Welcome back to the Healthy Diabetic Podcast . I'm your host , coach Ken Kines . 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 . Man , every time I say it , it's like getting easier to say . After saying it , you know for three years , it's much easier to say Okay .
Speaker 2So , as we jump into this episode , before I get started with the introduction of these two amazing people that I have with me today , I want to remind you to subscribe and like to the podcast . It really helps the podcast grow If you're watching on YouTube , thank you , it's brand new on YouTube . I'm super pumped . After three years , we finally got the video form all set up . So make sure that you like and subscribe to the podcast . The five star review Thanks for all of you , to all of you who keep coming back every single week .
Speaker 2So let's get into today's guests . I got to sit down today with Cindy and Scott , two caretakers of a very young diabetic . She's brand new , or brand new-ish . It's September 27th-ish around that time , I think it's September 27th , and Mila was diagnosed in January , so she's just a little bit more than eight months past her diagnosis . This is a really special episode for me because they're not just family friends I've known Scott and Cindy for a long long time but their whole entire family now is diabetic clients . I'm coaching the whole entire family on how to manage and build an effective management strategy for their diabetes , and not just for Mila , but for the whole entire family . How does everyone communicate and talk together on how to manage this crazy , crazy complex condition ? So it's a very special conversation for me and I really hope that you guys enjoy this conversation .
Speaker 2So , without further ado , let's get with Cindy and Scott . All right , thank you so much , you guys , for coming in . I'm pumped about this , not just because this is going to be a really fun live conversation , but also I'm pumped about this because I've known both of you for a long , long time . Mila is a brand new diabetic , so this is going to be a really good conversation on because you guys both are caregivers . You guys have different roles .
Speaker 2We've talked about that before . You guys have different roles in Mila's management and I think this is going to really touch and be able to be a really good light for a lot of caregivers out there that are one just starting or been doing this for a long , long time . So thank you so much for being here and being in this conversation . So my first question for you guys is getting into diagnosis . This is always a really good place to start in these conversations is talking about the diagnosis from maybe her perspective , your guys perspective , how all that went down , what were the symptoms , what was kind of the you know the , what kind of happened within that diagnosis ?
Speaker 3Yeah , sure Want to start .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'll start .
Speaker 3January 25th 2023 , a day we won't forget . It was actually a snow day for Dublin City Schools , and so the kids were off and Mila seemed a little off , I would say out of it . But this had been happening for a few weeks where she just maybe seemed tired in a days , and I kind of just came to the realization , with my mom gut , that we needed to maybe see what was going on . Also , the classic symptoms of , you know , diabetes excessive thirst , weight loss . I didn't truly know that she had lost weight , but she was looking very thin . I just attributed that to her growing and just her hunger was through the roof , eating all the time and always still hungry , and before that , I think I mean on my end of it .
Speaker 1You know , I grew up with four brothers my first two sons , two sons again older sons , 18 , and my other sons 11 . And so I just had that boy mentality . And then there's the girl mentality , also being , you know , not having any of that attention . I'm thinking to myself this is just a girl thing .
Speaker 1So , Moody , you know , just , things were just off the chart kind of a little bit and I just and you know she's kind of downplaying it a little bit because it was really pretty amazing how she picked up on all these and saying , hey , something's not right here , and where I'm thinking the opposite way well , she's just a girl , I mean , this is what happens . So , and that's that change real quickly , that mentality . I mean it changed a lot when she was born , but it became more , you know , as she's getting older and you're just trying to think about the hormone stuff and where that takes place and it's a new area for me .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think that's . I think that's a really interesting thing that you bring up , scott , because even for myself , like I have two little girls myself , right and thinking about like the hormonal changes they're going to go through , and like thinking about that , oh , I'm always thinking about that , and every time there's a argument , or every time there's a some type of sickness , every time there's there's something I'm always thinking in the back of my head and what I think is really interesting from your perspective , of you giving Cindy so much like praise , like she was able to understand and see these symptoms when you were on the total other side of it I think that's really powerful .
Speaker 1I mean I think we both knew something was right . She was . I mean she would jump off real quick if she was angry about something , and you know . So , like I said , it was amazing that she picked up on it and just kind of said , hey , something's not right , we need to get this checked out . So I remember the day she said I , I scheduled an appointment and taking her into the pediatrician , and that's when it all changed .
Speaker 3Yeah . So I actually didn't tell Mila we were going to the pediatrician until we were in the car because I knew she would be disappointed to be missing out , you know , on the snow day . But we got there . I , you know , gave her symptoms I had that day looked online and saw the potential for a diabetes diagnosis .
Speaker 2Now .
Speaker 3I knew nothing about .
Speaker 2That was my next question , yeah .
Speaker 3No , I , I didn't know the difference between type one and type two . I didn't know anything about it , basically , but when I looked up for symptoms it was scary because , you know , I thought we could be . You know , what are we getting into ? I don't know . They did a urine test and left us in the room and two months later we came back , as we were sitting there for a while , started to kind of sink in like this probably isn't gonna be good news . They had also taken her weight and she had lost three pounds since her last appointment , which I think was just three months before .
Speaker 2Okay .
Speaker 3So again kind of confirming that weight loss for me . Her pediatrician is wonderful . We love her . She came in the room . She was very calm , she said that there was no need to do a finger prick , that her glucose levels were so high that we needed to go to nationwide children's emergency immediately . And I said immediately , like right now . And she said right now . So I remember going in the bathroom of the pediatrician's office and crying and calling Scott and saying I need you to meet me down at the hospital . I will never forget the car ride from the pediatrician's office to nationwide children's hospital . I don't think Mila and I said one word to each other . I don't think she fully knew what was going on , but that was just silent . And yeah , we got checked in and her blood sugar was over 600 . And they were pretty confident , before they had done any further blood work , that we were gonna get a diabetes diagnosis and we were admitted and spent two nights at nationwide children's hospital .
Speaker 2Two nights .
Speaker 1And a lot of that was education , obviously getting her sugar under control , but a lot of it was sitting down with us and being first times . It wasn't my first time being around it . My mom's sister was a type one , but I was so young then when she passed away and when I was fairly young , a teenager , and so I didn't really get to learn much about it other than I know she was taking shots and stuff like that . So that's about the only exposure I had with it . So I think children's hospitals did a great job of educating us at . Different educators that came in and sat down with us and talked us through it .
And I still I'm talking to you before and I still get emotional Every time I hear it and every time everybody says it to me . That's been in this world and you hear them say the first thing out of their mouth is you're going to be okay . And I still get , like I said , it still gets me now so and that gives you somewhat comfort . But we got a long way to go to learn what we were getting into .
Speaker 2Yeah , and I've said this to you guys before , it's like you guys are still young in this journey . It's not even a year in and there's so much that's gonna happen within the next two years , with being in honeymoon now good , getting out of honeymoon , whatever it might be Like , all of these things are gonna continue to happen . Me like going through hormonal changes and talked about that . It's going to be a really interesting journey and I'm glad that you guys both are on the same page with what is going on and so heightened and focused on being able to build this management style that's going to work for her .
Speaker 3It's our family .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3You know that day didn't just change her life . It affects our whole family . Yeah .
Speaker 1I think it's important to that we're all on board in different levels to . There is that , you know , cindy's once again dives right into it and she is the primary caretaker for us and I'm kind of backup , more stability , kind of the support when I need to be there . Not that it's saying I don't get educated in what's going on , yeah , but I do rely on Cindy a lot on that as far as keeping me up to date and what I need to do , yeah , and making sure that I do what's needed as a dad and more so . I just want to be there for Mila as far as being supportive and , you know , being a strong dad , yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah , and I love that you bring that piece up too , because it's we've had this conversation before of this concept of primary versus the other person that's in the back the back end right , and you're the other person that's in the back end because you're the primary income person of the household , right ? And Cindy has now become the person that's taking over control of Mila's management , and I think that is incredible because it allows both of you to take a specific role , instead of like having both of you having to feel like you have to be primary , then you have to be secondary , then you have to be primary , then you have to be secondary . So it's like you guys understand what the roles and their responsibilities are , which is awesome .
Speaker 1I come from my initial past life . Before I got into what I'm doing medical sales now , I was an athletic trainer , so I had to keep a calm mind in a lot of different situations .
Speaker 1So I still think I bring that to the table in certain situations where I know Cindy's , like you know , hitting a spot where it's been a little hectic and I got to let's talk this out , let's calm it down , and I , you know , granted , I , you know , like I said , she knows a whole lot more than I do . I , you know at least I can talk her down to make her think a little bit okay , what do we ? What did we do here ? What we do here , and more dory of time , we we figure it out , but there's times we don't and we have to lean on , you know , other people and Ken you being one recently and children's hospital being the other , you know certainly , you know working us through that and that's been a big help for us and I think it's important to continue to do . That is like we talked about before is building our community , yeah , so yeah , the inner circle , the diabetes inner circle , is so important .
Speaker 2You guys know that , you guys have seen that , like we've talked about that , it's so important and I think it's one thing that people don't realize how important it really is is that building that inner circle in whatever way that is .
I got to tell you a quick story of we when we first got diagnosed for this . Mila , did you know my kids , my two older boys ? They play hockey and I know of a kid that actually had it that he's been playing hockey for since beginnings , so I remember . So I caught him at the rink and I told him what was going on , and this was on a Sunday , and then they were like you know , who knows what their plans were . But whatever they did , they canceled it and they came over and they sat down with us and first words out of their mouth again you're gonna be okay , okay .
Speaker 1And I got to tell you I don't think there was a dry eye at that table . The four of us sat down at the table and we must have talked for a couple of hours and they just talked about their experiences . And I think , the more we do it when we sit down with people like that whether every level you know and I think you learn a little bit more and you pick up a little bit more dos and don'ts , and so I think it's so important to build that community and I just we're gonna continue to grow it so I think it's important for Mila .
Speaker 1For sure .
Speaker 3To have people that are just like her . Yes , you know I'm sure we'll talk about you know , camp-cam-ly , but you know , for me it was so important for her to be able to be a kid , yeah , and be around people that are all also wearing CGMs and wearing pumps and , you know , just enjoying life . And she is the only kid at her school that has type one diabetes . So again , when she was diagnosed , we really didn't have , we didn't have anyone to lean on .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , you guys didn't have anybody in your circle yet that you could lean on . Yeah .
Speaker 3No , I personally didn't know any type one diabetics , or you know people that I felt like I could reach out to as a mom .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3Because it's hard to you know . I have great friends and people that listen . But you know , as far as that being able to really relate yeah , I didn't have that at all .
Speaker 2What was the first resource that you guys kind of reached out to outside of the medical Like did you guys reach out to ? I mean , we're talking about other friends , but you didn't have many that you thought you could reach out to .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think it was just that one . I can say the hockey parents I knew and that was our first contact , because I said she went and she got out of the hospital Friday and then that Sunday , oh , wow , okay , they came over that fast . Okay , because we were in shock .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 1I mean , we didn't know what to think . And in all of this , and I think something that needs to be said too is this how lucky we are with Mila .
Speaker 1And just her whole attitude with this and it could have went one direction or another . She was nine , she's 10 now and your parents say she's like 60 , feels like she's 16 . The way she handles it , she's not afraid , she doesn't hide it , which I'm glad . I'm so proud of her for that . Yes , she's really kind of saying , hey , this is me now and we're just going to work through it . Yeah , and she gets that from her mom . I think of that attitude as like , hey , thanks , happen , we're just going to do it , yeah , so but she does great with it and she takes ownership .
Speaker 3From her diagnosis . I never left her side . I slept in the same hospital bed with her , never left her side , and every three hours minimum , she's getting her finger pricked . She's getting injections of insulin . Never , ever , did she complain , did she shed a tear ?
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3She cried at the hospital when grandma came because that's her best friend and I think that made her emotional and that was her time to release , maybe , but she has never . We don't look back , we move forward and everyone has something and this is what she has and we're going to make the best of it . Yeah , and I feel like Mila again . I don't know where how we got lucky with her in that aspect of not getting resilience , or what is that the right word Resilience , pushback .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3She is resilient , but we didn't get pushback or a lot of complaints or tears about . Okay , this is the treatment , this is what we have to do In the hospital . They have to qualify . They looked for insurance to see if you are eligible for the DEXCOM to be able to put it on you before you leave . And we were and I mean Scott , you probably remember they put that DEXCOM on her and we left the hospital 15 minutes later . We had no idea there was a warmup period .
Speaker 2Yep .
Speaker 3We knew nothing about this . It was terrifying on my end as a parent to take her home and think like okay , now I have to manage this Now .
Speaker 2It's all on you . She's stable now . She's stable for the last 48 hours . Now we gotta do it . We're fighting to get out of the hospital and then .
Speaker 3I'm terrified to go home . I mean , I would say , for me personally it was much scarier than bringing home a newborn . Wow , yeah , just that sense of gosh like okay now .
Speaker 1But I think her bravery has really helped us . I mean , it keeps us calm sometimes and where she just , you know , right here we go . I mean , when she did her first checkup I think it was six months checkup , you know , the doctor asked her what's the hardest thing , what's the easiest thing ? And she's , like you know , after thinking for a second , you know and I didn't go to the appointment Cindy did , so I'm speaking like I was there , but it wasn't .
Speaker 1But , with that being said , she said the hardest thing , or so the easiest thing , is giving myself the shots . I mean , she's nine . The hardest thing is maintaining my blood sugar , and she's not . You can just think about that . Like and so like , evolved and just mature for her age of what she's trying . You know where she's in , yeah .
Speaker 2It's pretty amazing . I was incredibly surprised and grateful for you guys and when I visited a couple weeks ago and talked to you guys and talked to her , I couldn't believe the where she was actually at at 10 years old mentally , emotionally , communication wise , with it being able to like , rattle off stuff that she did for the day . A lot of kids aren't there yet . A lot of parents are struggling with that piece and I'm so happy that you guys have that because it's just it's going to continue to be able to allow this journey to keep flowing in the right way . All
right .
Speaker 1And to answer your question earlier about the people we've connected with outside of the hospital and people like yourself , was a big one . Even she got involved with the camps , yeah , and the name of them escaped me , can we ? Yeah , and which was ? We did the day camp and we did the overnight camp and then , as we did that , we did hook up with a I'm like so I'm in the medical field , the sales , and ran into someone who's in the same thing but as a PA , a physician assistant and just kind of talking to them and they just got into it , you know , right after we did so .
Speaker 1They're kind of behind , just a little bit behind us , and they're looking at her face . I'm sure it was the look on our face when all this was going down . We did the first day , yeah , so we're trying to build that . I think we , like I said , there's a lot more we need to do as far as building that community .
Speaker 3I was lucky enough to connect with three other moms of type 1 diabetics . I individually met with them for coffee and it was just nice to have you know another mother that's gone through this tell me about their journey . And then the one mother has a daughter who is now I believe she's 20 , 19 or 20 , and she's become our babysitter . That's awesome and it's amazing the connection that I see with her and Mila , just the fact that you know they get it and yeah , that's that's for me . That connection right there has been amazing .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's awesome . Yeah , I love that the yeah . It's really interesting when you , when you put yourself in that perspective of you have you don't have any support , then you find these different avenues of support , your confidence starts to increase . And because you have that different avenue of support , you're not just doing it on your on your own , and I think that is one thing that is 100% helped you guys , versus a lot of other people that I either talk to or see on social media that might be struggling , is they don't necessarily have all that support or know where to find that support . So , yeah , it's a really powerful thing to have that support .
Speaker 3And I personally can't wait to give back . I feel like I want to be there for other newly diagnosed parents . You know it's it's very isolating , it's tough and scary , but I look forward to that and just the different organizations that we've really enjoyed you know the central Ohio diabetes organization and in particular , in particular , camp Hamley , the day camp that Mila went to . When I picked her up on the last day of camp I cried uncontrollably . Tears were just running down my face and I said to one of the counselors , like I'm not crying , you're crying . And they said , are you okay ? And I said no , I'm just . I'm so happy because I feel like Mila got so much out of that week being with other you know diabetics and just again being a kid , and she got confidence . She was still doing injections , she wasn't on the Omnipod at that time and going into the camp I definitely sensed some burnout and some frustration and that camp renewed her confidence and her ability to , you know , get through it and realize that other people are doing this too .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I realized that in the day camp . I picked her up the last day and I got there early and does about 45 minutes early half hour and she comes over and she's just like dad . I want to stay for a bit and I said all right . So I just went off to the side and sat on the picnic table and I was very similar to Cindy where I got emotional . It was just neat to see her interact with people , just like her .
Speaker 1And just going through the same things , just like her . You know we can help her and coach her and give her all the encouragement , but we can't give her that kind of encouragement , no way . And just to see the counselors interact with them , it was very emotional . It still is , and I think those camps are blessing and you know , it's amazing what I think she got out of it , what we got out of it . You know , it's a mixture of connection with people to talk to .
Speaker 1Like we said before and I'm listening to you , I , you know , what I found with this community is , whatever level in particular people who've been along with us , they're more willing to be open and helpful and they give device or what they've been through and that's been pretty amazing . I opener for me too , you know . And now here we are almost a year into it , and I , like Cindy , like we just met the couple before and I reached out to them and they're kind of they just got their , their pump and I just , and they're struggling a little bit with this . So we're trying to give them something like we're the experts now , like now we all , we're not really . We'll try you guys .
Speaker 2You guys are more of the expert than you think . I told you that before . It's the way you guys are right now in terms of the mindset piece , in terms of how you're doing the management it is light years ahead of a lot of people , unfortunately , because of both of your guys is determination and and Mila's determination to be able to figure this thing out At 10 years old . That's incredible . And we we talk I've talked on this show
before .
Speaker 2We've talked about it about the difference between being a diabetic but then also being able to be a kid , and I think that's really powerful and and I think that that's one thing that these camps are giving kids is the ability to be a kid but still learn , be able to get away from mom and dad , and the constant like okay , well , you got to do this , you got to do this , hey , we got to do this , like are you thinking about this ?
Speaker 2And just be a kid . Like a lot of those kids that I even talked to when I was there , it was so much of like it was a blessing in disguise and weight off their shoulder because they could allow the medical staff and the and the camp and the camp counselors and all of the staff to take over , based on their management , for a week so they can just like , relax and be a kid . And , unfortunately , a lot of the kids that go to that camp , that's the only week they're able to do that and that's that's . That's a powerful message , it's a powerful thing , and I think that it's a really important thing for kids to be able to be kids , but we also have to be able to understand that it's that it's not something that we can just turn our back on .
Speaker 3It's a . It's a daily dare I say hourly you know it's something that needs to be managed constantly and as a parent and I've told you this , you know , I'm sure any parent would feel the same way If I could take it away if I could have the diabetes and have that type one diagnosis , I would take it in a heartbeat .
Speaker 3And then I have my mom , who's 72 , saying the same thing I want it . I'm older , I wish I had it . So it's hard because you know you want to manage it and I want to be darn near perfect . But yes , I have to let her be a kid and not take all of that joy away from her .
Speaker 2Yeah , and we can still allow her to be a kid , but still keep her safe and teach her how to manage this for , when the time comes , when it is not on her and not on you guys and that's that's the biggest thing it's really hard for teenagers 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 years old to just get diagnosed in that timeframe because there's so many other things going on in their life and I think that not that there's any good time to get the diagnosis , but I really feel that multiple conversations that I've had with multiple people myself , I think getting it as an adult or getting it as young as possible is is ideally the best solution If you were going to get it , because if we have individuals like yourself , families like yourself , that are really , really focused in on learning and being able to find that support and having the ability to show Mila that you can be a kid and still be really , really healthy at the same time , with this condition , super powerful , I agree .
Speaker 3I say , you know , if we're looking at all this overlinings and blessings here , I would totally agree with you on , you know , her being of the age where you know she's not a teenager , she's not , you know , defying everything that we ask her to do . We're still teaching her so that hopefully , you know , I always think by the time she's going away to college , you know , the goal is that we feel so confident that she's got this , you know , and that she's going to manage this on her own because she wants it .
Speaker 2Yeah , and she'll probably be good before college .
Speaker 3Yes , you know .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that Awesome
. That was a long conversation about the diagnosis . That was a long conversation about , you know , the diagnosis and how the families kind of got to this point . I want to take kind of a pivot and talk to you , sydney , because we talked about this before , about the CGM , and I had mentioned to you that it would be a really cool experiment if you tried it and you did .
Speaker 3I did .
Speaker 2I would love to hear this story .
Speaker 3Yeah , so I shared with you . I had some extra CGMs and I would love to put one on myself and wear one so that I could just have a better idea of what my daughter's going through , what it feels like , also how my blood sugars are affected by different foods and so and I wanted Mila to be a part of it , so we did it together .
Speaker 3You know I asked her if she wanted to . You know you want to do it to me and put it on my arm . I love that and you know we joke . Even the other day it was so cute . She said , mom , what's your blood sugar ? But yeah , I , I have so many thoughts , you know , as a as a mom . Again , coming home from the hospital with this new medical device on her and thinking , wow , she's going to wear this and her ever , potentially is scary and maybe it's a vain thought , but I don't love it , you know , for my daughter . And then you know again , you know the opportunity to wear an insulin pump Incredible , but another device on your body . So , but I will say in a very positive way , since I'm wearing this EGM , I don't even think about it , so I can start to see how it just becomes . Just becomes part of something that is your daily life , which gives me so much comfort . Yeah , because I really hated that for her .
Speaker 3and for her Because I really hated that for her in the beginning . And again , with the pump , I actually called Omnipod and asked for a demo pump , which they give you , which is just a fake pump , you know adhesive , because I you know anything that I can do to mimic her and how she's feeling . I want that and it's again . It's just , I'm very interested in how different foods affect my blood sugar . We haven't totally done it yet , we talk about it , but I want to eat the same thing as Mila and see what it does .
Speaker 3Yeah , that's really cool For me it's so exciting and so interesting for a 10 year old . You know she's definitely not as excited , but I feel like there will be a day where Mila will be very tuned into nutrition and how it's affecting her blood sugar . But yeah , it's been . I think it's a great experience for me and I'm super glad I did it .
Speaker 2Yeah , what have you found so far ? What things kind of have popped out ? How long have you been on it ? Four days , okay . So you've been on it for days . What are some things that are kind of popped up like , oh , this is interesting . I didn't know my blood sugar was doing that as eating this specific food or doing exercise or whatever it was .
Speaker 3Yeah , for sure . So I think you know I typically get up early .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3And I exercise on an empty stomach , so I don't eat . I notice my blood sugars , you know . Again , we're not sure exactly if this is my blood sugar readings are completely accurate , but they dip in the middle of the night .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3I didn't you know . I had the alarm going off on my phone . Yeah , that's right , I had to turn those alarms off for myself . And yeah , after I eat breakfast , depending on what I eat , I've noticed , just an example would be peanut butter . Czech cereal Really makes my blood sugars bike . Yeah , you know just little things . And I , you know it's so interesting to me and now my , you know all my blood sugar will go up pretty rapidly and then come down rapidly , yeah , which is good , Unlike you know , Nila .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3But yeah , it's just . I'm excited to wear it for you know , 30 days and just continue to dive into my readings and how foods affect it .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think it's going to be a really cool experiment , not just for you but for her . I'm really excited to continue to have that conversation with both of you , because the one thing that's very interesting like when a parent wears the CGM or wears a device is you alluded to earlier , like her emotions or your emotions at the beginning the question becomes is like , even at the point where she's at right now or she's mentally pretty good with this thing , she's got a good handle mentally on the condition ? Does she complain about the devices ever ? Right , because we tell ourselves these stories about someone else's perspective of what we think it is right . I do that all the time with my kids . Well , my kids aren't communicating with me . What are they thinking right now ? What's going through their brain ? Right ? And if she's complaining or she's not complaining , but you're having those emotional things as a mother , obviously , how is that dynamic ? What is that dynamic like ? And her being able to communicate like and you being able to communicate with her is a really interesting thing .
Speaker 3Yeah , for example , when I put it on , I was expecting a shot kind of feeling , which I guess it is now that I'm saying it out loud but because I didn't really feel anything and then I felt like a burning sensation that subsided , but that was exciting for me to feel that . I'm going to throw it back to you , though , because the constant removal of the devices in the adhesive that has to be wearing over time correct , or is that something that you know ? I worry about the health of her skin .
Speaker 2Yeah , and that's why we . That's why we do so . This is perfect because there's a couple things that we have to think about here . One it's part of the life , right ? So it comes to the territory . Just like when she was on manual injections , they constantly told you make sure that you're using different spots so you don't get lots and lots of scar tissue buildup . Right , Me , being a diabetic for 15 plus years and using pretty much my abdomen for a long , long , long time , I've got some pretty gnarly scar tissue in my abdomen and there's definitely spaces , spots in my abdomen that just don't work anymore , that just the insulin resistance because of the scar tissue is so high and I know I can't use those spots anymore .
Speaker 2So being able to use multiple , multiple spots all over the place will be able to allow that not to happen as much . Right To answer your original question of does it wane on you ? Me , no , because I'm in a good space with it . Right , A nine , 10 , 11 , 12 year old or someone that's brand new absolutely can 100% weigh on you , but to me it's all about the perspective . I think with this DEXCOM , right , I think that it is a lifeline for me because it's giving me so much information to make a decision where , if I didn't have that lifeline , I would have to manually prick myself all the time . When , at the height before my CGM , when I really really started focusing in on my diabetes , I was pricking six to 12 times a day . That's a lot of finger pricks . I know people are even more than that . I know people that do more than that . And having the freedom of not having to do that , I'll never , ever , ever go back . So it's all dependent on how you think about it . 100% . We've got Omnipod or we've got some type of pump , We've got a DEXCOM . That's a lot of stuff going on .
Speaker 2If you're on the Metronic or the tandem , now you add in the tube , Now you add another concept or another thing to this mix . So it's one thing to be in this position where you are in the negative mindset about it , and there's a whole another position where , when you are in a positive mindset , you don't even think about it . Like you said earlier , you don't even think about the DEXCOM . Now , with the skin thing , what can we do ? I'll use coconut oil like crazy on different spots . I've got some spots . I need to use some coconut oil because I just changed my sights I'm going to use and the other thing with this is I try to use coconut oil as much as possible on my feet . So these different things that we can do to help with our skin so we don't get all when we've got to a point where we've had diabetes for 50 , 60 years , our skin's not falling apart . So there's 100% things that we can do to help with skin health , which we should be doing anyway .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2People are constantly moisturizing there because they got dry skin . It's no different . It just adds a different layer of complexity onto the mental aspect of it , and I'm sure it's so hard for a young person to be able to put those thought processes in their management style , and I don't expect that to happen to anybody for anybody . But what my expectations are is that we start having the conversations now , because if we start having the conversations in 10 years , that's too like we're behind the eight ball . It's behind the eight ball .
Speaker 2It's just like an athlete going and trying to go play basketball for the first time and wanting to go to the NBA at 15 , 16 years old You're behind the eight ball . Or an athlete trying to go do strength training at 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 years old as a junior or senior You're behind the eight ball . You needed to have done started that process of learning and education earlier , at least talking about it . That's how I feel about those types of things that are always coming up from people is let's start having the conversations now . I might not implement them yet , but let's start having the conversations now , because they're important conversations to have and it's going to be different for every person .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2I hope that answered your question .
Speaker 3No , it did . I just had a conversation with her the other day . I tried to relate it . I said we have to treat your skin like an eggshell and this is protecting your body and the unfortunate part of again . I think we're learning about overpatches and all that extra adhesive . Is it worth it for us for Mila and her skin to wear those cute fancy things that are cute to look at and do help the devices stay on , but the removal is brutal . It's a whole other thing . So we're learning with her . Maybe we don't do adhesive overpatches and maybe we pivot to whether it's a sleeve or they make specific arm bands that I found for her for basketball to protect her dexcom , things like that . So it's just a constant learning process . But yes , keeping her skin healthy is so important because she'll be doing this forever For a long time yeah , long , long , long time .
Speaker 2I don't know . I know probably it's not going to happen in my lifetime , but we don't know in her lifetime if there's going to be an actual cure yet . So it is important to have those conversations and start putting those strategic plans in place . You made a comment of things like basketball or things like sports and being able to cover things up or the removal of the adhesive , and there are products out there that help that process much easier . In terms of the removal process even , there's different solutions that you can get that you just rub over the adhesive and it will start coming off .
Speaker 3We use those . We I'm fortunate to have a great friend that works for a medical company and we use a medical grade adhesive remover and it does . It works great , but again over time just those extra adhesives and sweat and whatever can really irritate her skin .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah . I think the other interesting piece with wearing over patches is , for me it's two fold . One , it's the concept that we're talking about now with the health of the skin . The other part is the mental aspect of like if this , if that over patch helps that young person get more in tune with diabetes , because now they feel more in tune with it . For sure it's important .
Speaker 3Yes , I agree , especially for kids . You know she was excited to be able to go online and pick out .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3You know cute decorative over patches and that was great in the beginning .
Speaker 1Even the clear ones , she drew on it .
Speaker 3Yes , yeah . Yeah there's ones you can design yourself , and I'm not saying they're not great , you know , especially during the summertime for swimming . Yeah , I feel like it gives us an extra couple of days with the DEXCOM , maybe , or something like that . But yeah , just over time I feel like it's a lot of it's a lot on your skin .
Speaker 2Yeah , it is . I think the other sad part I just thought about too is like those families , that they don't have the best insurance .
Speaker 3So pushing out that 10 days ?
Speaker 2for a DEXCOM or that 14 days for Libre is like super important , Because you're gonna get to that last three or four days and not be able to order anything for on the five or six days .
Speaker 3We are so fortunate to have great insurance . Because , yes , I think about that a lot , I thought about that in the hospital and , yeah , it makes me sad for the kids that don't have that same opportunity to get stuff like that it's .
Speaker 2Yeah , scott , I wanna come back to you for a second .
You kind of alluded earlier about having a lot of emotions at the beginning . How does it feel now that we're , you know , a decent way through this year of her diagnosis and you kind of being on the outside looking in from the dad perspective , from the primary financial responsibility person of the household ? You have a separate role than your wife . What , how emotionally do you deal with that ? I think that is something that I think a lot of other dads and even moms that might be the primary income person not always there potentially deal with .
Speaker 1Right . Honestly , sometimes it's not easy Just because you don't feel like you're doing enough .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1And in the inside you're scared to death . You know , it's just because it's your little girl . Yeah , For me anyway , and I'm sure there's other people have their kids , but this is my little one . So I hold a lot of those emotions inside because I feel like I need to be the strong one . Yeah , like I said with Niamh , and Cindy gets to a point where she needs some help .
Speaker 1As far as you know , being someone being strong for her , I feel like it's important for me to stay strong , and so I don't really ever show those type of emotions . A whole lot too , when I get in these situations . Yeah , yeah , but it's I just try to be strong and know my role and you know , know that I constantly . You know something happens on the phone or I'm communicating quickly , you know , hey , cindy , which she's already usually all over , yeah , but still I mean I don't want to , I don't want to . It's going to close that loophole .
Speaker 1Yeah , but I do . I think I , you know , especially when I'm with Mila , and it's just her and I , and I don't have Cindy to lean on , and a lot of times she's educating me , meeting Mila is , you know , on some things , but I mean because she just knows , and it's pretty amazing how she does that . But still , on the inside , I'm like I'm freaking out but I stay strong and I and then , when I get to myself , I mean like shut the door , I'm like taking a deeper and it's like I got high breath pressure . So that's where I am .
Speaker 1But it's not . It's not always easy , but I said I got to stay strong cause I'm dad and I got to stay strong for her . So and I think you know you and I had some conversation , for that hit me kind of hard and not being afraid to show her some of those emotions I haven't figured out how to do that , when to do that , but I don't know . I guess I just don't ever want her to know I'm scared .
Speaker 2Yeah , but it's okay that she knows that . Right , it's totally okay that she knows that , because now she sees you in a different light . You don't always have to be the person that has feet in the sand like I'm the strong one . You don't have to be always be that person . There's a time and a place for that right . When you're by yourself and she's not there , that's not the time and place to show her you know you're scared right .
Speaker 2It's . It's not that time , you know , but you guys are sitting at the table having dinner and you look over her and you just get this wave of emotion Like you're just an amazing young person , like that's when you can show her how much , how much emotion you're going through , cause . I think it's an important piece and I even I think about this with my kids too . I think it's an important piece to show them how the emotions not just affect you , but how powerful the emotions are , because they don't . They shouldn't always see us up here , because now , when they get older , that might be ingrained in their personality that they always have to be up here all the time . And for a young woman , that might not be the best solution for her right . She's going , she is going to want to be able to show emotion , because that's part of the female personality of being able to show emotion and understand when to turn it off , when to not turn it off . And it's the same with us .
Speaker 2I just think that's really an important piece .
Speaker 1I get nervous because I think , especially for Mila , because I don't think she shows and you can correct me if I'm wrong I don't think she shows a ton of emotion . I think she might get a little bit of that from me because I don't show it and I've had moments , not necessarily with the , the diabetic part with them , but where I've had some emotional times with just talking to her about my growing up and all that . But , with that being said , not with the diabetes . I guess I and that's something I got to work on and understand those emotions for myself and I want to because it's important . I mean , I'm lucky to have Cindy who , like I said , she's always on it and just so educated on it , and strong woman just makes Mila strong because she sees mom strong . So but I do think there is that piece that Mila sees between the two of us that we do work together and we do communicate .
Speaker 1And you know that we are trying to do the right things for her and that's been important to me to see that . So let her see that . Yeah , so , and we'll continue to do that . That's just you know , like I said , knowing your role and where you are , yeah .
Speaker 3So but I actually had a really good conversation with Mila the other night because , as I had shared with you , ken , she went to a sleepover , which is a big step , by the way you know , to allow her to sleep away from me at someone else's house . Yeah , but I feel confident in Mila , obviously , the parents , where she was going or where , and awesome and very supportive of her situation . However , mila ate a piece of birthday cake , as she should . She dosed correctly for it , she did a great job , but her blood sugar was pretty high and I personally have a hard time focusing , or when Mila's blood sugar is high or low , I'm very affected .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3So the mom in me wanted to call her , text her , say what did you do ? You should do a correction . You know all the things I wanted to do , but I didn't , because she's had a sleepover and you know her blood sugar is a little high . Is it the end of the world ? No , she's not low right , so I'm not necessarily worried . I don't love it . So she came home the next day and of course I want to talk about it , but I don't want that to be our focus .
Speaker 3So I asked her about the sleepover and we talk about everything . And you know when I felt like the time was right , I asked her you know what she ate ? And she told me and it was exactly what she had dosed for . And I said you know , your blood sugar was really high . Did you see that ? Did you think about doing a correction ? So we had the conversation and I wanted to tell her that I wanted her to know that when her blood sugar is either high or low , I am never mad at her . I have never mad that her blood sugar is high or low and I wanted her to know that . Even if it comes off that way , it's because mom's just stressed that I care , but I'm never mad at her because it's not her fault and it's just me caring and me wanting the best for her and talking about okay , next time maybe , what could we do different . You know I don't want my nervousness or my anxiety to come off as I'm disappointed in you or I'm mad at you . Yeah .
Speaker 2This is another really good point , because a lot of times , as caregivers , we are in this position and we feel so stressed out when things don't go the way they're supposed to go , and we have to be understanding that the words that we use has a lasting impact , right ? So the things that you did where you wanted to talk about the specific thing but you knew it wasn't the right time and you had the power and the embrace to not do that is amazing . Right , because you didn't make a situation or create a situation where she now is in this position , like , well , I got to start hiding this stuff from mom because I don't really want to talk about it . Or like you know what I mean . You don't want to create that situation , right . So being able to know when to bring that up and when not to bring out that up is a very powerful thing . And what words are being used constantly Like those are very powerful messages , yeah .
Speaker 3And you're right . I don't want her to be fearful or hide things from me or start doing things like that because she's afraid mom's going to get upset .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3But it's hard .
Speaker 2It is as a parent .
Speaker 3it's very hard to see those blood sugar levels over 300 and just let it go is really hard .
Speaker 1I probably wouldn't help it . In the background we're laying in bed is like it thinks pretty high . We're the 300 . What are we going to ?
Speaker 2do ? How much do you have on board ? How much do you have , yeah ? So the interesting piece , though , too , is like , as you guys get through this process and you guys are continuing to communicate and learn how to communicate with the three of you , even the time of day is a big factor , right ? If she's at school , that's probably an okay time to send her text messages . Hey , I've seen your blood sugar is high , what's going on ? And that leave it as an open-ended conversation there . But at a birthday party , when she's with friends , she's like doing other things . She's trying to be a kid , she's trying to remove that from her world . In that moment , that's probably not the time to say your blood sugar is high , what's going on ?
Speaker 3Yeah , right .
Speaker 2You know , a 300 is not great . Maybe it is a small text like hey , I see your blood sugar number . Did you see that ? That's it . And if she takes care of it , she takes care of it Because at the end of the day , she can have more 300s throughout her life . It's just the way it's going to happen . It's the way it's going to be . So this one 300 is not going to be the end , all be all . Yeah . Now I will say to that if Mila was the type of kid who , as she goes high , she's got ketones on board a lot , you know you guys get tons of trends of that happening a lot and then she gets very sick when she's high , that's a different story .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2If Mila is that type of diabetic , that's something that now needs to be addressed now and that's understanding and learning that individual , because I know other diabetics that as soon as they go past 250 , ketones start going , they start getting high symptoms , they start not feeling good . That's when we have to have intervention come into play from us , from the parents that she's with . Whatever it is , again , it's understanding your child and understanding the diabetic that's in front of you .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2I think it's .
Speaker 1I mean , you think about what she's gone through . It's just a short amount of time . Yeah , you almost feel like her keep on saying , you know , let her be a kid . I feel like some of that's been stripped away from her . You know a little bit . So I think it's important , cindy and I , to press that , to let her be a kid , and push her to continue to be a kid . Yeah , and when she comes to us and say , hey , can I have this ? I mean it's just like anything else , yes or no , you're doing it because of the diabetic or you doing it because you , you know , are , you know , doing her be a kid , and that's . I think it's important for her to have that ability to do that and not feel so strapped down and she'll learn .
Speaker 2She will learn to walk that line . That's all of us that are diabetics . We learn to walk that line . The difference is are we learning and when ? Are we walking that line because we want to do that , or we walking that line because it we're ? We just want to be a kid or we just want to be whatever right ? Am I going to eat that piece of cake because I really like cake and I want to indulge in cake ? Or am I going to eat that piece of cake because my blood sugars are good ? I've had really good , healthy blood sugars .
Speaker 2It's a it's a treat for me . That's how I look at it . I'm not looking at it as okay , yeah , you're at a birthday party , eat a piece of cake . I'm looking at it as okay , you're at a birthday party . We talked about this . Like this is how we become healthy , even if we are not a diabetic , sure Right . So like these those are the conversations that need to be had with these individual or these young kids Is making sure that they understand the differences between those two . It's like we're doing this because it's a treat .
Speaker 2You've been really good , we've done what we need to be doing , Like we're . We're in a good space , we're in a good spot . We're not going to do that because your blood sugar is at 400 . You know , we're not going to do that because you've , you've have . We haven't been in a good space . We're really entering insulin resistant for some reason . You just were sick . You know , mila's 13 . Now she's going through puberty and it's like all of these things have to come into play . When we talk about the food aspect of diabetes , we talk about the emotional aspect of diabetes and we have to learn how to , how to walk that line .
Speaker 1One thing that might be a little bit different we're talking about , but somewhat when it comes to the food and treatment right that I've learned from this talk , sitting to talk to you and thought it was very interesting . You know , when you go to children's hospital and you say , okay , you got to low , you want to take a juice box and you're going to get a gnoller 15 minutes later , you know , and what I found over the last few months in particular talking to you , is that's not necessarily the case for everybody . That's just the general umbrella for everybody . Everybody's different . So , like Mila , actually , I don't know if we taught her or you taught her or what , but you know she'll . You get the glucose tablets and then they tell you take four , you know , and she says I'm just going to take two and I'm like , why are you taking two ? She says that's all I need . And , sure enough , that's all you need , that's all she needed .
Speaker 1And I just I think what I'd like to do as I get more in depth into this is understanding that more , and I think it's understanding what . Once again , what foods affect her and all that you know . Maybe it's just a one glucose tablet that helps her out to get her out of that low , or two , or whatever that might be . But still , I think it's interesting because everybody's a little bit different in that aspect .
Speaker 2Yeah , and there's . There's things that we can start understanding and learning in those scenarios
. No situations that are universal , like what's your blood sugar ? How much insulin do you have on board ? Those two things are universal . It doesn't matter what type of diabetic you have . That's universal , right , you have a low and you're 60 , but you're coming and you have a diagonal down arrow and you know that thing's going to be at 50 within 20 to 30 minutes . But you also have a unit of insulin on board . Those are two things that need attention now . But if I'm steady at 70 and I have no insulin on board , I probably don't need a juice box . I probably don't need to to be reactive to that blood sugar . I need to be proactive to that blood sugar and bring it up with one glucose tab or two glucose tabs , and that's when you start experimenting with the individual . And the crappy thing is that will always change what I feel like . Every time when I first started , I felt like every time I figured it out , something else changed .
Speaker 3It's never . I feel this way 100% .
Speaker 3I'm always , you know . Now I know that you never get comfortable because it's like you said , I will say , with Mila . One of the things that is again comforting to me as a mom is her actually feeling her lows now and knowing the trends , like you said . Where , what is her blood sugar ? What is the trend ? Is it down , is it diagonal ? Is it , you know , sideways ? She had an instance the other day at school where she went low and her nurse thankfully they have access to her Dexcom readings and her nurse came to see her and Mila had already eaten three glucose tabs and so she knew that her blood sugar was going to come up . Now the nurse , you know , granted she might know about diabetes , doesn't really know Mila and is in her head , going by the book and insisted that she eat another glucose tab and eat a granola bar in front of her .
Speaker 2Yeah , I would have taken her to 150 , 161 , 70 .
Speaker 3Wow , mila was . You know , mila did not want to do that , but she had to because the nurse insisted . And they actually called me from the office and the nurse said I think Mila's mad at me . And I said oh no , I'm sure she's not mad at you . She knows that . You know you're doing what you have to do . So when Mila came home from school I said what happened today and she told me and I said well , the nurse thought you were mad at her . And she said , very honestly , this is a 10 year old . She said well , she asked me if I was mad and I said yeah , because I was mom and I didn't want to lie , I love it yeah .
Speaker 3And you know it's just a case of it's a slippery slope , because I know their best interest is death and their best interest is definitely keeping .
Speaker 1Mila Great , yeah , they really have . They have to follow their protocol . They have to follow their protocol . Just doing the right , trying to do the right thing . Yeah , just like medical .
Speaker 2they have their own protocol , right , and this was part of my thing with campaign when I was there , right ? I love campaign , I love everything about it , but they have specific protocols . Those specific protocols are designed to prevent hypoglycemia , that's it . That's all . That's what they're trying to do , right ? And if , as long as they're preventing hypoglycemia , if a kid goes to or an adult , whoever has diabetes , goes to 150 , 160 , to them , that's safer to correct a 150 , 160 , then try to help someone that might pass out , someone that might like I mean gosh , I mean so many things could happen with a hypoglycemia , seizures , like all these things could happen . So , in my personal belief , that's why the protocol is in place that way , because it's been . That protocol has been used for years and years and years and years and it works . For that specific reason , which I understand , I come on board with it .
Speaker 2You know , you have to be , you have to be , but the different . There's also something to be said about advocating for yourself , and Mila was trying to do that and unfortunately , because she's 10 years old , people don't think that a 10-year-old is going to be in the same position mentally and understand the disease as Mila does , I mean , and most 10-year-olds probably don't . So it's one of these things that's a slippery slope again when we talk about this , because it's like you have to learn how to advocate for yourself but still stay safe . And where do we draw that line ?
Speaker 1And I had an incident where I was withered by myself and she went to a low , according to my phone , and so I'm looking at it and I said , Mila , you're low , she goes . No , I'm not dead . I said , well , I think you are who better go with this first . And I said , well , OK , if you're not low , we're not at the fingerprint , Because I can't just sit here . Yes , and she sure enough fingerprinted and she was just fine , she was just fine .
Speaker 1And she knew Like she just knew , and then we were about ready to have dinner or show or lunch or something like that , so it wasn't . I wasn't too worried about it at that point , but it was amazing how she just I mean she was getting to that point .
Speaker 2She was in tune with her feelings . Yeah .
Speaker 1And I still think she's fine tuning in as she's getting ordered , but certainly she's getting to a point and I was so proud of her for that . I took her word . City told me once and I told her about it and she is sometimes just going to take her word . I'm learning that part of this Trust her .
Speaker 2Yeah , so the thing that I would say to you , scott , to maybe put your mind at ease when that situation happens again , is two words how do you actually feel ?
Speaker 3What do ?
Speaker 2you feel like yes , right , because asking her that question is going to start the communication process of that , instead of you just reacting to what the technology says or the technology was the wrong one . You weren't in the wrong , you were following what the technology was saying , which is the same scenario . Situation of the school nurse . I mean , they didn't do a fingerprint , so that technology could have been a lot lower than it really was . So if the nurse is saying we're going to cover off of a 60 or a 65 , but really Mila is covering off of how she feels and she's covering off of an 80 , 85 , there's two different numbers . So that is an important piece . So the communication with our young kids , with the people that we are trying to care for , is so important . It's so important because it helps all of the other situations .
Speaker 3Yes , I agree . It's easy as a parent when you see them go low , You're immediately panicking To say you're low . But just like you said , I'm trying to adapt to how do you feel ?
Speaker 2How do you feel ?
Speaker 3And it's such a small thing for us to change those words , but I think it does mean so much in the grand scheme of this Because , again , we don't want to be negative and like accusatory , we want to be , want to be empathetic , and I don't know how she's feeling . I see that the CGM is reading low , but how are you feeling ? And then it opens the conversation .
Speaker 2That opens . You get more data , do you ?
Speaker 1need to figure Preck . Well , that's the funny way . After she did the finger Preck , I asked her and I did ask how'd you know ? And she turned up and said I just feel it . I'm like , just feel it , OK , and that's what's tough as a parent .
Speaker 3We don't know what those lows feel like and it's easy to overreact or get nervous . That was always my first reaction , initially . It's fear . It is fear , but I think over time . I think the good news is , I think over time we're learning so much about fear shouldn't be the first feeling . We don't have to jump right there . There are certain steps to take before we can .
Speaker 2Yeah , I always look at fear and this has even taken me a long , long time to work through emotionally . I always look at fear as if I feel some type of fear , emotion coming to the surface , whether it's diabetes related , life related , my kids , whatever it is . I try to take a step , close my eyes , take a deep breath and then ask myself one question , ask myself one word why are you feeling that way , like , where is that emotion coming from ? For me , that really helps because I start trying to identify where that emotion is coming from . Is that emotion coming from because I'm seeing a low blood sugar , two arrows down , and I feel like crap . Ok , I need to be proactive and take care of this right now . Or is this fear saying to myself well , I've got like two units still on board , I'm trending down . The CGM says I'm going to be 55 in 20 minutes . I don't really feel that I'm going to double check this somehow , whatever it is .
Speaker 2So it's like that fear response has to you really have to be in tune with that fear response , because it really can make the next couple of hours go really bad , really really bad , if you overcorrect or whatever it is , and that's what we typically do . We want to overcorrect when the fear response really is heightened . I know I've done that thousands of times . Like super low , I'm just I want to eat everything in sight and that's why I have my Plan A , plan B rule when treating lows is because that , for me , that understanding of being able to have Plan A , plan B in my back pocket , of being proactive or reactive , it allows me not to have a blood sugar an hour later from treating a low at 160 , 170 , 200 plus . That's what we want to avoid , because now we're on the roller coaster for the rest of the day .
Speaker 1So that's good . When you put it at the roller coaster , that's what I call it .
Speaker 2I call it I mean just this constantly , throughout the whole entire day , because you can't like . You correct for a low blood sugar and you get 200 . You correct for that . Now you go low again , like it's just , it's the road diabetes roller coaster . So , yeah , good stuff , yeah , good stuff , yeah . So , as we kind of start to close here , I'd love to hear both of your perspectives on one to three things the piece of advice that you could give to parents mom , caregiver , dad , someone that's in your role one to three pieces of advice that you could give to those parents no matter what it is I'm going to say the number one what I fear from everybody is you're going to be OK .
Speaker 1Yeah , you really will , and don't be afraid . I think what I'm learning is don't be afraid to show those emotions . I think it's important that all involved knows that you're just as scared as everybody else , and I've learned that and I'm working on those things . And the other one is stay calm in situations where you might go to a low , because when you get you're not calm , you make bad decisions and , like you said , maybe you're feeding too much . So stay calm , think it out and make sure that you are doing the right thing . So it's right for the individual yeah , have a plan , have a plan . Yeah , and that's something we have done .
Speaker 1Like I said , cine's more educated on more the more the caretaker , but when she's leaving she really lays those out for me . So I know , ok , this is where I'm going here . If this happens , if it goes this way , this happens . And there's our family , it doesn't just us two , grandma , their brothers , they come up , hey , me , this high . So everybody's involved . So I think it's important that the more people you have involved into the caretaking part of it , whatever role that may be , I think it's important because it's beautiful , yeah , and I think that's a good network that we have within our family . So and then , honestly , I'm going to throw another one out , but just building your network and don't feel like you know it all because you don't , yeah .
Speaker 3So , yeah , yeah , I would say obviously education , but also be careful where you're getting education yeah . I know the first night in the hospital once her type one diagnosis was confirmed . I started googling type one groups and there's definitely a lot of panic and bad stories out there and things that I didn't want to read about .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3So , personally , I felt like my best avenue was to try to connect with real life people that have experience either type one diabetes themselves or a parent of a type one diabetic . That was my choice to try to connect with people like that . I would say open communication with your child if you're a parent of type one , don't be afraid . This is the reality , this is what we're dealing with . It's not going away and , to be positive about it , I've told Mila from the beginning that the lifestyle that she should lead being very conscious of nutrition , exercising regularly , getting good sleep I mean , that's a formula that everyone should be using , diabetic or not . So this is nothing different and we talk about .
Speaker 3I think Mila has read some things about people with type one diabetes living shorter lifespans or things like that . We debunk all those myths . I say as a healthy diabetic , you're going to live longer than a lot of people that don't have diabetes , that don't have a healthy lifestyle . So , again , taking that fear away from the disease and showing them how they can live a healthy life has been huge for us .
Mila's 10 years old and she's said to me two things that stick out in my mind . One was mom , are my babies going to have diabetes ? Mm .
Speaker 2Oh yeah .
Speaker 3And that's kind of heartbreaking . Yeah , and the answer is I don't know . And shortly after her diagnosis she said mom , do you think , by the time I'm in my 40s , that there will be a cure ? And all we can do is hope and just keep moving forward ? Yes , it's . I've read about mourning the life that you had before and that being important the freedom of eating whatever you want , whenever you want and not having to worry about blood sugars . But we just try to embrace the life that we're given and everyone has something .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 3And this is what we have , and we're going to make the best of it .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , that's beautiful . Thank you so much , you two , thank you .
Speaker 3This has been awesome .
Speaker 2I'm so glad we were able to get this you know scheduled and get you guys in here to record this . This has been a fabulous time just continuing to communicate and talk to you guys . I'm excited to continue to be part of the family , continue to be part of her journey and just watch her grow into an amazing , amazing woman and an amazing diabetic .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2I'm excited for that . Thank you . Thank you so much again for coming in Anytime yeah .
Speaker 1Boxland Media Think Big .