Welcome back to another episode of the Camp Hamway series on the Healthy Diabetic Podcast . I am your host , coach Ken Kenness , and , as always , 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 got that part out of the way . Now I also actually I'm sorry . I want to also remind you , to make sure you like , subscribe to the podcast . Some fun fact that the podcast should be now on video form as well . These Camp Hamway episodes most of them will not be on video form because they were recorded on audio before we started transitioning to doing video as well , so you can also find the podcast on YouTube . All the links for the video form of the podcast as well will be in the show notes , so that's another really exciting thing that I'm pumped about .
Speaker 2So , all right , let's get back to the task at hand , which is to introduce you to these two amazing gentlemen that I got to sit down when I was at Diabetes Camp and interview about their diabetes . The really cool thing about both of these guys is they're both athletes and I wasn't able to talk to very many people that were participating in athletics during my time recording at Camp Hamway , so I was really excited I got to talk to these two dudes , these two guys , and their stories are really , really cool . One of them has diabetes in his family and you're just going to hear a really cool story how these guys met at camp and how they've become close and the fact that they both play soccer together or not together , but they both play soccer . So that's something that they really had in common when they both got to camp and met . So that's just another example of how powerful going to a camp and increasing or improving getting more people in your diabetes inner circle is .
Speaker 2So , all right , let's get with Caden and Grayson . What's up , fellas ? So first thing , give me your names . I'm Caden Pokington .
Speaker 1I'm Grace Adams .
Speaker 2Nice , caden , when were you diagnosed ? What year is this for you , that camp ?
Speaker 3This is my third year at the camp and I was diagnosed March 4th of 2021 .
Speaker 2March 4th of 2021 . Raise your hand in the audience if you know the exact day of your diagnosis . Does everybody know their exact day ? Pretty much Almost everyone . I'm not going to raise my hand because I don't remember the exact day , so that's awesome that you remember your exact day . Tell me the story . What was happening in your life , what was going on ?
Speaker 3Well , I was in the middle of like seventh grade , so obviously like a bunch of school . But I also had a lot of club soccer because my team's , like nationally , had ranked .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3And so we were on the way to like like a tournament like Indiana , but they'd noticed I had been like going to the bathroom a lot and drinking tons of water . So they thinking like before going they think they'd go to the doctor just like make sure nothing's wrong . And the doctor had diagnosed me with type 1 diabetes soon as I got in there because I did like a urine test and yeah and yeah , I was like devastated because I mean , the tournament was out of state so I was down to go .
Speaker 2Yeah , and this was on the way the tournament , before the tournament .
Speaker 3This was like two days before the tournament .
Speaker 2Man , that sucks , I mean I guess in hindsight I would have sucked to go on the trip and not be able to compete either . Yeah , so everything works out for a reason .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2So , hmm , it sucks , man , what ? So you said you went to the hospital .
Speaker 3I went to like my doctor first , and then they told me I had to go to like the ER , like later , what was your blood sugar ? My blood sugar was 588 . Nice .
Speaker 2Man , how'd you feel ? Not very good , not at all you weren't in DK , so I was good .
Speaker 3I was not no .
Speaker 2That's good . So how long were you in the hospital ?
Speaker 3I was in the hospital for three days .
Speaker 2Okay , what type of education did you get ?
Speaker 3Like dietary and then like people teaching me about what it is , because I'm the first one in my whole entire family to have diabetes so it's all new to everyone in my family . Okay , it was so unexpected .
Speaker 2Yeah , so type 1 and type 2 or just type 1 . Do you have type 2 ?
Speaker 1No , no I'm not I'm not Okay .
Speaker 2Yeah , me too . It's interesting because if you would have , if you would ask us to ask medical you know , five , ten years ago everyone you was saying that it's genetic and it's not genetic , because if it's genetic then my brother would have it , my girls would have it now . So it's not genetic , it's caused by a trigger , and so I think that's that's . It's interesting , as diabetes has evolved , that we've been able to understand and change our thought processes of not just how we treat it but also the origins of it . So it's cool . So you said how many days were you in the hospital ? Three , three days . When you got out of the hospital , how long until you felt like you had a little bit more of a grasp on it .
Speaker 3Well , I'm very independent when it comes to it . So from the first day of the hospital , I was doing everything myself because I felt like I had more control of it and I just didn't trust people doing it for me .
Speaker 2So you really dove into the independence of it . Yeah , it's awesome , that's awesome man , because a lot of people can't do that , a lot of people don't have that mindset . So that's good . So you're back playing soccer now . Yeah , how is it when you're going to practice compared to when you're going to a tournament ? Do you have different strategies , or how is that going ?
Speaker 3Practice is just like . It's not much of a worry because I can tell symptoms and stuff in middle practice . But tournament is a much longer prep because you have to pack more and monitor it more , because you're playing so much more .
Speaker 2Yeah , do you have specific times that you've noticed at game one at this time frame ? I need to eat something because I'm starting to go low .
Speaker 3I usually try to eat an hour and a half before , because that seems like work best for me and keep me out .
Speaker 2Nice , nice , cool man Grayson , how are you ?
Speaker 1Good , how are you ?
Speaker 2I'm good man , Tell me your story .
Speaker 1So I was diagnosed in around September and I think it might have been like September 18th of 2020 . And so , before I start , my dad's also diabetic , so he played a big part in like the whole .
Speaker 2That's awesome .
Speaker 1Getting me to the hospital before it got too serious . But so it was morning I was showing all the symptoms drinking a lot of water , having used the restroom a lot , just all that kind of stuff and my mom decided that he she was like Brian . I think you should check his blood sugar because he's showing all the same symptoms that you said that you did when you got diagnosed .
Speaker 1Just check his blood sugar . See what it is . Just to be safe Check that I was around 250 . So my mom told me that my dad's going to take me to the hospital we did . By the time I got there I was around 700 . And that was only like 30 minutes of driving and I had already gone up like 500 .
Speaker 2Was this after you ate ?
Speaker 1Yeah , but still it's a lot to go up in that small time frame . Yeah , yeah , but other than that , yeah , it's just .
Speaker 2Did you have symptoms ? What were your symptoms ?
Speaker 1Using the restroom a lot , drink a lot of water . I was like I mean running out of energy really fast . I was puking more than often . That was mostly it . I was really tired all the time Were you losing weight . Yeah , I lost a lot of weight . I lost like 20 , maybe 30 pounds in a month , if not less .
Speaker 2That's a lot , man , because you're not a big dude , you're not , you know .
Speaker 1I was like skin and bones for a good three or four months .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1But yeah , that was another thing that led my mom to wanting to check my blood sugar , because , just like being , I mean I'm not big , but I'm not like a small person either . So like when she saw how skinny I was , she was like something's up and so yeah , how long did you spend in the hospital ? About probably four or five days .
Speaker 2Wow , yeah , so that's interesting because that's a different . That's different than probably , I think , every single other person that we've talked to so far is . Everyone else has spent 24 or 48 hours , maybe 72 . And you're spending almost a whole week .
Speaker 1Yeah , the reason behind that was because it took them like a day or two to even get the diagnosis , because they were so on and off on whether I even had it or not .
Speaker 2Yeah , which is crazy to me because that you know . You said what was your number .
Speaker 1Like 700 .
Speaker 2Yeah , at 700, . I mean that's , you know , that's almost like a no brainer , it's like , okay , do the blood test , let's confirm right now .
Speaker 1Yeah , I don't . I still don't really know why it Took them that long to get the diagnosis . It was pretty straightforward , especially with my dad having it too . He was telling them all the time like he has it , there's no going around it , hmm .
Speaker 2How was uh ? Do you feel like you're still in the honeymoon stage ?
Speaker 1Um , I'm not really sure .
Speaker 2Okay . Okay , the reason I ask is because , being up that high and Now being in a position where you have pretty good control over it , and then also only being two years ago , we haven't really talked to anybody else yet about honeymoon . And if you're in honeymoon and and I think that's a very important piece to understand , because when I am constantly am talking about this concept of understanding what works for you and in let's make no mistake that Our only job is a diabetic the only job that we have is to figure out what works for us and that's going to constantly evolve and change . And Honeymoon , I feel like , especially for young people , puts a wrench into that , because you go through this whole diagnosis . You go through an emotional thing , you some people go through denial , some people go through the five stages of grief , and that could take a year , two years to three years , it doesn't matter how long that could take . And when you go through all of that , when you come out the end , you start to figure out what works for you . Then your honeymoon ends . Now things change . Then you become a Raging boy , teenager , things are going to change , right . So all of these things happen within that process . So the honeymoon stage .
Speaker 2I think is really important to for all of us to understand that it's it's a , it's a gap and when we come on the outside , on the other side of that gap , it's important to understand that piece , because if we don't , then we're gonna Be fighting , you know , nails and teeth of trying to understand Well , I had it figured out why it's not working anymore . So that's cool . What for both of you ? What is one to three things ? Or let's back up what ? What has been the most impactful thing that you've learned at camp ? You both , you both are our friends as well here at camp . What has that relationship meant to both of you ? And what has been a very impactful other impactful things you've learned ?
Speaker 3I mean definitely fighting the same sport kind of helps in a way , because we're able to like give each other like things . That helps in a way and Kind of having someone that's there for you , like that is like really helpful in a way .
Speaker 2Nice About you , grayson .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean , I completely agree with that . Um , it is nice that , like if I have any questions , like we can both just turn to each other because we both played a similar level and we both obviously have the same disease . So it's just nice to know that if I need to ask any questions .
Speaker 2Yeah , you have that support . That's awesome and that's good . What ? What's a piece of something , a piece of advice that you could give to the listeners ? And I love this from both of you and I would Want you guys to kind of share maybe some advice you have about playing and competing at a high level , because there's a lot of athletes that listen to this podcast that are struggling with that . So that would be my first question for you guys .
Speaker 3I'd say , take care of it before it's happened , so , like beforehand , kind of prepare yourself . Hmm for something that could happen rather than being unprepared .
Speaker 2Yeah , love , that being prepared is a really important thing of diabetes , for sure , what you , grayson just keep persevere .
Speaker 1whenever you feel like , whenever you feel like You're like alone , just think about there's gonna be other people that are going through the same stuff as you , that have maybe even similar lifestyles , and if you just keep going , then like Nothing's nothing bad should happen , hopefully .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that . I love that . Thank you , boys . This is great . I'm glad I got to talk about the athletic part as well . So this , this is awesome . Thank you so much for jumping on .
Speaker 3Thank you , thank you .
Speaker 2Thank you so much for listening again . I really appreciate all the time and effort that you guys put in listening to the episodes and I know some of these episodes are really short and I know some of them are pretty long . So if you are listening to every second , every minute of these episodes and maybe you're going back in Catching something and listening to them again and catching something new , I appreciate all of you . I just want to take a quick second and remind you to share the podcast with someone that you believe is gonna get some good value out Of it , whoever that might be . If you are looking to get some additional support , some additional guidance , my door is always open .
Speaker 2I'm doing a lot of really cool stuff with my 10 week coaching program . I'm doing a small version of that and then I'm doing an actual 10 week version of it . So if you are interested in just getting some additional support , please reach out to me on Instagram , send me an email . All my contact information is in the show notes , so please don't hesitate to reach out . I am here , even if you just need someone to talk to . You know , get maybe a couple strategies and in play Because you're struggling with something , so just don't hesitate to reach out , please , all right ? Well , thank you so much again for listening , and Until next time I will see you .