teen.
• 13:26: Timeline of William’s diagnosis and Chile trip explained.
• 21:34: Discovery of DKA and communications with U.S. pediatrician.
• 37:00: William’s “resentment” and initial return to boarding school.
• 41:25: Substance abuse begins and complications at school.
• 54:27: Search for mental health and residential treatment; program acceptance challenges.
• 62:48: Reflections on the ongoing journey and family acceptance.
• 76:53: Christina’s advice and closing thoughts.
• 78:27: Scott and Christina discuss mindset and resilience.

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Final Insights

• Mental health is inseparable from diabetes care, especially for teens, and must be proactively addressed.
• Parenting a teen with diabetes means navigating between support, control, and letting go—sometimes in the face of acute crisis.
• Openness with their story is healing for this family and could be for others, especially regarding the “perfect storm” of autoimmunity, substance risk, and adolescent trauma.
• Technology and community are invaluable—in monitoring, education, and emergency response.
• Christina’s story is a testament to perseverance, resourcefulness, and the unpredictable peaks and valleys of life with Type 1 diabetes.

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For anyone confronting similar overlapping storms—diabetes, addiction, adolescence, and mental health—this episode is bracing, honest, and ultimately hopeful.

Transcript

[Scott]

Foreign. Hello friends, and welcome back to the Juice Box podcast.

[Christina]

So, introduction, how do you. How do you should I. I guess I haven't thought about that. So I should just introduce myself as a type 1 diabetic and a mother of a type 1 diabetic. Is that how it goes? Or where I'm from or.

[Scott]

On today's episode of the podcast, there will be nothing that you should take as advice, medical or otherwise. So please, please consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin.

[Christina]

Foreign

[Scott]

I've got two OG sponsors for you today, Omnipod5 and Dexcom. That's right, the episode that you're about to enjoy was brought to you today by Dexcom and the Dexcom G7, the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today with my link dexcom.com juicebox and this little slice of podcasting perfection is also brought to you today by the Omnipod 5. The Omnipod 5 is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that has been shown to significantly improve A1C and time and range for people with type 1 diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. You can learn more and get started today at my link omnipod.com juicebox@ that link you can get yourself a free starter kit right now. What did I just say? Free. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found omnipod.com juicebox you'll find those links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now and@juicebox podcast.com it's it sounds reasonable. One person last week just went, hey, my name is Bill. And I went, hey, Bill. And that was it. And then he just. So I would say, open your mouth, start talking and then wherever you end up, we'll be okay.

[Christina]

Got it.

[Scott]

You're ready? I'm ready when you're ready. So go ahead. Next words we hear, I'm ready. Okay. Next thing we hear is you saying, hi.

[Christina]

Hi. My name is Christina. I am a type 1 diabetic and I am also the mother of a type 1 diabetic and a resident of New York City. Okay.

[Scott]

Do you have other children other than that other type one?

[Christina]

I do. I have an older son who is 18 and my type one is 16. Almost 17.

[Scott]

Okay. How old were you when you were diagnosed?

[Christina]

I was 36.

[Scott]

How old are you now?

[Christina]

I am turning 51 tomorrow.

[Scott]

Oh, happy birthday.

[Christina]

Why thank you.

[Scott]

That's lovely.

[Christina]

So, yeah, so I got through having my two children before I was diagnosed. But I did have gestational diabetes with my first child, Sebastian, who is my 18 year old. And I did not have it with my second child that was 18 months behind him.

[Scott]

Okay. Oh, 18 months.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. Very nice. You were diagnosed when you were 36. So what was that like? I imagine that's an age where you kind of don't imagine that's going to happen, right?

[Christina]

No.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

So it's sort of an interesting story. I knew something was wrong with me, but I thought I just was tired because I had two kids under the age of three, so I just thought that I was really tired. And. What? Nothing was right. And dragging. Dragging. I had bronchitis. I couldn't shake it. And I had a friend who was an ER doctor. Mom. And. And I kept on going, what do you think's wrong with me? Because why would I go to the doctor? I thought she could just diagnose me. And she was like, I think you should go get some blood work. I think you should just go get some blood work. So I did. And funnily enough, I got my blood work back. When I was in the car with her, I was driving her to the grocery store because she was on bed rest with her third child. And they're like, oh, we got your blood work back. Your blood sugar is a little high, so we want you to get some more blood work. And she whispers to me, she goes, ask them what the number is. And they said, oh, you're at. You're 7:48.

[Scott]

Just a little high.

[Christina]

Just a little high. And she goes, ask them to have it. Have your blood work sent to you and pull over. And so she had.

[Scott]

Because I don't want you driving me and my unborn child.

[Christina]

Exactly. She goes, I'm going to drive you. And we're going to go to the. We're going to go to my ER right now. And she drove me to the ER and she admitted me into the icu.

[Scott]

Wow. Just a little high.

[Christina]

And I was in.

[Scott]

That's fine.

[Christina]

Full DK had been going on for a while.

[Scott]

We might want to just get you a little more blood work to really nail this down.

[Christina]

So I was like, I don't think I need to go to the hospital. She's like, you do, and you're gonna go. So, you know. Right. She was in the right place at the right time, and I was doing the right thing at the right time. Taking her to. Taking her to the grocery. I'm like, but what about your Groceries. And she goes, it'll be fine.

[Scott]

You got good karma. Came right back at you for helping her.

[Christina]

And it did. It did.

[Scott]

How long. How long were you in the hospital?

[Christina]

I was only in the hospital for a couple days because I had had gestational diabetes. I sort of knew the drill on how to, like, manage my diet a little bit. I also, I have celiac, so I'd had celiac for 10 years. So I kept on saying, well, I don't have any. Nobody in my life has diabetes. I don't understand why I have it. And they said, well. I said, well, I just have celiac. And they said, oh, well, there you go. Which I never knew there was the connection.

[Scott]

Other autoimmune in your family line or celiac?

[Christina]

Yes.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

So since my mom has celiac, my mom has villago, and my sister has celiac, and she has colitis.

[Scott]

Are you guys Irish?

[Christina]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

Sorry. Yeah. It's just easier if I general.

[Christina]

I didn't, you know, I've had. I've had celiac since, you know, for 25 years. It's been a really long time. So I. I just never. I never knew the connection. No one ever told me, what do

[Scott]

you do for your celiac? Or like, has that changed since you've had diabetes or do you just kind of maintain the same process?

[Christina]

I sort of maintain the same thing. I will say. It's like, you know, a lot of people, like, the sort of awareness around gluten is a good thing, so there's a lot more availability. But at the same time, you know, now you have to sort of be clear that it's an allergy, not a preference. But when I was first diagnosed, I'd be like, in a restaurant, does it have this? I'm like, do you know what gluten is? It's anything that you'd have to sort of explain. And now it's like you go into a restaurant and there's gluten free stuff on the menu, and so it is a lot easier. I eat sort of a. I shop from the outside of the grocery store, so I eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, protein.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Not a ton of carbs, not a ton of processed food.

[Scott]

Interesting. You have to declare that it's a allergy, not a preference. Is that what happened when. When the whole world decided they were.

[Christina]

They had like, well, Oprah. Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow thinks it's great to be gluten free. I'm like, yes, but they're not allergic, so that's a difference?

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah. So you can't mess up. It's a different situation. That's interesting. Interesting wording. Okay, so how do you begin to. I mean, what are we looking at here? 36, 46, 15 years ago? What, what kind of gear did they give you on the way out the door? How has your management changed over the years?

[Christina]

I started on mdi. It was very like, I don't want anything attached to my body. And they could say, oh, you get a pump, you get a pump. And I was like, I don't want one. So I was pretty resistant on that. And then I ended up meeting with, with a work friend who was celiac and type one, and she'd been type one since she was two. And she kind of introduced me to the world of a CGM because dexcom had sort of just kind of come out not that long ago. So I went on, I think it was a three. It was big and I had the little like adapter that I would. It was pink that I would carry around. So I started off with that and that worked, that worked really well. And then I started traveling a ton for work. I was going back and forth between London and San Francisco and just dealing with the time change and the, the long acting insulin. It was, it was really hard. So I went on the first tandem and I've been on a tandem ever

[Scott]

since, unless I get a pump. How long did it take you to go from no pump to pump?

[Christina]

About two years.

[Scott]

Okay. Do you think that that journey was valuable for you or do you think that if somebody would have strong armed you into a pump sooner, you would have been happier?

[Christina]

I think my honeymoon phase lasted a long time, so I wasn't, I wasn't using a ton of insulin. I didn't eat a lot of carbs. I was very active. So I, I managed. My A1. C was really low. I managed it really well. It was when I started traveling that everything kind of went upside down and I just struggled. I'd go to London one week and then I was in San Francisco the next week. And just the time change, my sugars were all over the. So they were like, well, when you have a pump you change the time and it just sort of, it just a lot easier. So I embraced it. You know, I still sometimes wonder if I go ever go back to mdi, but I've been on the pump now it's so easy. I don't know if I could ever go back.

[Scott]

Are you on like you're using control iq?

[Christina]

I am Using control iq. And I'm on the. And I love the mobi. I've switched over to that about a year and a half ago, like, when it first came out. Um, and that's been sort of game changer for me because it's just so small.

[Scott]

Describe to me what would have to. Like, what would have to be the. The. The win for you to go back to mdi.

[Christina]

I think I just sometimes get. I like everyone. I think I get tired of having something attached to me.

[Scott]

So that's still an issue for you. So you knew yourself pretty well when you said, I don't want to get a pump, I don't want something attached to me.

[Christina]

Yeah, it's like I'm pretty active, and I think it just felt like, you know, it's the. You know, the moments I have where, like, it catches. It catches on the doorknob or it's. I run out of power. It's just kind of thinking about it. I would love to not have that. Have that. But now it's sort of just a way of life. And, you know, every now and then, like, I went to a meeting the other day, and I realized I left my pump on the charger. So that was a little bit of a. That was a little bit of a whoopsie. But, you know, it happens.

[Scott]

You left the house and the pump was at home?

[Christina]

Oh, yeah. Still on the charger. Until I was, like, looking at my numbers. I'm like, what's going on? Why am I going up?

[Scott]

How did you manage that? Did you go home? Do you have somebody bring it to you?

[Christina]

I tried to get someone to bring it to me, but ultimately I just went home. I had.

[Scott]

I met somebody recently who had a similar situation, and they just didn't do anything about it. And they had had diabetes a really long time. And I was like, what do you mean? Well, I got to work and, you know, I ran out of insulin. Was kind of a similar situation in their pump. And I said, so you went right home and got more. I said, no, I just kept working. And then, you know, six hours later, their blood sugar was 400, and they're like, I can't get this to come down. I'm like, really fast. Fast.

[Christina]

No, I went home immediately, and a friend of mine was like, why don't you just go to the pharmacy? You know, she's a nurse. She's like, I'll call you. And she's like, I'll call you in a script. I'm like, no, I'm just going to run home on the subway. It's fine.

[Scott]

She. She wanted you to, like, inject some insulin to get you through the day?

[Christina]

Yes. She was like, are you sure you want to wait? I'm like, I'm fine, I'm fine.

[Scott]

I'll write you a script. Is that. It was a doctor, this friend?

[Christina]

Yes.

[Scott]

Yeah. So listen, I know you think you've oversimplified this, but it's at my house. I just gotta go get it.

[Christina]

Yeah. And I had just taken out my backup pen because I'd been traveling. I just took my backup pen out of my backpack that morning. It was just. So usually I. Usually I do carry a backup backup supplies.

[Scott]

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[Christina]

I'm in Brooklyn, so gotcha.

[Scott]

All right, so how long after your diagnosis is your youngest diagnosed?

[Christina]

So he was 2, just turning 2 when I was diagnosed, and he was diagnosed at 15.

[Scott]

Oh, okay.

[Christina]

So 13 years. Yeah. So he had kind of grown up with me, you know, he didn't know anything else besides me having diabetes and this.

[Scott]

So this is a more recent diagnosis for him.

[Christina]

So he was diagnosed in August of 2024.

[Scott]

2024. Okay. Describe what that was like. Like, you're. You're a person with type 1 diabetes. I want to know. Like, did you spend every day that your children were alive looking at them, thinking they were going to get it one day, or did it kind of.

[Christina]

I did think about. I did think about it, and I was actually more worried about the celiac, to be honest with you, because I love, like, I just, like, the restrictive of food I thought was harder. And they never showed any signs. And I. You know, when they were younger, I think I was a little bit more paranoid. And, like, definitely fully have tested their blood one or two times, both of them, when I thought something was up, and they were always fine. And then when they got older, instead of teenagers, I guess I sort of just let it go and didn't think about it that much, which I have thought about a lot, because I feel like leading up to William's diagnosis, I should have seen the signs, but I just didn't see them.

[Scott]

Christina, let me stop you for a second, because I know you're wearing AirPods. Is there any chance you have long hair that is sometimes covering your AirPods and sometimes not covering them?

[Christina]

Yes, it is. Let me pull my hair back.

[Scott]

Thank you.

[Christina]

So, yeah, so I think that. That part. That part was hard. That I feel like I should have known the signs. I didn't see the signs, and I continue to sort of think, like, I would have avoided a lot of headache.

[Scott]

Well, what kind of headache came.

[Christina]

So. So William was diagnosed with. I'm trying to find this hair tie, so. Hold on.

[Scott]

It's okay.

[Christina]

William was diagnosed while he was traveling with his ski team in Chile. Oh, yeah.

[Scott]

Christina, I didn't know we were talking to a proper fancy white lady. You're going to.

[Christina]

Oh, yes, yes, yes. So he was. You know, Scott, I'm gonna put you on hold for one second. I'm gonna go about this hair time, because otherwise, this is going to be. You're fine.

[Scott]

We'll put an ad right here. Don't worry about it. Rob, you want me to look? I could just, like, I don't even know if I know the Ads anymore. I'm trying. Oh, well, I can do us. Oh, sorry. I was trying to remember, you know, I used to read Christina. I used to read the ads into every episode. Like, I would. I would freestyle the ads into every episode. So, like, because I used to do the editing myself. So, like, I'd record the conversation with somebody and then later I'd yank out that. That recording and I'd kind of splice it up. And then I'd get to this spot and I. I'd. I'd freestyle like an ad. I could be like, you know, today I'm going to talk about U.S. med. And I would start doing that. And then one day, one day I was like, oh, my God, this is going to kill me. And people with real jobs are like, oh, yeah, sure, that'll probably kill you, saying US Med ads. But I recorded a number of different versions, got them, you know, like, the companies were like, these are good. And then we just rotate them. And I have an editor now and the editor drops them in. And so just now, like, when you walked away for a second, I was like, I can freestyle. And I was like, oh, no, I can't. I couldn't. I used to be able to do them in my sleep. And I just sat here thinking, like, Omnipod. And then, anyway, no worries.

[Christina]

I'm back and my hair is out of the way.

[Scott]

Awesome. Thank you. Okay, so back to William.

[Christina]

Okay, so William. So William was William, you know, he was. It was between his freshman and sophomore year of high school. He had been at boarding school for the year before, so he was home for the summer. He was playing tennis, working as like, you know, supporting tennis, you know, outside every day, really active. He's a total athlete. He's very competitive. Ski racer. He skis on the New York State ski team. And his team was going down to Chile to train for two weeks because it's winter and summertime, so he was scheduled to go down with 15 other kids. It's a 12 hour flight. There was three coaches that went with them, so I dropped them off at the airport. He went off on his way with, you know, three stiffs of skis, all sorts of stuff. He's there for the first day and there's very, very high altitude. So they get there in Santiago, they drive like three hours from there up to Valley Nevada, which is at the base, I think about 10,000ft. He has the first day, he's skiing. He's like, mom, it's amazing. The snow's awesome. I'm having such A great time. The next day, he wakes up, he calls me and says, you know, I don't know, I feel a little sick. I feel like I got a cold. You know, it's like, well, it could be altitude, Drink lots of flu, you know, get out there, go skiing. He's like, okay. And it just. For a couple days, it just progressed. Like, I really don't feel very good. Then he's like, I'm vomiting. I can't stop vomiting. I'm not going to ski today. I said, okay, we'll hang out in the room. I go, why don't you go get a Coke or something? Like, get yourself some caffeine and just some sugar in your body. It will help give you a little energy. So he's doing that. He's trying to drink Gatorade. And then finally, then I start texting with the coach. And I was like, this isn't like him to be this sick. But there had been other kids that were sick. Other kids were struggling with altitude sickness. Other kids were just not feeling great. And so he skied. This was on a Saturday. He skied, scattered. He ski Sunday. Monday, he didn't ski. Tuesday morning, he's like, I'm gonna go out for a little bit, but I don't know how long I can do it. And then finally on Wednesday, I said to the coach, I think he needs to go to the clinic and be checked out, because he's just really not at his full energy, right? And so the coach is like, okay, at lunchtime, I'll bring him to the clinic and see how he's doing. So they bring him to the clinic. He's in his ski clothes, and they have a clinic at the top of the mountain because they were staying at 10,000ft, and then they would go up to, like, 24, like, 17 to 24,000ft to actually ski. And so they bring him to the clinic, and, you know, there's people on oxygen there because a lot of people struggle with the altitude sickness. And they do a chest X ray of him, and they discover that he has an air pocket outside of his esophagus. So which is, like, apparently very dangerous. And they say he needs to be evacuated immediately. He needs to get down to sea level. So they put him in an ambulance. There's two ambulances. There's the mountain ambulance and then the city ambulance. So he goes down these switchbacks to get down to the mountain and gets down into Santiago, and where they take him to the hospital, and the coach is going with him, and so we kind of get, you know, we get a text message. Hey, they want him to, they're, they're worried about this, this air pocket. They want him to get down, but they think it will correct itself once he gets to sea level. But he needs to go now. So we're like, okay, seems a little scary. We'll wait, we'll stand by and see what's going on. So then they get him down to the hospital. And meanwhile, I have texted my pediatrician who I have a good relationship with, and I was like, is this like a big deal? Should I be like, starting to make plans to go there or, you know, should he just come home? And she said, give me the ski coach's number. My daughter's home from college with her friend from Spain. Are you okay if I call and have her help me translate to speak to the doctor? I'm like, okay, sure. Yeah.

[Scott]

Thank you.

[Christina]

Sure.

[Scott]

Awesome. Come clean my house. You're fantastic.

[Christina]

And I know, and I've known her forever. She's been the kids pediatrician since, since they were born. And she kind of went through my whole diagnosis with me. And so when I was diagnosed with type one. So she. So she said, then she gets through to them, she calls me back and she said, the air pocket's not what we need to worry about, Christina. She goes, he's in dka.

[Scott]

Oh, gosh, did your heart sink?

[Christina]

My heart sank. And my husband was like, out at the pharmacy for me because my pump had failed that morning. So we just like, everything was going wrong. And I was like, I don't even know what to do with this information. And I said, so I called the ski coach, I said, have they told him? And he says, well, everything's in Spanish. But he kept on hearing the words diabetic, diabetic. And so he is aware of what's going on. Because they came after the coach to say, you never told us he was diabetic. He goes, well, he's not. And they said, oh, yes, he is. So that like the whole world kind of stopped in that moment. And originally my husband was going to go down and pick him up. And then we changed roles on that one. And so I got myself together and this was now like five, six o' clock at night on a Wednesday. So there's only one flight that flies to Santiago a day out of JFK and it leaves 10 o'. Clock. So I couldn't get on that flight. So I had to go on the next day flight. So I had to wait two days to get there and then you fly all night long and you get there at like 6 o' clock in the morning. It's a 12 hour flight. So I scrambled around, I got all the supplies I could think of. I brought dexcoms, I brought pens, I brought vials, I brought everything because I didn't know what I was walking into. And I flew down there and I got down there two days later. He was still in the icu. And we were there for a week. And there was one endocrinologist for the entire hospital. She had spent a little bit of time in the US So she spoke a little bit of English, but otherwise our care was entirely in Spanish. And I do not speak Spanish. So it was Google Translate to kind of understand. The doctors would come in, I said, well, you did an endoscopy, what did you see? And they would just sort of smile at me.

[Scott]

We don't speak English and you don't speak Spanish.

[Christina]

So I would conference in friends that were. I had, you know, I have friends from Spain, so I conference them in and have them help me. I did have, through my credit card, I did have sort of Global Rescue. And what they would do is they would provide, they provided a physician that spoke both languages. And he would get on the phone with me and he would read the reports and translate them to me.

[Scott]

Okay, my gosh.

[Christina]

And so then I'm sort of inserting myself and kind of managing him because I can't understand what, like the nurses would come in and they would feed him and I said, well, how many units are you giving him? And they would just sort of smile and I would be like, over their shoulders. So it was really hard because it was total control. Was not. I did not have control. He was really freaked out. He was still very, very sick because he still had this air pocket that all of a sudden became not as big of an issue, but still an issue. It's still an issue. And so the trauma of being in a hospital where no one spoke English and going through all of this so far away from home.

[Scott]

Yeah, I mean, you know, he's in that hospital for two days, just him and the coach, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Christina]

Who didn't speak. Who didn't speak. Who didn't speak Spanish either. But it turns out his girlfriend is a pediatric ICU nurse, so she was helping him on the other end.

[Scott]

Wow. But. But has no. He has no feeling for diabetes either. Well, not at all. I. I realized that in the moment when everything's going, by the way, when you said everything was Going wrong. I thought that's the name of every one of our biographies. Everyone listening. We could all, like, if we needed a biography title, we could just go with Everything is going wrong. So. But, but does he. Oh, what's happening? Hold on. I hear a loud noise. Do you hear the loud noise?

[Christina]

No, I don't hear loud.

[Scott]

Well, then I shouldn't have brought it up. Sorry, I, I just think it, like, those two days must have been crazy for your son. Like, really insane. Like, because you're also like flying. It's not like he could call you or talk to you or anything like that, right?

[Christina]

No. And I got on the flight to fly down there. There was no wi fi on the flight. It was a 12 hour flight. And I just was like, okay, they make you insane.

[Scott]

Like, seriously, were you like out of your mind or did you handle it well?

[Christina]

I was very like, mission focused. I was like, I just need to get there. That was sort of my, you know, once I get there, I can address the issue. I was, I guess, trusting. I said, okay, he's in a hospital. I did the research on the hospital. You know, it very good health care there. It was not like, it was not some like, country, like, it was a city hospital, super modern. They just were short staffed and there was not a lot of English.

[Scott]

And you're a level headed person, it sounds like. So you weren't busy? You're not anxious, right?

[Christina]

No, not particularly.

[Scott]

Yeah, I was gonna say, were you, because you didn't, you didn't spend any time worrying about things that were out of your control.

[Christina]

No, I, I, you know, we got, once I, once I was there, I was much better. I was definitely a little bit comatose getting there. But once I was there, I was feeling much better just being in the same room as him. You know, I had some confidence from, you know, it's amazing. Your network can get really big and really small very quickly. And you know, I had friends that were like, hey, here's, here's a friend of ours that lives in Santiago. They have had, they have connections to the hospital. Get on the phone with them and talk to them, you know, so I did talk to a lot of people that reassured me he was getting really good care. And so I just had to put a little bit of trust in it.

[Scott]

Okay, let's pivot here to his experience. So once he's feeling better, I mean, is the first conversation about, wow, I'm sorry, you have diabetes? Like, do you get to that or how, how does the, that more interpersonal Part play out.

[Christina]

He was very upset. He had a lot of why me? Why does this happen to me? Why not? Why not my brother? Why does this have to happen?

[Scott]

He's such a jerk. Why couldn't it have been him?

[Christina]

So pretty much pret, he's like, why does Seb never have anything wrong with him? He had had like during COVID he had a ruptured appendix which was really. And he got stuck in the hospital for two weeks with that. So he had a little bit of hospital trauma going into this and he just, you know, this was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime and it just went really wrong really quickly. And I don't think he really wrapped his head around what it means to be a type 1. I think what has come out since then is he told me that I make it look too easy. And you never told me it was this hard.

[Scott]

Oh yeah, it's your fault. Yeah, yeah. So welcome to being a parent there, huh?

[Christina]

I was like, I'm sorry. I just tried to never burden you with what was going on with me. And he just was, he was really resentful for that. You know. Chile presented some other challenges because he was supposed to travel in and out with his ski team. All his paperwork was attached to his ski team. So when I went to go leave with him, because I didn't have documentation from my husband saying I could travel with him, they wouldn't leave, let us leave the country.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Christina]

So we got stuck there. Yeah, they have an anti trafficking laws there that are very strict, which I think is good. But because I didn't have an original document notarized with an apostille on it from my husband, they wouldn't let us leave. So he had to get that processed up in New York. And then D.H. dahl did down to us. So we got stuck waiting there for three days for the paperwork to arrive so we could actually get on an airplane.

[Scott]

Sounds like a tourism scam to me. They're just trying to make more hotel money off of you.

[Christina]

I don't know. So we had some time. So fortunately while we were there, I was able to get in touch with an endocrinologist in New York at NYU Hospital. And she was fantastic and really helped us sort of prepare. And you know, he got on the phone with a diabetes educator. He really sort of. We. We had a game plan in place and so when we arrived back into to New York, we literally landed, went home, showered and went to the endocrinologist. So that was. That would. Gave us some time to Plan?

[Scott]

Does he go right on a pump and a CGM and all that stuff?

[Christina]

Yes. So the next big question. So we get him home from Chile. So that was like 10 days. We finally get back, and he goes to boarding school. And it's middle of August, and he is scheduled to go back to boarding school in September. And I'm like, I don't know. I got on the phone with the school, and one of the nurses, her son just graduated from the school that he was at and has been a type one since he was 12 months old. And I was like, am I crazy to even consider this? And she said, no, we've got this. We can really support him. It's a super small school. It's a school for kids with ADHD and dyslexia. So really supportive and, like, we can do this. We know school's important to him. We want to make this work. So they were all. All in and talking to us while we were in Chile and kind of giving us the sort of votes of support there. So we got back. They. We gave him the choice with the endocrinologist. What kind of pop do you want to go on? He said he didn't want to be on my pump, so he chose the Omnipod because he didn't want a tube.

[Scott]

Why did he not want to be on your public?

[Christina]

I don't know. He didn't want a tube.

[Scott]

By the way, if I was one of those cheesy podcasts, I would do a voiceover at the beginning of this one. It would go like this. It'd be like, Christina had diabetes for 15 years. When her son suddenly was afflicted on a ski trip in abroad, he. He eventually blamed her for making diabetes look too easy. It could be said that she received a chilly reception and. And that I. If only I was douchey, I would definitely do that. But anyway, this is for Rob. Let's call this one Chili Reception and then. And move on. Go ahead. Jesus. I love that he's like, not her pump. Not her.

[Christina]

No, he was. I think he wanted. You know, I think he was. You know, he's 15, and he was wanting to assert his own control. And he's like, you know, when he was in Chile, I couldn't get the Dexcom to work, so I had to go buy. I bought a Libra 3, because you can just go buy one. So I went and bought them. So he was on that while we were in Chile. You know, they don't send you when you leave the hospital. They don't send you with any insulin. Thank God I brought it. They were like, wrote me a prescription on a piece of paper. They're like, we'll go to the pharmacy. And I was like, I can't do this.

[Scott]

Don't speak English. Not from Chile. Could I just have a vial of insulin, please?

[Christina]

I was like, where. Where's the long acting? You're not giving me any long acting. Oh, well, he finished the last pen, so just go to the pharmacy and pick some up. I'm like, can I move him to this long acting, which is mine? They're like, oh, yeah, that's fine.

[Scott]

Well, it's nice to know that the standard of inconsistent care is worldwide.

[Christina]

Yeah. You know, Scott, the scary thing is, is that I went into that situation with a lot of knowledge, so I knew how to manage. I knew I had supplies. But if you were brand new to this disease, it would have been absolutely terrifying and debilitating.

[Scott]

Absolutely.

[Christina]

You didn't, like. Like, there was. They were trying to explain carb counting in Spanish, and I was like, I got it. It's fine. But it was real. It would have been really, really hard. And I don't know how someone would have gotten through it.

[Scott]

No, no, I. I don't either. Did you. Did it occur to you just to pick up your shirt, show them your pump, and be like, we're good, or.

[Christina]

They did, they did. I kept on saying, I. I am too. I kept going, I am too. And I would show my. Show my stuff, and I had all my, like, suitcase. Like, I had a cooler full of stuff with me.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And, like, I would definitely insert myself. Technologist, who was super sweet. She gave me her own personal phone number. I would WhatsApp with her, and she would help. She's like, I have three boys. Do you need clothes? Do you need a place to stay? You know?

[Scott]

That's lovely.

[Christina]

The amazing. There was so much community that came through for me in that I didn't even have a hotel room when I showed up in the airport. And I said, well, I'm just gonna stay in the hospital. End up speaking to this woman in line who's Irish and was working for the embassy and living in Santiago. And I go to go through customs, and she goes, they're not going to let you through because you don't have a place to stay. She jumps in, she goes, she's staying with me. She's my friend.

[Scott]

Oh, yeah, See, that's lovely.

[Christina]

Just. Yeah. So, you know, as hard as it was, there was a lot of, you know, good Faith and people that came. Came through for us. But yeah, it was. It would have been really scary. Like, even my husband, who's knowledgeable, but he's not that knowledgeable on this stuff because I never really.

[Scott]

You hide it from everybody, apparently. Christina, you're terrible. You're a terrible, terrible person who doesn't want to burden. Can we talk about that for a second? Do you really not want to burden people or are you private about your diabetes?

[Christina]

I. I'm pretty private about it. I think I'm less private now that William and I are in it together. But leading up to it, I just was like, I'm kind of a. Put my head down and just get it done and deal with it. And I don't. I don't sort of make a big deal of it. I don't really share it with a lot of people. A lot of people were like, you're type one. I'm like, yeah. I go, well, you know, it's because, you know, he. It's not uncommon for, like, where did this come from? It's like, well, you know, I a type 1 diabetic. They're like, what? Like, so a lot of people don't

[Scott]

even know prior to his diabetes.

[Christina]

I'm sorry, I just don't share it that much. I don't know.

[Scott]

I'm sorry I cut you off and then I caused confusion. Prior to your diagnosis. Like, what was your A1C to his diagnosis? What was your A1C?

[Christina]

So my A1C always hovered around 6.6.1.

[Scott]

Okay. And has it. Anything about your care for yourself changed since he's been diagnosed?

[Christina]

Yeah, I. I've got myself down to like a 5.4.

[Scott]

Why do you.

[Christina]

Much more dialed in on it.

[Scott]

Is it because you're trying to be a good, like, I don't know, shepherd for this whole thing, or you just want to be a good. You know, I don't. I don't know. Like, how does that happen? Do you think?

[Christina]

I. So I think part of it happened because I would sort of just. It was like kind of figuring it out. And I think once I had to learn it, once I had to be able to explain it, you know, to him, I had to just learn more. Right. Like, I don't eat a lot of high fatty meals. I don't. You know, like, all of a sudden I didn't. I knew what it was like to be, you know, a 50 year old woman and diabetic. I didn't know what it was like to be a 15 year old boy and be a diabetic. It's a total. It's two totally different worlds, just from the food consumption and the types of things. And we actually, William and I, because of the ski racing, we did a lot of driving, so we'd actually listen to your podcast a lot because it was my way of, like, giving him some information that wasn't coming from me, so he wasn't as resentful about it.

[Scott]

Yeah, let him resent me.

[Christina]

Exactly. So I, like, learned some tricks. I was like, oh, okay, let me try this, let me try that. And that definitely helps some things.

[Scott]

Cool. That's awesome. I mean, you're obviously, you know, an A1 and C and the sixes, it was a. You know, to be celebrated, obviously. But I've heard from other people that their kids get diagnosed and then they really, like, pull themselves together in different ways. Like, it. It's interesting how it. It kind of shakes out. Did he ever. Do you think he blames you for the diabetes, or is that something you guys have spoken about?

[Christina]

Oh, we've spoken extensively about it, and he definitely does blame me for it.

[Scott]

Oh, how nice. Did you explain to him that somebody gave it to you? You weren't asking for it either.

[Christina]

Yeah, you know, it's. I think it's. You know, we've. We've been on this really long journey, and there I think he's come more to peace with it. And I kept on saying to him, just get through six months. If you can do six months, you're going to be so much better. The first six months are the hardest. His doctor would be like, get through the first six months, William. You can do this. I think for him, where he really struggled the most is that his body. You know, he was such an athlete, and then all of a sudden, his body was so much more complex and just had to think about things that never crossed his mind. But, you know, we gave him the option, do you want to go back to school? You know, you could take a break. You don't need to go away to school. No, no, no. That's where I want to go. That's where my school. That's where my friends are. It's where I want to be. So we sent him off to board of school. I will say his endocrinologist is amazing. And their diabetes educator came up to the boarding school, which is in Connecticut. So, like, two and a half hours away, she gave a presentation to all of the administration. And anyone that sort of. All the athletics, they recorded it about, like, how to manage a kid with type 1 diabetes out. Like, here's, here's what you do. Here's what our protocols are. And really, they recorded it, they shared it with people. She made herself available to the entire nurses team so they could text her if she had any questions. So, like, I did feel like we were going into school. Him really well set up, but he wasn't in my house, so, like, I didn't know what he was eating. And he would sometimes send me pictures and be like, well, what would you, what would you count this for? What would you think this is? You know, we, we definitely struggled with him not bringing supplies. You know, like the usual. Yeah, usual stuff. But the school kind of did everything for him, so he didn't have to do as much. You know, they were the, you know, the coaches brought the go bag with him everywhere. He, he had supplies stashed all over campus that he could go to if he needed it. So school was actually not that hard from a management perspective. And with technology, I could see what his numbers are. We definitely had to get creative. The one thing the school said they wouldn't do is they would not do the overnight monitoring. So that was on us.

[Scott]

Yeah, they didn't want to be responsible, I would imagine. Did the six month thing work out? Like, no, no, no. What happened next?

[Christina]

So it was September. So we went into September. We were going. Okay. So we had to definitely figure out what, you know, how to get him up at night. So he would sleep through a lot of alarms. So we'd have the phone stuff. I put an Amazon Alexa in his dorm room. And so I could drop into his room and just talk to him in the middle of the night and kind of wake him up, which was, which was really key. So I'd be like, william, you gotta get up. Your numbers are down. I'm gonna call, I'm gonna call the dorm, the dean, you know, the dorm parent, and they'll come into the room, if not like to avoid doing that. And we only had to do it twice, you know. Yeah, yeah, I'm awake. Okay, can you. Okay, can you do a finger? Like, we would just talk through it. And I was like, okay, you can snooze a little bit. I'll stay awake. I'll watch what your numbers are doing. So we, we would just chat back and forth through the Amazon Alexa because he didn't have to pick the phone up. He would just hear my voice.

[Scott]

How did I not know it did that?

[Christina]

It's great. It's an amazing thing. Particularly if you're managing a kid far away.

[Scott]

Can I just put one in my wife's office so I can just like yap at her all day? That would, she would, yeah, she'd unplug that.

[Christina]

I just say, like, drop in William's room and all of a sudden it starts happening and you know, and then I'd be in and I could see into the room. I could see if he was up. Okay, stand up, you know, and it was good.

[Scott]

There's a camera.

[Christina]

As a camera. Yeah.

[Scott]

You're lucky you didn't see a girl. Yeah, yeah.

[Christina]

Well, yeah, he did. He did not like it if he said it felt like a, you know, a monitor, baby monitor. And, and you know, there was a lot of conflict over it.

[Scott]

How did you argue that? Because it does seem like a baby monitor.

[Christina]

I said, well, you got to tell me that your numbers are okay. But his numbers weren't. He was tanking out at night a lot and having these incredible lows. And what we realized sort of four months in is that he was self medicating with alcohol and THC and really was not okay with his sort of mental health, mental state. And we gave all the doctors sort of help, but we really didn't support the, the mental, mental health side of it.

[Scott]

So he wanted to go to school maybe more to. So that he could do things like that to get through the, the psychological tragedy that he had gone through more than anything else. Maybe, maybe less about it.

[Christina]

I don't think that's why he wanted to go to school. I think once he got to school,

[Scott]

that's what he figured out.

[Christina]

And he was like, oh, this feels great. I don't have to think about anything. I'm really bummed at my life and this makes me feel better.

[Scott]

So a lot, I'm sorry you said thc, but a lot of weed, a

[Christina]

lot of weed that progressed into other things as well. But it was a lot of alcohol at first. Alcohol was sort of the first thing and, you know, was, we know, like it's not great, not great for your blood sugar. So he, we were seeing the highs and then he would have these terrible lows and he was just basically passed out and that's why we couldn't get him up.

[Scott]

Remind me again, he was 15.

[Christina]

15.

[Scott]

Okay. Was he. Do you think he was smoking weed prior to this? And it was just the accelerated. Do you think he was drinking prior to this? Do you think this is something he all took on in that situation?

[Christina]

What he told me is that he was definitely Trying stuff around, trying stuff, but not, you know, dissimilar to other kids. So he was trying it and he said, and once the diabetes started, he's like, I just really couldn't stop. He's like, I just wanted to be in that state all the time.

[Scott]

Okay, so he was depressed from the diagnosis, do you think?

[Christina]

Yeah, very, very depressed.

[Scott]

How do you deal with that then, once you figure it out? How'd you figure it out, first of all?

[Christina]

So, you know, he got caught at school. So they were like, we understand he's going through a hard time. So we sent him, you know, he did like an after school program there that they recommended, sort of, you know, therapy and, you know, working through sort of what, what the challenges were. And, you know, and he seemed to do well on that. And so that was around Christmas time. And then he came home for Christmas break. He went back after in January and things were going okay. He was on the honor roll, he was doing really well at school. Things, things seemed to be okay. He was ski racing every weekend. So I would, while he was at school during the week, during the wintertime, he would come home every weekend because he was, he was skiing with us. So I would pick him up from school. He would, we would travel all over New York State. So we got a few fair amount of looks at him, but he was still, you know, he didn't want. It was a lot of conflict between him and I. When you said that, all I wanted to do was talk about his diabetes and talk about what he was doing with it, which was, which was hard.

[Scott]

And can I ask, was that true? Did. Is all you did, Were you talking about it too much or, or do you think that was just him trying to avoid talking about it by saying that to you?

[Christina]

I think it was probably a little bit of both. I think I was terrified because I would see these lows at night and I would see these terrible lows that would stip for a long time. And not being able to get him up at night, it was hard and he was resistant and I just, like, I couldn't. It was sort of a loss of control. So I couldn't see what he was eating, I couldn't see what he was doing. And I was kind of putting my faith in those that were around him to kind of help him figure this out. Like he, you know, he went off to school, he'd been diagnosed for three weeks, and, you know, he's a 15 year old. I was like, why were, why did you, why were you so high and he was like, I don't know. I ate a bag of goldfish, then I had some candy, and I was like, okay, did you. Did you treat for it? And he goes, no, I kind of forgot. And it's like we'd have a lot of those kind of conversations.

[Scott]

Is that how he ate prior to this, or do you think that was part of his, like, tumble?

[Christina]

I think he was. Had a big appetite, but he ate pretty well. He was a snacker, though, so he was a perpetual snacker. And I think that's what caught up on him. And I think what kids do in dorm rooms at night is like, someone orders a pizza or they go and get ice cream, like, there's a lot of late night eating. And that was what was happening.

[Scott]

Okay, can you talk for a half more second about, like, when you said it was hard for you, but can you contextualize that a little more? For me?

[Christina]

No, I think for me, where the challenge was is that I couldn't see what he was doing. So I didn't see what went into his body. I didn't see how much, like, how much insulin he was taking or how. Where he was starting off because he wouldn't tell me when he was like. I didn't know when he was eating and stuff. So I would just sort of. I was like an hour or two behind on everything and just would see the results and trying to get him, like, I would. I would even go as far as to like, oh, William, I looked at what's on the menu today. Here's what's for breakfast, here's what's for lunch. Like, what do you think you're gonna have? Do you wanna talk about how you might manage these? Because he didn't, you know, he didn't know how to count carbs. You know what they gave him apps. We tried different things, but he just. He was very embarrassed. He didn't want anyone to see that he was doing it. So he would kind of, you know, he would tend to take his insulin after he's eaten. So, like, the power of the pre bolus was something I kept him and say, like, you know, if you pre bolus, it's gonna be a lot easier for you if you have that half a piece of. Half a pie of pizza. And he just didn't want to do it. So for me, it was just the lack of control and the lack of insight to kind of see what he was doing. And once I got him home on the weekends, his weekends were always very good because I'd be like, here's your meal. And he'd be like, how much should I do this? And so we. There was a little bit more of education there, but I think he was just really hiding it.

[Scott]

Yeah. Would you mind? Or if you would mind, just tell me to go to hell. But like you said, it started with weed, but did it. Where did that progress to?

[Christina]

So he, you know, so he. So he started with weed and alcohol. Alcohol was kind of his favorite thing. So we went to this program in. During the Christmas break and before Christmas break, and we thought, okay, it's like an IOP intensive outpatient. So you go a couple times a week after school, and they do exercises and a little bit of therapy, and we're like, okay, that should work. No problem. And then he went back to school in January, and he got. Because by that point, he had to do sporadic drug tests at school. So that. That was part of their thing, because you got caught once. Here's your second shot. And so he failed a drug test. And, you know, they said, well, you know, we're going to run it again, but, you know, probably he just needs to come home for a couple days. The school was incredibly sympathetic to his situation. They knew he was struggling, and they were trying to work. Work it out with him. And by the time, you know, came around to end of February, he failed another drug test. And the school basically said, we are terrified. We do not think we can support him anymore. He needs to come home. He can come back next year if he gets some help, but he needs to be in a place that we can.

[Scott]

We can't be responsible for this.

[Christina]

We cannot be responsible for. He needs to be in a place that has better responsibility for this. So we said, okay, not ideal, but we'll bring him home. And we brought him home. And honestly, Scott, I didn't know what to do with him. I said, I don't know where to send you to school. I don't know where to send you for help. None of this makes sense. And I sort of, you know, went into crisis mode and just kind of started calling around and talking to people. And then it became very clear that he probably needed a residential program to really figure out what was going on with his mental health, because it was really crashing. I said, okay, all right. So I got some names, and so I started calling them and saying, okay, you were highly recommended to me. I go through his profile, and I said, and he is a type one diabetic. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no. We cannot take that. Nope. Nope. So I could not find any program that would take them. That's too high risk for us. We just can't manage it. And so that was really hard because I said, okay, he needs this help. You know, a lot of people, you know, there's like, you know, outdoor stuff. There's in like. I knew he couldn't do any of the outdoor therapy so sets because just given where he was, but I, you know, but being newly diagnosed, no one would touch him. So I finally found a place that took our insurance and would take him in Connecticut. And the big caveat they said is we'll take him, but he needs to be off his pump on MDI for minimum of two weeks unstable. Which his endocrinologist to this day, she's like, I don't understand. She's like, they should have just taken him right away. But so I said, okay, we'll do that. So we took him off the pump, he went on to mdi. He was living at home with us for two plus weeks. And then we dropped him off into a program in on March 13th of 2025 where he spent 63 days at. It was a residential treatment center. So it was a lot of therapy, a lot of figuring out what was going on. It was, it was good. It wasn't great. There was definitely a lot of shenanigans still going on inside the place, but it definitely stabilized and it revealed that there was a lot bigger problem. So he had progressed to psychedelics. There was a lot more drug use in place and it was constant. And you know, he really had a problem and he was severely depressed. And when I, you know, again, like the world comes to together in different places. The clinical director there had wrote her thesis on type 1 diabetics and addiction. She knew all about it and she said, I am not surprised he is here. She said, learning disabilities, medical trauma. Completely makes sense that this is where he showed up. And ADHD is the other. He has adhd and that's the other X factor that really drove it.

[Scott]

Okay, how do those things precipitate and, and create more of a belief in her that he would end up in this situation. Like how does ADHD apply to this,

[Christina]

for example, so particularly in adolescence. And don't quote me on this with the medical stuff, but ADHD is a predominant trait for kids that struggle with substance abuse. It's almost 100%.

[Scott]

Okay. And so ADHD lends to substance abuse.

[Christina]

Yep. Do you think they tend to self medicate?

[Scott]

Do you think that this ends this way for him with or without the diabetes. Like, would something else have come up in his life, do you think? Or do you think it had a little bit to do with timing and age as well?

[Christina]

I think it could be. I've tried to not go there because I don't know, it doesn't really matter because he has the circumstances he has. Whether diabetes is a part of it or not. I think maybe it triggered it earlier. Maybe it would have presented itself in college. I don't know. I never will know. But the challenges is that you're using and you're a type 1 diabetic all of a sudden, the consequences are a lot higher because as we all know, you know, as we know, like, the, just the side effects are bigger.

[Scott]

So what do they do? They treat the ADHD to help it, like, not be as impactful. Is he on something for that now?

[Christina]

He's had ADHD since he was a little kid. He has severe dyslexia. So he's always been on. He's been medic for ADHD since he was in first grade. So that wasn't so much the difference, but it just happens to be a trait that a lot of them walk in with. You know, while he was at this rtc, they, they really, you know, they took a type one. They were great. Again, the world comes together in a range of way. One of the nurses there is a type one. She's on a tandem. She was like, I got this. I will make sure he's okay. I was terrified dropping him off because I couldn't, I, I. What happened? I couldn't call him. He didn't. He lost use of his phone. So they were managing his stuff 100%. And they would monitor his blood sugar there. They would. We got them to accept his phone to run his Dexcom. If we shut off everything else and locked it, you know, there was definitely some, some agreements that we came to, but his numbers were actually okay while he was there, you know, because they, they had nurses around the clock. So they were really working towards, you know, they're all about safety. So at night they would go and check his blood sugar every 30 minutes. And they keep a log every night.

[Scott]

Geez, this, this is a lot. Like, how long ago was this now? Like, and where is he at?

[Christina]

So this was it. This was in March of 2025. So he was there for 63 days. And we thought he would be coming home after that. And it became very evident that he needed more that really the mental health stuff hadn't, hadn't Been addressed enough. And he wasn't really, you know, he was going to come back to Brooklyn and he probably back using within two weeks is what they told us and said he needs longer term care. And they had a place that they would recommend. And so they recommended two different places. And I being the, you know, the control person, as you're learning, so I was like, all right, well, I'm going to visit them. I'm not, I'm not. I'm not just sending him there without this.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And so I got on an airplane and I went and visited a program in Utah that was a program. They said, oh, we've had a type one before. I said, okay, right. So we're chatting about what the protocols are. And then they asked me the question. They were like, well, can anyone, you know, I was like, well, where do you store the insulin? How do you. How does he get stuff? And they said, well, can you abuse insulin? And I said, well, if you want to kill yourself, you can. They're like, oh, so we should lock it up. And I was like, yeah, probably a good idea. And they just really didn't have a good hold of it. And then I went to another program that was in Arizona, about an hour and 40 minutes south of Tucson, and they said, we've had many type one diabetics. The most we've had at once is three. We understand what you need. Here's how we do it. And it was like this huge relief that came over me because they actually really got it.

[Scott]

Is he there now?

[Christina]

So he went. So he went there May 23, in 2025. And it's a. It's a horse ranch in Southern Arizona, all for. For all boys. And it combines you. There's some work, there's school, and there's a lot of therapy. And so he was there for 10 months. And then in March, he graduated to their transitional living program. So he is now living in. In Tucson and sort of a group home where he goes to school and lives with other boys and is kind of figuring out how to be in the world without a lot of, you know, what they view, you know, when you're on the ranch, what they call the ranch. You're on the ranch and it's this amazing place. Align adolescent recovery. And they, they. It's very closed container. So it's on 350 acres. There's nothing around you. Like there's. You can't get into anything.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And once you kind of sort of graduate and sort of do the things that you need to do, to graduate. You move to this transitional living, and it's more of an open container. All of a sudden, you're in Tucson. You can leave the house. You have your phone back. You can do things. And so we're seeing how that goes, which I think the biggest change for William is now he's really having to manage his diabetes on his own because there's no one there kind of hovering over him.

[Scott]

Yeah. And tell me again how old he is right now. He is 16. Who is, who pays for all this?

[Christina]

So we've been paying for it. And then because he, because it is a school, we. He's. And he's been in specialized school since, you know, for years and years. We sue the department of education of New York City for reimbursement for his education. And we go through this whole process, and they are reimbursing us for his, his schooling because it's a therapeutic boarding school.

[Scott]

Gotcha.

[Christina]

It's outrageously expensive.

[Scott]

Well, no, I, I, I'm trying to imagine, but I don't, I don't think I am probably imagining it exactly. It sounds like a $20,000 a month sort of situation, but I don't, I

[Christina]

don't know that bad. But it's close.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And is. Do you. And you think that without that, he'd be addicted and just rudderless?

[Christina]

I think without that, he probably would end up dead because.

[Scott]

So he's from 0 to 100 miles an hour in. In no time at all.

[Christina]

He went very quickly, and that's what they've all said. It was, it was a, it was a real steep fall off of the cliff.

[Scott]

I see. Did he make it to cocaine, heroin, meth?

[Christina]

No, no, no, no.

[Scott]

It stuck with weed, alcohol, psychedelics.

[Christina]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay. And when you sit and. Do you even sit and talk to him about it, or is he getting

[Christina]

talk all the time? So we, you know, part of the amazing thing with this program is the family is very involved. So there's intensive family weekends. There's weekly family therapy. He's in weekly therapy. Everyone's in therapy. But you have these really honest conversations. And, you know, our relationship is really close. There's not the secrets. And that's why I know he's really resentful about the diabetes. He was angry and that I passed this on to him, even though I didn't mean to do it, but it came from me. And then it became a big basis of what our relationship was, was this sort of struggle of trying to keep him. You know, my view was Trying to keep him alive. And he was like, it's not that big of a deal. And I. He just couldn't really wrap his heads around the consequences if you don't manage it well.

[Scott]

Yeah. And you think, even if you would have been completely hands off. This happens about the same way, though. Like, if you would have been like, whatever, your blood sugar's fine. Like, we'll. It will let you, like, ease into it and you'll get low and bop like, you still. He ends up here because he's. He's medicating himself almost immediately after this happens.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

He was very. You know, for him, it was, my body's not as strong. I have this deficiency. You know, I. He. It was like, even when he was ski racing, it was like figuring out, like, it's really cold and like, that would do funky things and then the adrenaline would kick in and then he would drop. Like it was. It was. We had to figure it out.

[Scott]

It's a lot.

[Christina]

And not knowing the answers, you know, right away. Like, sometimes it was trial and error and, like, figuring out the Amazon, like, Amazon Alexa. How do I use that to help you out? Like, how. Like, what are the sort of tricks. Tricks that work, you know, when he went to the ranch, I got sugar pixels that I put in the ranch so they could see what his. Like, so he'd be out on the, you know, working with the horses, and all of a sudden the alarms were going off, so they would scurry out to him. They would keep, you know, they would do the night monitoring. You know, I would, like, call. I would text the night guy at the ranch and be like, I see his numbers down. I need you to go back in. He needs another juice. And he was like, are you sure? I'm like, I'm 100% sure. And they were great and really open to it and all about keeping him safe and just sort of surrounding, surrounding him with a lot of love. Then there was another type one who came onto the ranch for a bit with him, and so he felt like he wasn't, you know, it was nice for him to know somebody else.

[Scott]

Yeah. Hey, we should tell people that William's okay with you using his name and telling his story and all that stuff. I realized we didn't say that before.

[Christina]

Yes, he is. He is. He is. He is open to share his story. He is not ashamed. He is, you know, we are extremely proud of what he has done. And he is not, you know, he doesn't shy away from it. He is really open about his struggles and where he's at and will tell anyone about it. You know, I think that is something we've learned through this, is that this is really hard. And if you can do this and share. Share your story with others, that others can learn from it. Like, I wish I knew that I needed when this all happened in Chile. I wish I put better mental health support around him. Would he have maybe ended up in the same place? I don't know, but I think it was something. I was so focused on the physical side of things that I didn't really think with the mental health thing. And it is hard. 16 is really hard.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Hey, it's not when you want to be doing this.

[Scott]

Hindsight and as honest as you can be. Prior to his diabetes diagnosis, did you see any of this pathway for him or did you think, my son's athletic and he's a ski racer and he's like. Like, gonna go to college and everything's gonna be great, like. Or did you. Could you smell any of this prior to that?

[Christina]

I don't think so. I think looking back maybe a little bit here and there, you know, I think he's got some anxiety, you know, pretty high anxiety. You know, the ADHD anxiety. Learning disabilities are definitely a pathway to this, to this challenge. It's not something that's not within our family. So I. I think he could have ended up there. I think this probably put us on a fast track, which. In high, which in a way is actually good because he's under 18, so he's under our care, and we're able to get him the right care and hopefully, you know, builds really strong resilience and give him a lot of tools for the rest of his life.

[Scott]

I take your point. If he was 20 and in college when this happened, it would have slipped away from you quickly. You would have had no control over what happened next either.

[Christina]

100%.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

But it's not over. It is like a journey that he is going to be on for a long time, and, you know, he's not home yet. We're hoping he'll be home in the next couple months, but, you know, we don't know. I think it's up to him. And, you know, he. I do think he has come to terms with his diabetes. I think, you know, like everyone, he has moments where he's like, this sucks because it does, but he does. It's not what he leads with anymore. He doesn't have the resentment with it. It. He's managing it barely, you know, He. And so now the program he's in right now, he has to do all of his own cooking. So he goes to the grocery store each week, and he has to make his own meals, and he's eating a lot of pasta. And we're definitely seeing a lot more highs than he used to see. But he's like, mom, it's easier. It's like, I get it, Mom.

[Scott]

I figured out how to boil pasta. Oh, good.

[Christina]

Yeah. Throw a little protein in there. Just a little protein will go a long way.

[Scott]

Is there not a grill at the ranch somewhere? Could you make a steak?

[Christina]

He does have a. There is a grill there. He has been grilling. He's like, oh, I got some steaks. I'm like, great.

[Scott]

Nice.

[Christina]

And, you know, what I've also learned is, like, I can tell how he's feeling about himself. So, like, when he was early days when he was at the ranch, he was eating without telling anyone. He wasn't dealing with his numbers. His A1C went to, you know, we were like, 7.5. And now he's back down in the low sixes. And, you know, it's. You know, we did introduce. You know, part of the challenges is that we introduced lots of different medications. So one of the medications he gained a ton of weight on and was really upset about that. But his endocrinologist, he's now on WeGovy, which has been a game changer for him.

[Scott]

Oh, yeah. It's probably helping with his insulin use and everything, Right?

[Christina]

Helping with the insulin use. It also helps with addiction. It's. It's. It's got a lot of good things. And he lost all of the weight, so he's feeling pretty good about that. So his numbers are great.

[Scott]

His anxiety any better?

[Christina]

He takes medication for it. His anxiety is definitely much better. Good.

[Scott]

Wow.

[Christina]

But he, you know, he's. He's. It's. Every. You know, every change you make has sort of ripple effects. And, you know, his numbers are good, but he was going. You know, there was one stage he was taking, like, he was on, like, 110 units of insulin a day. Like, oh, my gosh, William. That's a lot. And now I think he takes 20. So it's like, he's a huge difference.

[Scott]

Wow. He's making a lot of progress, for sure.

[Christina]

Yeah. And he's back to working out and taking care of himself.

[Scott]

Yeah. Any addiction in your family line or your husband's?

[Christina]

Yes, and my husband's side and my. And my. And my side, too. It's definitely. It Is not. You know, it is in our family.

[Scott]

I mean, I heard you say Irish, so. Yeah, yeah. But. And how about that anxiety? The ADHD does that all. Can you, like, look at your family line and see it? It.

[Christina]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's, you know, his, His. The ADHD is definitely prevalent in our family, and. And so is substance use. So it's, It's. It's all there. All the pieces are there. I think we just unfortunately had a little bit of the perfect storm that brought it together.

[Scott]

Yeah, it lit a wildfire for you, really, like, out of, like, you went from just a calm day till the wind picked up and a spark hit the ground and woof. And just, Just.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Off and running, you guys. Do you feel like you're handling it well?

[Christina]

I think we're in a better shape now. I think I. At first, I had a lot of anger about trying to find him treatment and nobody would treat him because of. He was a type 1 diabetic. Just the amount of no's I got. No, that's too risky for us. No, that's too risky for us. I said, what am I supposed to do? Oh, we don't know.

[Scott]

Yeah, fine.

[Christina]

We'll do it on a case by case basis. And then I had. He was early diagnosed, so, like, he hadn't lived with it for a long time. So that was like another red flag and that part. And, you know, scouring the Internet, trying to find places that would not only Support a type 1 diet, but. But an adolescent. And the combination of the two was really, really hard, difficult.

[Scott]

My gosh.

[Christina]

Well, you get you 2,200 miles away, he's in Arizona. I'm like, why? You know, no one wants to send their kid to Arizona, but they were the place that opened their arms to me and were like, we get it, we understand, and we're gonna. And it has been a really great experience. And the therapy and the experience he has had there has. Has been amazing.

[Scott]

Well, you found the right fit then. And. And the way you got to it probably wasn't ideal, but maybe if somebody else would have said yes, he'd be at some, you know, place that wouldn't have been as valuable for him. So maybe it worked out well.

[Christina]

Yeah. Yeah, I guess.

[Scott]

Yeah. Yeah. Everything's going great, Scott. Thanks. Is this tough on your marriage?

[Christina]

It has its moments, I think, you know, Chris and I are pretty. Max and I are pretty aligned on how to address this. I tend to do a lot of the leg work, but, you know, we've been in it together. I think, you know, we just sort, you know, we just want him, him to be healthy. We want him to live a long life. And sending him away at first was really hard to swallow. It is. You know, he has been gone for a really long time.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And, you know, when he was on the ranch for 10 months, there's no phone. We spoke to him once a week.

[Scott]

So you have this feeling like he's going to come back a different person. You're going to have missed it, right?

[Christina]

Yeah. And he's just growing up and he has a different perspective on life. And, you know, meanwhile, his older brother is graduating high school and going to go off to college and. And he sort of missed this time together, but not, you know, only talking to him once a day. And so, like, I have 15 minutes with him and I would have to like, have almost a script and say, okay, I'm not going to ask about the blood sugar. I'm not going to do this. I'm going to just bite my tongue on it. I did. Fortunately, the medical person on site at the ranch, him and I became very close friends. And so I would, you know, I would text him, be like, I don't know what's going on between 2am and 6am but something's happening. We need to make an adjustment. So, you know, we would, we would. We were sort of a team and they were good at delivering some of the news that I wanted to, to deliver, and they would deliver it through him. So that was helpful.

[Scott]

Hey, did they tell you what not to ask him or did you figure it out?

[Christina]

We would work together on it. You know, they were working with him and they would say, he's really, you know, he doesn't want to talk about the diabetes stuff. He really wants to make sure that it's not coming from you, and that's the only thing you want to talk about. And now he's sort of. He's come a long way and he's. He prefers it when I text him about something versus using it as our phone time. And he's, you know, I'm sort of also, I've learned to kind of just step back and say, you know, okay, you, you have to figure it out. You. You want to be healthy and you want to, you know, you want to live your life. So you, you've got to make choices. But, you know, eating pasta for lunch every day is not going to solve things. But I've also learned to let it, let it go. Like, I can't not, you know, I

[Scott]

think maybe the most difficult part of this conversation is that it's not like, it's not like he, you know, he. It's not like he wanted to be a short order cook and you wanted him to be an attorney and you think it's going to change his life. It's, it's about health and, and, and maybe an immediate, like, you know, I don't know, health issue that could be, that could be emergent. Right. And so you've got that pressure, but if he doesn't see it the way you see it, there's not a lot you can do about it.

[Christina]

Nope.

[Scott]

Yeah, it's really a, It's a, It's a valuable lesson for everybody listening, whether they have. I mean, your situation is obviously, is, is different. Right. It's bigger and, and maybe more explosive. But like, in small moments, day to day stuff. I find this to be the most difficult part about the diabetes, which is that my desire for it isn't necessarily her desire for it, and that there's really nothing you can do about that.

[Christina]

And we each have to manage it our own way. And so what I do is differently than him, and he's gonna do stuff differently than me. I want him. What. The only thing I am trying to get him to have is to have the information and knowledge to make choices.

[Scott]

Yeah. I mean, I think, think like, for me, bigger picture, like whether you, whether the person you're supporting is like, you know, I count my carbs and I do everything right and I exercise and blah, blah, blah. And that's really their desire all the way to the spectrum of, I don't care if this kills me. I don't care. Like, and everywhere in between. It's not your decision. You can't, you. There's nothing you can do about it that you can't decide how another person feels or, or deals with their life. And that's probably the most difficult part of parenting. I, I think, you know, like, they're so much easier when they're younger because you could just make them do something and they're like, okay, yeah. And then there's a moment.

[Christina]

Yeah. And he was definitely in a moment where he didn't care if he lived or died. You know, he was like, I didn't care. And he's very open about it. He's like, I just hoped some mornings that I just wouldn't wake up. And that's awful to hear.

[Scott]

Yeah, no kidding. But I think that everyone who has type one or other, you know, chronic illnesses in general, I Think they. They all live in a spectrum of that feeling somewhere, like, somewhere like I don't you hear people say it, like, in different ways. Like, I didn't want to wear. I didn't want something attached to me, or, you know, I can't remember to pre bolus or, you know, my A1C seven and a half. But it's okay with me. Like, there's. That's the way you hear them talk about it. But, like, I don't. I don't know that I'm doing a great job explaining this, and I wish I was doing a better job of it, but it lives in the idea of you don't know what influences another person has when they're making a decision. And it's possible that they're depressed and that they don't care if they live or die. It's also possible that they're not depressed and they feel that way, like, so you just don't get to. You don't get to tell people how they feel about something and when you care about them and it seems emergent like this, because it is. I don't know how you're not drinking. Like, I guess it's my point.

[Christina]

Yeah, it's been stressful for sure. But I think at the same time, I also, you know, one of the reasons I wanted to come and chat with you, like, I do think mental health is super important for someone dealing with this. And there is a lot that goes into it. And I think there's a grievance that you grieve the life that you thought you were going to have. Yeah. And in that, coming to terms with that. And I think that's where he was. He was grieving the life that he thought he was gonna have. He loves to play tennis. And he was like, I can't just go play tennis. Like, the first time he played tennis, he had low after low after low, and he was. And he was not paying. He was miserable. He's like, well, I guess I'm never doing this again. And I said, that's not the truth. I said, you're two weeks in. You gotta give it a minute. And he just was really impatient about it and just felt like his whole thing was, I don't want to be so tired of being different. You know, he's dyslexic and he's like, I've always been different in school. Why do I have to be different like this? Why is this another difference?

[Scott]

What do you think the answer is? Medically? Do you think it's inflammation. Do you think it's like an autoimmune thing? Like, he obviously has a lot of different issues, but they all center around this core. Right? I mean, do you think the. Did you see everything get a little better with the Ozempic or what? Do you.

[Christina]

A little bit. You know, he's been on it while I'm not with him, so I think it has gotten a little bit better. For sure. I'm not sure. I'm not 100% sure. You know, he feels a lot healthier to me. Like, the way he talks, the way he thinks about himself since he's been on. Been on that and lost the weight, but I don't know. Is it because he lost the weight? Is it because he's working out more? Is it because his numbers are better? Is it because he's just further along in his journey of recovery and therapy? Maybe?

[Scott]

Is the answer yes, though? Like, all those things are helping?

[Christina]

Yes.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah. I don't. I mean, listen, again, what I understand about science fits into a thimble, but I. Again, my entire life, people have been talking about inflammation. Inflammation's bad. It's bad for this, it's bad for that. We don't understand inflammation. We don't know how to get it down, like, you know, blah, blah, blah, out. And then this medication comes out and it reduces people's inflammation. You're, you know, you pick up the. The paper, which is not a thing anymore. I guess I should find a new colloquialism for that. But you, you know, you look at Google News and you hear about pcos, anxiety, addiction, all kinds of things that, you know, that people are. Are feeling like a lessening of, and. And they don't know why. Like, they're just still studying it and trying to figure it out. But, I mean, it sounds like it. It helped him, like, with a lot of different things.

[Christina]

Huge.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. And it, you know, you. Because you can make the, like the. I mean, I think a doctor would look and go, well, yeah, we lost weight, maybe. And so maybe hormonal balance is better. Yeah, okay, but what else? And you know, the. From 110 units a day down to 20 units a day of insulin. Crazy. What an improvement.

[Christina]

Nuts.

[Scott]

Yeah, totally nuts. Yeah.

[Christina]

And he, you know, he seems healthy, he seems stronger, and his voice is brighter and. But it doesn't mean that the other things he doesn't still struggle with at times.

[Scott]

No, I'm not saying it was like a magic wand. I'm just saying, like, it just to Me. It feels like if he was under a weighted blanket that weighed 30 pounds, the weighted blanket might weigh 25 pounds now and.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Isn't that better? Yeah.

[Christina]

100. He does have some weird side effects with the GLP1. He definitely gets some, like, nausea, which bumps him.

[Scott]

Yeah, no, of course. Like. Well, listen, nothing's perfect. No. Yeah. Is there anything that we didn't talk about that we should have or anything that you think we missed? Keeping in mind that I have to be at my dentist's office in 14 minutes.

[Christina]

Okay. I don't think there's any. I don't think there's anything else. I think the big thing is just, you know, the mental health and that, you know, there are.

[Scott]

Are.

[Christina]

There are these places out there that will support these kids, and finding them is hard, but they do exist, you know, and that. That's really my. My big thing is that, you know, if this branch in Tucson, which I never thought I would be at, didn't exist, I don't know what I would have done, because nobody else. There was not another program that would have fit him in the same way.

[Scott]

I. I will add to what you said by saying that even though all of you out there are probably not experiencing this level of calamity in your life, I think you are experiencing some level of it. And the mental health part of type 1 diabetes is. Is not to be ignored, even if it's minor therapy. You know, I don't know what. I don't know what you'll do, but I. I think ignoring it's a. Is a big mistake. So.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And I wish I did a little bit more of it early on. Like, my hindsight is. Is. I wish I put that in place earlier in the diagnosis. And a lot of things. You know, there was a lot of things that went right, and there was a lot of sort of, you know, angels along the way that helped him. But, you know, I wish we had just gotten in front of that mental health stuff earlier. Not to say we wouldn't end up where we are. I just think it would have maybe shortened our journey a bit.

[Scott]

What about for you, though? Like, I mean, you're now involved in, like, therapy, like, family therapy and stuff like that. Has it helped you? Is it unburdened you at all with your diabetes?

[Christina]

I. You know, the strange thing is I've never, like. Listen, I. Maybe it's because I make diabetes look really easy. I've never been super depressed about it. It just sort of is what it is, and it's Just who I am, and it's how I manage my life. But I don't think about it that much.

[Scott]

Luck of the draw. I, I. So I've been thinking this about you the whole time we've been talking. It is luck of the draw because you really do have that attitude. Like, and that's a. I think it's probably baked in, like, you're just like a. Like, we'll take care of it. I'll do the next thing that needs to be done. I'm not gonna get drugged backwards by this like that. That's just dumb luck. You didn't. No one taught you to be that way. It's just how you are, right?

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And just kind of car. You know, maybe it's because I got diagnosed when I had two little kids, and I was trying to figure it. Like, it just. I was like, I just got to keep myself going and standing. I couldn't wallow in it.

[Scott]

I don't know.

[Christina]

I bet you days. Have I had days where I'm like, oh, my gosh, this sucks. Yes, of course.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

But everything seems to go wrong. But no, you know, as a whole, it just, just.

[Scott]

It is what it is.

[Christina]

It is who I am.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Hey, if I said to you, hey, we have to pick up and move across the country, it has to happen, you would just do it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have. There's a vibe about you that is like, you're just lucky to have it. I think I. I have it, and I'm. I feel incredibly lucky to not be burdened by things when stuff like this comes up, because you even handled the thing in Chile the way I would have. Like, you know, I'm gonna get on the next plane. Can't get on that one. I'll get on the next one. I'm not going to worry about what's happening to them right now because it'll probably be okay. And if it's not, there's really nothing I can do about it anyway. And then the. If something bad goes happens, then the situation will change. Then I'll pivot and I'll follow the new situation and do what I can do to support that. Like, that's how your brain works

[Christina]

for the most part. There's definitely parts of me that, like, I, you know, I do have a little bit of, like, stuff like, my hackles will go up on something, and I'm like, I need to look into this because I feel like this isn't going down the right way, but that usually I'M right.

[Scott]

And you and you can bend it to your will, right?

[Christina]

Yeah. Yeah, I try.

[Scott]

Yeah. You and I wouldn't be. You and I wouldn't be good together. I just want to say that. So.

[Christina]

Okay.

[Scott]

Good to know we'd be out there just like, like we'll just fix it all.

[Christina]

Like, so I am a fixer and get it done person.

[Scott]

No, no. I figured you out in the first 10 minutes. I know, but it was easier to figure out because I think you and me might be the same person. Awesome. I really appreciate you doing this. I'm gonna float this out there and nothing has to come of it. You shouldn't mention it obviously now, but if you ever. If he's ever saying that he'd like to like, share his story later, I'd be thrilled to talk to him about it. And I would also be really interested to get a, maybe a check in from you in like a year or so.

[Christina]

Yeah, I'll let him know. He's excited I'm doing this. So he's definitely like, he's like, this is really cool, Mom. I can't wait, I can't wait to hear your how you tell this story so well. He's proud of it.

[Scott]

Well, William, listen, if you're listening, man, I would, I'd love for you to come on here and tell your side of this. So thank you very much. I am literally 9 minutes away from having to be in a dentist chair. So I'm going to go now. Thank you very much.

[Christina]

Okay, bye.

[Scott]

Thanks so much to Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast. Get your Dexcom G7 right now with my link. Dexcom.com juicebox and of course that Omnipod 5 has the new 100 target. You want it? Trust me. Omnipod.com juicebox get over there right now. Use the links in the show notes. Use the links@juicebox podcast.com by any chance, have you tried the Small Sip series? It's curated takeaways from the Juice Box podcast, voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes. These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Take a deep dive, take a sip and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on Small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com and then go. Oh, actually we changed the website. Let me say go to juiceboxpodcast.com. and from there there's these two little lines on the right side. Top, that's the menu. Then click that, then click series. Then there's pro. There's small steps right there. Pro tips at the top. Bold beginnings, bolus for asks that there's a lot of them there. There's actually a little search there too. Could you just type small sips into the search? Oh, wow, that search works great. Look at that. And then you could go right to like all results for small sips. Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ. You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com forward/jbfaq. Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website. Website is. I mean, have you like seen it? You should, you should go check out the website. The website rocks. It is a potpourri. A never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey. That's right. It really is. What else we got over here? Oh, I don't like the way that works. I'm going to fix that. Note to self change the. Change the masthead on the Frequently Asked Questions page. Yeah, I don't like that. Fix that. Oh, Claude, hell, I forgot to say thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon. What is that noise? Stop it. Stop. Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking. Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against? The. Don't tell people I have reptiles. They'll think I'm weird. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box Podcast. Look at me get all deep in there with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. You can hear it. What was that? Oh, I'm getting alarms and alerts on my phone. I was going to get real deep and tell you about the Juice Box Podcast.