Welcome back to the Healthy Diabetic podcast . Thank you so much for tuning in . As always , before we get started , please remember that nothing that you hear on this podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise . Please always consult your medical team before making any changes to your diabetes management . Okay , we're diving in .
Speaker 2So today I got to sit down with two more Camp Hamway individuals , jake and Dylan . Dylan's a type one diabetic . Jake is his friend , a co-worker actually , and Jake actually is a counselor at Camp Hamway in leadership at Camp Hamway . Both these individuals' stories are so fascinating . Dylan was diagnosed at two years old , which I didn't know before today's conversation , which is funny because I had a long conversation at camp with Dylan about his diabetes and his journey through diabetes , but I didn't even realize that he was diagnosed at two years old , so it was a fun little tidbit that we got during this conversation . So during this conversation , you're going to hear a lot of different things about their relationship with diabetes . You're going to hear a lot of different things about Dylan's journey through diabetes at a young age , from him being a camper going into being a counselor , the impact that camp has really had on him , and the same thing with Jake , you're going to hear about the impact that camp has really had on him as well . So this was just a fun episode with two incredible dudes , so happy I got to get them on the show .
Speaker 2So , without further ado , let's get with Dylan and Jacob . All right , fellas , jake . Dylan , thanks so much for coming on . I'm super pumped about this . It's been a while since I did a trio of these . Usually I'm just talking to one person , so I'm glad I got you both on . You guys are both friends . You guys both work at Camp Hamway . You've been doing a lot of talking about camp , so I'm excited to talk to you guys coming from that perspective , but also being in leadership and being in camp for a while especially you , dylan . So coming from being a camper to now being in leadership , to running things , to all that stuff , giving a kind of a back-end lens of what camp's all about . So the first thing I would love you guys to do is just kind of introduce yourself and then tell me kind of a little bit about your story . Jake , I know you're not type one , but your connection to all of this is really , really fascinating , so I'm really excited to share that as well . So , dylan , I'll go with you first .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely . What's up everyone ? My name is Dylan Connect , lifelong participant of Camp Hamway . I've been going to camp since I was eight , I think , so that makes that this summer year 17 or 18 in a row , I guess .
Speaker 2Hard enough man .
Speaker 1Quite some time the first nine years , I guess , as a camper , and then ever since as a staff member , hitting as a CIT , my last year when I was a senior in high school , up to being a cabin counselor , and then recent years having various leadership roles .
Speaker 2Yeah , 19, . Man , that's crazy 19 years involved in camp . That is like that's got to be , like some kind of record or something that's got to be up there .
Speaker 1There's a handful of us . Whenever people ask me how long I have been going to camp , I always just ask Jess , I'm like Jess . How long have we been going to camp ? There's that I did a day camp here in Columbus or in Central Ohio . I forget where it was then , but I did day camp for a couple of years before I went to Camp Hamway . I don't know those exact how many times , or whatever . I was too young to really remember .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , that's crazy man , that's so crazy . All right , jake , what about you , man ? Tell me your story .
Speaker 3Hey guys , my name is Jacob Miller Ken . I really appreciate you having us on for this . I've been going to Camp Hamway for about three years now . I started going , dylan talked me into it and he was like , hey , we're going to have a great time . I was like , okay , I didn't really know much about diabetes and my best friend growing up he has it . I know a little bit , but going in it was definitely a learning experience .
Speaker 2Yeah , your guys' story is interesting . Tell me how'd you guys meet . You guys currently work together . Tell me that part of the story .
Speaker 3We actually met through one of our other friends named Brandon Buzzer . I played baseball with him growing up for a couple of years . I was off at college and he was like , hey , come home , play in this slope at Saddleball Tournament . I was like , maybe , I don't know , I'm not really feeling it . He was like , no , really come , it'll be fun . I was like , all right , cool . He says , hey , we're going to meet at my buddy Dylan's house . We're all going to ride up together . I've never met Dylan in my life , no idea who he is . We go play , had a great time , came back and we've just really been hanging out ever since .
Speaker 2Nice , Nice . I love that . Dylan , I want to shift gears here . Thank you guys both for giving us some background of who you are , how you guys met . Dylan , I want to start with you because this is a Diabetes Show . You're a type one diabetic . Everyone loves a good diagnosis story . Tell me about your diagnosis story , how that roll out . What are some things that was happening in your life . Tell me about that story .
Speaker 1For sure . All I know is what I was told I had diagnosed when I was two , august to 2000 . As long as I can remember , I've had diabetes . My grandmother was a nurse when she worked . I vaguely know that I was two years old drinking a lot more water than a normal two-year-old , going peeing in my diapers that type of stuff . Grandma was pretty certain we need to just go get her tested for the—go , get her sugar checked . I guess I went to the hospital and that's when I was diagnosed . Just know what mom and grandma and dad and everyone have told me . I don't remember that .
Speaker 2Have they told you in these stories that obviously they're telling you from the very beginning what the experience was when you went to the hospital ?
Speaker 1Yeah , I vaguely—I should know more about it , but I know that it was a couple of days in that it was—from the stories that I hear from some of my peers and people at camp . It was a rather smooth operation In and out . I spent a day or two , I believe , just as they were kind of educating I guess the family not myself at the time Educating , getting me healthy , and then family had a pretty good support system with my family . I guess my parents at the time had a good support system from Grandma being in the medical field and stuff . I'm sure it was not as smooth as they portray it to me , but the way it's always been portrayed to me is it wasn't that bad .
Speaker 2The most interesting thing is the age right , because so many of us are diagnosed at different age groups . I can't imagine your parents at that time 19 , 20 years ago , you being diagnosed at two years old with the technology , even where it was at back then . I can't—it's so crazy for me sometimes , when I hear stories like this , to comprehend that , because when I was diagnosed it was the beginning age of insulin pumps , the beginning age of the DEXCOM and CGMs and all these things that were pretty much starting—not great , but pretty much starting—when I was diagnosed I was able to go right into that stuff . I can't imagine how it was at two years old or even five years old or six years old , yeah .
Speaker 1No , I mean I'm very lucky that my parents were on top of it like they were . I attribute a lot of that as I transitioned into managing my own diabetes as starting as a teenager and into becoming an older teenager , young adult , and obviously have been managing it . I've been like with them pretty hands off since I was like 14 or 15 and probably just because I saw how meticulous and how much they were on top of it , I was like cool , this is normal , this is how I have to be with it .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , I mean from a young age they were getting me involved with different programs and different—just . I was socialized amongst the diabetic world , I guess , and community , more than the average child .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I mean all those reasons combined , they definitely set me up in the right way , yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's interesting too that when we think about this concept of getting into different organizations , you guys had Camp Hamway . When did you start going to Camp Hamway ?
Speaker 1Yeah man . So my first time at Hamway . I was eight years old , so that was the first time staying there junior week . At the time overnight , Did the Stepping Stones Day Camp . A year or two before that , Eight years old , is like the real start of me actually remembering what camp is the first time doing overnight camp .
Yeah , and then did you get involved in any other organizations , like JDRF at the time or any other organizations ?
Speaker 1Yeah , growing up my parents had us pretty involved with JDRF . We always had a pretty good turnout for our Walk to Cure team back when they did it at various places the horseshoe around Easton one year , I think . So we always had an awesome turnout from friends and family with that . And just going to the various , it was pretty much JDRF encoded with the organizations we were involved with .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah . It's crazy because you think about back when you were diagnosed or when you were growing up , compared to now . There's all these great organizations beyond type one , so many great organizations that give so much great resources , and the fact that there's this diabetic podcast , so many other diabetic podcasts , so many amazing resources , and it's so awesome that you were able to be in a position your family was able to be in a position to be able to help you and teach you . When did things start clicking for you ? Like what age ? When did you start taking over management of your diabetes ? When did things really start clicking for you ?
Speaker 1Yeah , I would say one of the first big moments I was probably 11 years old and one of the kids on the baseball team was having everyone together . The parents were kind of supervising but kind of dropping us off at . It was game works at the time which , like a Dave and Buster's take place , so it was kind of like my parents were pretty worried , like hey , you've never been without us or someone directly that we trust watching you all the time , so kind of like not that it was an argument , but showing them why I was ready to do that , getting that taste of that , and then a couple months later , right , staying at the friend's house for the first time with a group of buddies so like 1112 , as I'm starting to have normal 12 year old social functions , you know , sleepovers , that type of stuff happening outside of my house , because it was always cool doing , can hang out with all the friends . But we got to do it at his house .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah . So I think my desire to have that freedom and get out there from a young age and just socialize and hang out and not want to miss out , and my parents recognizing that , just forced me to kind of do it .
Speaker 2Yeah , now you started going to camp at eight years old . How much of an influence on you know , over the years since eight years old up until that point of 12 , when you started to really started taking control of it yourself or wanting to , or understanding how to , how much did camp influence that ? You know those early years of camp influence . You know you being able to do that .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean camp is is everything . I attribute I mean a ton of it to my growing up of managing myself . You know , it's one thing to have parents or the doctor tell you , cool , you need to do this injection , you need to change this pump site , and it's really easy when you're a kid at home to mom , dad , I don't want to do this , do this for me . Or you know the things like we need to use numbing cream before we put on the pump site and all these road blocks that were just kind of just a necessary yeah To . Then , at camp , where they're like , well , here , here's your pump site changing . I'm like what do you mean ? Like you're not going to do this for me , and they're like we'll help you , but like you need to be able to do this . And just I mean in five minutes , like , cool , I have my whole life had my parents doing this and I can do this now . And yeah , going home with first year , I'm like , guys , I can change my own pump site . They're like you can do what ? Yeah ?
Speaker 2Yeah , it's so crazy when you think about two is like what , regardless if you're a young diabetic or not , like there's so many people that I've talked to in our community that don't understand that concept of I can do X , y and Z for myself . I don't need my doctor self , I don't need my parents help , but like I'm able to do this and make changes . So it's that's awesome that you know . I witnessed it when I was at camp . You know , helping out and being there , like just the mindset of the kids because I was just because I'm so in tune with that stuff , I was watching it the whole entire week , watching the kids who's who is like coming up and like being able to do these things on their own . And it was . It was beautiful to watch . That's great .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely so . I mean , it's a combination of those types of things that I think are a lot more prevalent in I don't want to say younger diabetics maybe it's a diabetic that's newer to having diabetes , but the first . You know , the first time not using your arm for an injection and using your leg instead , or the first time , managing on your own . And equally , if not more important to me , what can't provide from a diabetes management standpoint was , you know , turning into a young adult and having peers and friends and almost like big sibling figures that I could ask stuff to . That wasn't mom , wasn't the doctor .
Speaker 1You know , as I'm , as I'm hitting a college age and preparing for a college lifestyle that involves drinking , involves not the safest activities I can't even imagine what could have happened if I didn't have some awesome figures that I'm still friends with , that recognized cool . This is a teenager , this was me 10 years ago , 15 years ago . And teach me how to do it safely . Yeah , and in addition to giving you that , hey , you can make basal rate changes . You don't need to wait until your four month endo checkup . Or , you know , if you are recognizing that your blood sugar is high every single day at two , why would you not want a little more insulin before two ? Yeah , yep , so that just that encouragement from older staff members . Like you know , they were my counselors and then turned into my friends now that I'm a staff member and that was wildly important to me and definitely my health and safety . I attribute a ton of that to those types of people .
Speaker 2Yeah , 100% , 100% . All right , Jake , let's move over to you . I think that your story is going to be really cool to dive into , like this camp thought process , since you're a non diabetic . But I would love to hear if you have a story or have some experiences from your friend that you , that you have , that you mentioned at the beginning of the show that's diabetic . Did you have like different experiences with that , with him or her going through you know that process ?
Speaker 3Well , so , funny enough , the way we became friends was directly correlated to his diabetes . Okay , so grown up we had the same . We were in the same classroom for right before lunch and he wasn't allowed to take his shots by himself , so he had to go to the nurse . Well , because he had to go to the nurse , he got to leave early and he was always the first one in the lunch room .
Speaker 3I was a little bit of a heavier said kid and I love I just wanted to eat . That was my favorite thing to do lunchtime because I got to eat . Yes , I kind of rigged the system and said I would take him every day , just so I could be first one in lunch out to recess . And we've been pretty much best friends ever since . I'm the best man in his wedding here in about a month , so that's that was kind of how we got introduced to it . We didn't really talk about it a ton Growing up , like we were friends , but I never made new , but it wasn't . I didn't have any direct correlation to hey , knowing this , this happened to this or anything like that I know it's always new is Adam who had diabetes .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3Yeah , but that's how we , that's how we met .
Speaker 2Okay , that's cool . That's cool man Like it . I wasn't expecting that type of a story . That's great .
Speaker 1Dude , I had buddies that would like argue over who got to walk with me to lunch . Same exact situation .
Speaker 3Oh my God , seriously .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , so I had . I went to a small school like I was your friends with everyone in the class , so they were like I'm taking Dylan to lunch today , okay , well , fine , you do it today , I'm doing it tomorrow . What ?
Speaker 2Yeah that's hilarious , okay , so like going on this on this rabblehold . Dylan , what have you done ? What did you do growing up to get out ? What did you use your diabetes to get out of ?
Speaker 1Man , I never want to use it , at least to my knowledge . I mean probably like something stupid , like chores or something at home , but like I never once used it to get out of anything , although one time , right before our midterm , I had a buddy that was like Dylan I know I'm asking a lot , is like seventh grade yes , seventh grade , I'm asking a lot of you , but like I did not study for this , can you get me out of this ? And I was like yo teach , I'm gonna have to take this midterm . I got to go just lay down Austin's going to go with me and just make sure I'm cool .
Speaker 2Dude , that's hilarious that you didn't use it at all really in your life for yourself , but you used it for a friend .
Speaker 1Yeah , my buddy was like dude like and he was like borderline . Like you know , he needed to do good on this test . He needed to do good on this . Oh man what a friend , I just I'm not good , what a boy Dude that's awesome , that's hilarious , that's hilarious , so like the one time other than that I just I don't know didn't clean my room and blamed on not feeling good or something .
Speaker 2Yeah yeah , I was diagnosed at 25 . So I've never really even been in a position to like , use it in that way , Like it was just always okay , whatever . But even like at my age when I was diagnosed , I've always been the type of person that like you can't , you're not going to tell me what I can or can't do . So it was like I never tried to get out of anything because I always wanted to do everything .
Speaker 1So yeah for sure , yeah for sure . No , I'm the same way .
Speaker 2Yeah , awesome guys
. Let's transition to camp , because I really want to get both of your perspectives . Dale , we heard your kind of story about starting in camp and things . Jake , let's move to you actually . Let's talk about you getting involved in camp . I heard a little bit , I think , at the beginning , but let's talk about you getting involved in camp and the impact that that's had on you , even maybe with your friend that's a diabetic , or just being in that leadership role , or even just because I think you probably just started , like all of us , in a cabin and obviously moved into leadership . So tell me about that journey .
Speaker 3Yeah . So when Dylan and I first started hanging out , he tried to get me to go in 2019 and it just wasn't . I didn't have it in me yet to go . I was like , hey . I was like hey , I'll go next year . I told him that obviously I'm sitting there . He'll ask me next year . I'll probably say , no , covid happens , so there's no actual camp , it's virtual camp . So I'm like , okay , obviously I'm not going to do my first year of camp virtually because , one , I'm not going to know really much of what to do and , two , a lot of the learning aspect will be gone . So 2021 happens .
Speaker 3At this point I'm friends with him and Anthony now , who is the director of camp , and he's given me the whole pressure . He's like , jake , you got to go to camp , you got to go to camp , you got to go to camp . So , of course , being the friend that I am by cave to peer pressure and I was like , sure , I'll go , don't worry about it , I go and we get through the first week . I'm learning a bunch of stuff . It's great and , honestly , the first thing that happened , I was walking with Matt Vermillion one time and this was the first big learning experience for me and we were walking somewhere , he's like oh , I'm getting low .
Speaker 3And I immediately was like low , that's an issue . I knew at that point low was an issue just hanging around , don't know enough , and all that stuff . So I was like oh , matt , do you need anything ? He's like dude , chill , it's not as important as you think . Just take a deep breath , we'll be fine . So then that was when I was like okay , we need to just kind of dive more in depth of what low , how low ? What are we going to do , instead of just going oh , he's low , what do we need ? So that was super cool . But we got there the first week , great , until we got the Friday to all camp games and we're playing capture the flag and Dylan goes down and I'm like Dylan , you're the reason I came to camp , like you're leaving , he's got almost a torn ACL . He's like I can't .
Speaker 2What .
Speaker 3What , yeah ? And I'm like Dylan , you're abandoning me . You told me to come here and you're going to leave me , so he leaves . I come back for the second week , got through it and it was , honestly , it was a great time . I wouldn't have changed any of it and I was hooked right from there . The jump to leadership was a little bit unexpected . I kind of got thrown into it a little bit just because we had some people leave didn't work out so well , so we just kind of . But once I got a little taste of it , it was like , okay , I want to do more . And I was like , hey , let's go for a different position next year . So I went to head counselor with Rachel , who's fantastic , and it just I'm not sure how far I'll go or what I'll venture to next , but it's been a great learning experience so far and I love it yeah .
Speaker 2Now was this your first year in head counselor .
Speaker 3So last year was my first year in 2022 . And then this was my second year . Gotcha , gotcha .
Speaker 2So crazy man . But I just I talked to a couple of people that from camp at camp last year when I came up for that day and then like kind of thinking about , like doing stuff with the podcast , that aren't diabetics and I just I think it's so interesting that you , not being a diabetic , are so involved with this organization and this camp because it just it shows not just your integrity , your passion for you know , being a leader and being around kids , but being able to be a , you know , a person that is in front of these kids , leading them , that isn't like them , and a lot of people can't say that .
Speaker 3It was tough at first . I'm not a lie , because it's you're getting thrown in and you're just , you are different from everyone and that's not something that I've necessarily had to deal with growing up . I've been . I don't have medical problems or anything like that . So it's like you grow in and they're like oh , you're the one who's different and they're they make jokes and it's funny . Like it's they make jokes to you . They're talking about how , oh , you have a working pancreas , like you're weird and I was like I've never been made fun of for that before . So that was funny . But they really welcomed me even though I don't have diabetes Always there to be like hey , do this , this is how we do things , blah , blah , blah . And that was probably the biggest benefit factor in just me wanting to do more is they were super accepting of what I was there to do and just help and they were fantastic .
Speaker 2Now the . The other interesting piece about this is the whole actual diabetes medical piece . On the back end of learning that , that that process of checking blood sugars , like in the cabins or doing the midnight rounds or whatever it is , did you find that difficult at the beginning to kind of grasp those concepts ?
Speaker 3Not necessarily learning all of like . Okay , if they're between this number and this number , do I give them . That was the hardest aspect is learning the , the , the ratios , the math . But as far as hey , this kid's asleep , we got to get blood sugars taken . That really wasn't something that I struggled with , but definitely learning the ratios and all that stuff was a little bit of a challenge .
Speaker 2Yeah , Because for even for us that's a challenge . You know , like I I'm the first one to admit I do not deal with ratios . I don't like math , Like I literally eat the same things all the time . I understand portion control . I've I've experimented with different things , so when I sit down and eat something , I know exactly how many carbs it is , because I've probably failed at at both bolusing or dosing for that before .
Speaker 2So it's like it's one of those things is like I think it's very powerful for a diabetic , because it is this concept of understanding what works for you and that is like the only way that people can be successful . Because I've I've literally been in front of a lot of type ones and type twos that have , like just tried to place their whole entire management style on someone else's success . I'm like no , no , no , you can't do that . We have to figure out what's going to work for you and your lifestyle and who you are , your personality , and that's like one of my biggest messages , because people don't understand that to the full extent of of what that really means . So , yeah , Absolutely , absolutely .
Speaker 2Dylan , going from being a participant at camp , being a camper , to going into being a counselor , into leadership . Tell me about that process . Was that an easy transition for you ?
Speaker 1Easy in some ways , difficult in some ways , I would say I , having been at camp for so long and then being a staff member , being kind of one of the more vocal staff members , I feel like all of that transitioning to leadership was kind of sort of simple In work .
Speaker 1You know , I'm in a leadership role , so the management of people is nothing that's new to me .
Speaker 1The biggest challenge I had with kind of , you know , becoming a staff member and then becoming , you know , a staff member , telling other staff members what to do or helping , was and I don't have it as much anymore because I'm one of the old dudes there , it feels like but you know , working with staff members who were like no , I remember you being , you know , a little 15-year-old camper , that and by no means was I like causing trouble at camp , but I wasn't the quietest kid .
Speaker 1So they're like no , like you know , I'm not going to listen to you of all people . So I don't really have that much anymore because , you know , just due to summer camp , most of those people that were older staff members than me are just , unfortunately , due to life , not there . There's a few of them , but that would be the biggest challenge . I would say I've loved everything about it . I mean camp has given so much to me and there's been so many important people , and without people stepping up into leadership roles I wouldn't have had my experiences . So I mean I love being able to just give back and hopefully repeat that experience for all the kiddos now .
Speaker 2Yeah , what's been for both me . I love to hear this from both of you guys . What has been the biggest impact that you've learned from camp Jake ? It could be from you working at obviously working at camp Dylan . If it's even something that you learned as a camper , something that was very impactful , I would love to hear that .
Speaker 1First and foremost . I mean it's the people I've met . I mean the best man in my wedding last year I met at camp when we were in the same cabin when we were 12 . Yeah , if you looked at like the 25 people outside of a media family that I spend the most time talking to , I'd probably be surprised at how many camp people that is . They're just great friendships now but they started because of camp
. So I mean by far the biggest takeaway is the people from camp . Most of I'm not most , but a lot of my best relationships , best friendships in some way shape or form are influenced by camp .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , jake , what about you ?
Speaker 3Yeah , it's hard to disagree .
Speaker 2Yeah , it is .
Speaker 3And , besides that , just the knowledge that I've gained , I mean when there's been times where I've had to go to Dylan's house because he's just maybe had a few too many to drink and is a little low and being a little stubborn .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3Being able to know how to do that and take care of that was very easing on me in that situation because it's not something I necessarily dealt with before , so in that instance it was very easy to take care of , just based on what I've learned from the couple of years I've been there . Yeah , sorry to throw you under the bus , dylan .
Speaker 1Come on Dylan . Great example I feel like the average you know counselor or staff member from camp that's done it more than one year . Like you taking average medical professional and medical student that doesn't specialize in diabetes , like just through a summer to a camp . You know more than people learn through a whole college medical career .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , the experiences . You can't take the experiences away from either of you , regardless of diabetes or not . Like the experiences are real life experiences that like 100% shape you . And that's what I try to tell the kids , the diabetics , the adults , the non-diabetics , everyone I really interact with is your experiences shape your reality . And if that isn't understood , then you're just kind of moving through life and what's the point ? Then it's like you know your experiences have to really your experiences really just it shapes who you are and shapes your life and it took me even a long time to realize that and figure that out .
Speaker 1Definitely .
Speaker 2So yeah , dylan , I want to ask you this question . I ask all my guests this . I have some insight on this as well . What are like one to three things that you feel you could share with the audience that has just been such an impactful thing on you being a diabetic , and things that you've learned ? Maybe it's something that you learned later on in life that you wish you would have learned earlier . Is there like one or three things that you piece of advice you could give to the listeners ?
Speaker 1Yeah , first piece of advice I could give and this is probably directed at parents with little kids that are thinking about going to you know , whether it's Camp Hamway or whether it's wherever you're at , whether it's your overnight camp . I was , for like a couple weeks , the eight year old that did not want to go to camp . I was the eight year old in the parking lot like , no , mom , do not leave me here at camp . So that was me , and I'm someone that loves camp , like I feel like you can't love camp more than I do . So if you have a kid that is a little uneasy and doesn't want to go , just tell them they have to go , because that's what my parents did , and I'm so thankful that they didn't just say , okay , cool , you do not have to go . So that is a huge piece of advice for your parents .
Speaker 1If you have little kiddos out there that are thinking about going to camp or something like camp , I'd say the other thing that I want to just make sure everyone knows is and can you do an awesome job always touching on this like you just did , but my diabetes is not your diabetes , can . It is not anyone else's diabetes . I have me personally if I eat ice cream , it doesn't matter how much insulin I could take . I could probably take like five gallons of insulin and my blood sugar is still going to go high . Where's I have friends that you know they can eat insulin or they can eat ice cream like normal . And there's other food groups or other activities that influence them . Some friends that are really , really , really influenced by caffeine . You know they can have black coffee with no carbs and it's going to mess with their blood sugar . And some friends are like you're messing with me , right ? Like it doesn't have carbs . How does it affect your sugar ? So you know you can't base it off of how someone else tells you to treat it .
Speaker 1I'd even go as far as to say , like you know , and I've gone through the endo that was my endo , starting out like he's retired now . I've gone through numerous endos and like , yes , they have some really , really , really good guidance . We could not manage it without endos . But you can't take everything they say like you know , like it's the Bible or like it's the law . I've had endos tell me to do something and in my head I'm like that is so stupid . I know if I do that , things are going to go badly , and that's just because they don't know my diabetes . You know it's the first time they've seen me at an appointment and they're trying to make changes because it worked for a previous patient .
Speaker 2Or because they're looking at a very small picture of the puzzle from a CGM or blood , you know , finger sticks or whatever it is , and they're trying to make this crazy change in your management . Where it's , the management is just , they're focused on the pharmaceutical piece of it and they're trying to make this change to your , to your management style , without taking anything else into account .
Speaker 1Dude , and as you know , obviously , like there's so many variables , even as far as like , we did a vacation a couple of years ago in Colorado and I noticed , I assume , the elevation because I travel all the time , but that was the highest elevation I've been , like my ratios were different . So it's just like there are so many variables that we're not even thinking of that affect our diabetes management and every person's is different .
Speaker 2How often do you feel like you need to change your ratios ? Do you change one regular basis , like if you're traveling or if you're sick , or are there times ? Specific times that you do change them .
Speaker 1No , that's a great question . So I'm like one of the few staff members from campus still on injections .
Speaker 1I have a fantastic T-Slim that has been sitting in my pantry for like two years because injections just weren't good for me . I'm on a dexcom , but I'm on injections and , dude , I kid you not like my , my long lasting insulin . It could be different four days in a row , based on what I know I'm about to do , for example , memorial Day or Labor Day . We went down this past week . We played disc golf Jake , I , three other friends down in Burroke State Park . It was a hike and a half on top of a disc golf round . Like the elevation change was 95 degrees . It was just like a workout , like we are all .
Speaker 1I think Jake had a shirt off I don't know if he was hotter , just showing off , but like it was physically intense . So like I have my long lasting for that day , yeah , whereas like today I know , hey , I'm spending all day in the office . I have a couple of appointments , but like they're sitting down at the table , they involve very , very . Like I have a non physical day to day , so I'm taking more Lantus . So I would say almost day to day my long lasting is changing . My carb ratio stays the same unless I get in a funk . For the most part .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's so interesting , bill , because you I think about , because I'm on a pump and I've been on a pump for so long I just subconsciously always think about changing ratios based off of what the pump settings are . And as you were telling that story , I was like thinking to myself like holy shit , yeah , yeah , because when you are on , just on injections , you have so much more flexibility to change your ratios than when you do on pumps . I've got six different ratio times in my set in my pump . So if I need to change a ratio for whatever reason travel , sick , whatever it is I got to change all six of them . So , yeah , 100% , way more flexibility . I love that .
Speaker 1Dude , I never expected to end up on injections for this long and I mean , who's to say I'm on them forever ? But it started , I think it was like two or three years ago . I camp , I was going into camp and I was like cool , I'm just not going to bring my pump , like I'm just a couple of staff members have done it . You know we use the week to just take a break , like as stupid as it sounds , but like cool , I'm taking a shower with no devices attached to me , like this is awesome , so it's just supposed to be a little vacation . I was like I'm always within like 100 yards of a meter or a nurse , like what could go wrong ? Yeah , and just the pump just has not gone back on yet . Dude it .
Speaker 2If it works for you , it works for you , man .
Speaker 1Like it's it's .
Speaker 2it drives me crazy when people talk about this whole like , oh , technology , technology , technology , technology is amazing . It is amazing . Yeah , it does not work for everyone . A gram prime example that it literally . We started the podcast in 2019 , me and Graham , and it took me almost three years to get him on a CGM . Three years , almost three years to get out my Dexcom that is .
Speaker 1the Dexcom for me is the most important tool in my toolbox for management .
Speaker 2Yeah , man , like it's . I believe that it's the . It is the thing that we we absolutely have to have as a CGM 100 .
But I , to go back to what I was like saying , is like I get so irritated with , like medical . I get so irritated with people that are like , people that always say , like I got to get my daughter , I got to get this person on a pump , or I should go on a pump . I'm like , what is , what is your levels right now ? How is your management style right now ? Do you like where you're at ? Do you like where you're at ? Do you like where you're at ? Do you like where you're at ? Do you like how you feel like , because those specific questions are going to get out of them , like whatever those questions are going to get out of them Like well , actually , yeah , I do like how I feel my A1C is really good , so why are we going to ? Why do you need to make a change ? Then Just stay where you're at ?
Speaker 1Yeah , dude , I've . I've been lucky enough during this break to find a , a Pedro , which is a fast acting insulin . You know it takes the place of Novolock or Humilob , which are the popular ones , and it is not approved to be using a pump because it's non lubricated so it can't travel through the tubing , I guess is what I'm told . So it is an insulin out of , never discovered , and for me it just works like just that , much better than Novolock or Humilob does .
Speaker 2I'm I'm curious have you tried a Fresa ?
Speaker 1I have not . I've had Humilob , Novolock , LISPRO and which is the same as Humiloc , I believe , and then a Pedro , the ones I've tried . I've heard great things about it , though .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's , it's . It's very fascinating that it's an inhaled insulin that works way faster than any insulin out there . Limjib is another one that I really like , but when I use it in the pump it burns , sometimes more often than it should , so I wish I could take it . I wish I could be confident enough to take it . I still have a vial at home that I probably will try again , but I really liked it when it was working because it's it's so fast . Yeah , so yeah , do you do pens or just do shots ?
Speaker 1Man , honestly , I got the whole arsenal .
Speaker 2I had a boy , a boy .
Speaker 1I got a pen's prescription . You know , due to medical costs in the States here . When my mother-in-law went down to Cabo , she came back with a lot of insulin because it's over the counter and affordable down there , and those are all vials of Humiloc , yeah yeah . So I have options , to say the least .
Speaker 2Yeah , don't get me started on the US insulin insurance thing . Although it's better it's a little bit better now , but still it's insane .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2And not just insulin . Even third even trying to get supply sometimes is insane .
Speaker 1Absolutely , and that's something that I've been minorly involved with . Coda has done some stuff . I went with the ex-director she's in a different position now , but we went to the you know the state house and we've been there lobbying multiple times talking to political figures . So that is something that you know . You think camp hand-way , you think of the summer camp , but that is something that the other 11 months out of the year that the team is working on are issues like that .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 1So things behind the scenes that you don't think about , that I've had the luck to or the fortune enough to dabble in and just help with in my random roles . So that's some stuff that Anthony and the team over at you know , coda and Life Care work on all the time .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm trying to get Anthony to get me a invite to the diabetes camp conference to like speak or something or just to be there .
Speaker 1Oh , dude , that would be , so cool .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm trying to get . I'm trying to , we're trying to figure that out , see if we can make it happen .
Speaker 1Man , that'd be awesome . I just I've never been myself , of course , but I hear from Anthony all the time and this seemed like just a great experience out there .
Speaker 2Yeah , he's told me really good things about it . Okay , jake , oh man , that was a long time brother , that's okay . That's okay . What's one or three things from you , from your perspective , that you have kind of learned from camp or learned being in the diabetes community . A piece of advice that you could give from the outside , kind of looking in .
Speaker 3Yeah , I think one of the biggest things is handling diabetics when they're either high or low , because you guys obviously know their attitudes change , things are different . You have to kind of be able to work within that Some people are different than others but being able to figure out with that person okay , they're low , this is how they're going to react , and not either falling for it or just not going along with it , just kind of letting it subside and moving on . That was one of the bigger things is learning how to deal with the person and how they're feeling at that point .
Speaker 2I think that this feelings thing is very interesting because we hear so much about oh well , what does the DEXCOM say ? What does the finger stick say ? Oh , it says that it's 90 , but you feel low . That feeling tells us so much about what the next step is . It's interesting with the DEXCOM because I believe the DEXCOM is the more powerful of the three CGMs right , our four CGMs . But even it's not always correct .
Speaker 2I think the feeling piece is so important for us to understand because of that technology not being 100% all the time . You don't want to give yourself a bolus when you're actually lower than the number says . Or you don't want to give yourself a bolus and now you didn't give yourself enough because really you're actually 30 , 40 , 50 milligrams per deciliter higher . The feeling , I think , is really important . And it's hard too for someone like me , because I think I have both spectrums hypoglycemic unawareness and I think I have hyperglycemic unawareness . The feelings piece is sometimes very hard for me . Sometimes I don't even feel anything until I'm 60 , and coming back , coming down , it's one of those things . It's like I'm trying to always be in tune with those feelings and it's such a powerful thing .
Speaker 3Dylan just looks like . There's some times where I don't know I'll be out doing stuff and I can tell just by looking at him , looking at him straight in the face he's one or the other . I can't necessarily distinguish the two , but I know that he's either one side or the other .
Speaker 2Yeah , definitely . I think that's also a very powerful thing for Dylan having you as that support too . You guys were out doing discs the other day and the heat and you being able to recognize those symptoms or recognizing that body language and say , dude , are you okay ? And then you automatically know how to act if something goes wrong .
Speaker 3Yeah , that's awesome , guys , there's usually always a set of glucose tabs or some type of gummies in my center console , just in case Dude straight up , it's normal .
Speaker 1I'm driving in my car . I'm like cool , I have gummies on deck . I'm driving with my wife in the car . I'm like , hey , I'm low , cool , I got stuff right here . Not many friends like Jake . I'm like , oh crap , I'm low . He's like no dude , I put this stuff in here this morning . I got you .
Speaker 2It's like he's already on top of it . Man , he's already on top of it .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Being at camp man . It's subconscious . He's already got it .
Speaker 1He's already got it down , man , I would say just another random advice . Go ahead , Jake , Go ahead Dylan .
Speaker 3Oh no , you're good Go ahead .
Speaker 1I would say just another random piece of advice , and this might go for some of those teenagers out there if you're listening that are diabetic . My parents always had me telling everyone about it . All the friends that I'm spending time with you would struggle to have ever found me in a small group of people where at least one person did not know I was diabetic and knew what to do in case of emergency . Flash forward to my best friend as I'm hanging out with him in college , I find out that there's close people in his life that don't even know he's diabetic . I'm like my goodness , how many times have you put yourself in a position where , if something went wrong , no one would know what is wrong ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Thankfully , we've talked about my support system , bringing it up , and it was so normal for me to tell everyone about it . Whereas to the next person , can I imagine what it's like getting diagnosed later in life , having to change how you think and act ? Lucky for me , that's all I know . I don't know any better . Make sure , guys , if you're one of those younger people out there , or even if you are older , if you're hanging out in small groups , you're doing things like maybe you're going on a run with a group of people or whatever Someone in that group needs to have your back and know what's happening if something goes wrong .
Speaker 2Yeah , for sure . The support of that is very important . I love this thought process of support . It is one of the things that I'm always thinking about , because we always think about support . I feel like every time I talk to someone , I ask someone what's your support system ? They're like oh , it's great . My wife or my spouse or my friends , my family , I got all these people . Not one of those people is diabetic . I'm just like that is amazing . It's amazing that you have that emotional support , but that's not really your diabetes support . Diabetes support is the podcast , the social media friends that you have , anybody that you know that's a diabetic , people that are in the community doing things like Jake that's not a diabetic Other caregivers or whatever it is . That is the power of diabetes support . It's so interesting to have those conversations with people .
Speaker 1Absolutely , absolutely . Jake does do a good job too . He's always pretty tasty treats too . He's just giving me some crappy fruit snacks . He stays loaded with some pretty good stuff .
Speaker 3Just in case I get hungry . I want to be able to eat it .
Speaker 2The question is have you ever flipped out on him ? He's giving you something You're like . What the heck is this ? This is nasty . What are you giving me ?
Speaker 1Correct me if I'm wrong . I hope I haven't .
Speaker 3I don't buy bad snacks .
Speaker 2Okay , well , that's what I'm going to happen then . Okay cool , oh gosh , that's great . Well , fellas , I really appreciate you coming on talking about all this . This has been incredible talking to you guys outside of camp Dylan . I had really good conversations . You had the bonfire during camp Jake . I'm so glad that I got to hear some more about your story and how involved and how you got involved with camp . It's been a great honor and a pleasure to one work with you guys this summer and just be in that environment , but also to have you guys on and talk to you . I really appreciate you guys coming on and doing this .
Speaker 1Yeah , man , I can't do enough for you , yeah .
Speaker 2Thank you so much for coming on . Everyone that's listening reach out to these two guys . They've got Dylan's got a lot of great knowledge about diabetes . I'm always talking about improving or increasing the people in your inner circle . These two are going to be two really good resources for you guys . So , fellas , if you could just tell us , like , if you guys have any social media handles , how can people kind of reach out if they want to ask you some questions , Dylan , about your journey , Jake about your journey as well , like how can people connect with you guys ?
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely Instagram . If you search Dylan Connect , it's KNE CHT . In case you haven't seen that somewhere on here , search me . It's DylanConnectrealters , my Instagram handle . Message me Dylan Connect on Facebook . I'm on Facebook pretty often . Those are the two main ways to get a hold of me . I'm always happy to answer any questions . Or you just want someone to talk to about diabetes ? I'm happy to just be in here to listen . I love it , love it .
Speaker 3Yeah , pretty much the same too . For me , for Instagram , it's Jake Miller on the Score Real Tour and then Jake Miller on Facebook . Like he said , feel free to reach out to either of us . We'd be happy to answer any questions or just be there if you need it , love it , love it .
Speaker 2Thanks again , guys . This was great . Thanks everybody for listening . We'll catch everybody next time .
Speaker 1Absolutely . Thanks again , ken . Thank you . Oh , thank you for being a part of the Can't Family now . Yeah , yeah , brother , thank you , thank you , Thanks everybody , thanks everybody . I'm happy to answer any questions or just be there for you guys . Thanks again , byeans , Bye for now . Thanks everybody , bye now .