Welcome back to another episode and another Camp Hamway episode of the Healthy Diabetic Podcast . I am your host , as always , coach Ken Kenness . Just a friendly reminder 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 , before we get started into the guests I have for this episode , I got to sit down with Drew Miller . But before we get with Drew , I want to just remind you to make sure that you like subscribe to the podcast . You're notified when new episodes are dropped every single week . Okay , I'm done with my rant Now .
Speaker 2Drew Miller Drew is a brand new , spanking new diabetic . I mean , when I met Drew back in what was it ? July , when I worked diabetes camp at Camp Hamway , he was actually in my cabin . So this is a really special episode for me because I got to talk to Drew in depth about his diabetes all week long , not just in this you know 10 minute conversation that I had with him . So it's just an incredible , incredible individual . Drew's mother is also type one which will hear that story , which she she really helped him when he was first diagnosed . So I'm just really excited for you guys to listen to this , this really really cool episode with Drew . So , without further ado , let's get with Drew Miller . What's up , drew ?
Speaker 2How you doing Good ? I'm doing good . Man , how are you feeling ? I'm doing all right , that's good man . So we're at camp . You're actually one of my campers this week , which is super cool . Tell me about your story . Tell me your diagnosis story .
Speaker 1So I don't know for sure , but I think I was living with it for about a year , maybe two years , because my blood sugar was sitting at 600 when , when they rushed me to the hospital and I felt nothing , Absolutely nothing , and I never went into decay deep . Sorry , what is it ? Decay ? Decay either , and I don't . I don't . I think I was just living high and just got used to it Thought as you said , exactly , and I never never noticed anything wrong .
Speaker 1And I do remember feeling shaky once or twice , and just never really . And I before that I had tested my blood sugar once or twice years before . But and then we rushed to the hospital and I was already kind of annoyed going to the hospital because I'm like why am I here ?
Speaker 2I'm fine , this is nothing , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1And then they said diabetes .
Speaker 2Did you know what diabetes was ?
Speaker 1My mom's had it .
Speaker 2Type 100 .
Speaker 1Since she was eight years old and so I never asked any questions . But she actually confronted me a couple of years ago . It was like well , why have you never asked me any questions about this ? It was just what mom has always done , yeah , and I just never inquired about it . And now I wish I had . Why do ?
Speaker 2you wish you had .
Speaker 1Well , I could just would have simplified it now , but now she's easily the best teacher there was that she's like the queen of diabetics .
Speaker 2Yeah , she's perfect . Yeah , that's awesome . That's great man . What being at camp ? This is your first year at camp . Yeah , how long . When were you diagnosed ?
Speaker 1About probably going on three months . Yeah , so you're brand new .
Speaker 2You're a little baby to the journey . Little baby to the journey . What has what has been the most impactful thing that you've learned from when you were first diagnosed and how , being at camp ?
Speaker 1I think I know it's not a very original answer , but I think it was the people who just kind of I've seen a bunch of people walking around with CGMs and that kind of thing , the social aspect of it .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1And you know , not feeling alone that kind of thing .
Speaker 2Yeah , have you felt alone the last two or three months before you came to camp ?
Speaker 1No , because my mom and my , my uncle and my grandmother had type two , which I didn't know about that either , but I've never really felt super alone in it . But yeah , so you've had a lot of support , which is good .
Speaker 2What did you did outside of your mom ? Did you have a bunch of education when you went to the hospital ? Have you sought out education in terms of whether it's podcasts , social media , other people ? How's that been going ?
Speaker 1I did follow a diabetes community and that's about it . I don't think I never really looked into it too much , but I was only at the hospital for about a day and a half just because my mom knew all about it and doctors kind of rushed us through it and so that definitely simplified the hospital thing . But but I don't know , I wasn't super confused , maybe a little bit about certain aspects of it , but I think I got it .
Speaker 2I love it . What do you think your mom would say about you right now ? What , being a type one ? Have you had that conversation with her ?
Speaker 1No , not really .
Speaker 2Guess what do you think . What do you think her initial thought would be ? I think this is very fascinating . You've lived with your mother being a type one for a long , long time .
Speaker 1I actually , actually I do know , I think she would be excited . I think she would be excited because she's always wanted to kind of coach someone in it and I think it was her opportunity in that .
Speaker 2Yeah , her opportunity to be able to do that .
Speaker 2The reason I think that's amazing is because I have thought about this so many times with my own two kids , my own two girls , and when they were first born , it would keep me up at night thinking that I was going to wake up one day and start noticing symptoms from them , and I was deathly afraid of it . And it took my wife , who told me if they do become diabetic , if that is their ultimate destiny to be in that , to go down that journey . Who better To be there for them ? Then diabetes coach , someone with a diabetes , and then someone that is such a big advocate for this , this condition , and After that conversation with her , it was like the light bulbs went out . Light bulbs went off and Now I'm not fearful of it .
Speaker 2Then the fact that you've been able to go through that journey with your mom and you have that support because a lot of the people in this audience they've got amazing emotional support and They've got amazing emotional support from their family members and their friends that aren't Diabetics . And I think that is why this camp is so impactful and powerful , because we we talked to two very important siblings earlier and Kayo is amazing in terms of him being able to be there for his sister , but he will never understand what diabetes really feels like day by day . Only she will . And , on top of that , being at camp , now that you guys all of Every single one of one of you guys in this audience is able to connect with each other and talk about your specific Symptoms , your specific things .
Speaker 2This is what happens when I go low . This is what happens when I go high . This is what I do when I go low . Oh , I do that too . All of those things are very impactful , and the fact that you have that in your house is something that a lot of Diabetics can't say that they have right , which is awesome , which is awesome . What are one or three things that a piece of advice and you're still a baby pieces of advice that you could give to someone listening About diabetes and and your journey so far with it .
Speaker 1I think a big thing for me was wanting to to be able to control a man which obviously can't help with a lot . But don't rush into it . If you need the help and the coaching , then then take it because , like you said , not everyone has it . I don't know , I guess don't rush in , you know .
Speaker 2I like that because a lot of us do rush in and we want , we feel like we want to know it . I know I did , I want , I wanted to know it , I want to know , I want to know it and I thought I did , I didn't . And it's really cool because you , being someone that's three months in and you can ask any one of these guys that have been more than a year , more than three years , more than four years , that They've learned so much more and there's so much in better control and there's so much emotionally Different than they were when they first started . We're gonna be really cool thing for you , especially having the support that you have , so it's awesome . Thank you so much for coming on . This has been great . I'm glad that I got to connect with you . You've been in my cabin all week . We've talked a little bit about this , so I'm glad we got to get it on on record and talk about it .
Speaker 1Thank you .
Speaker 2All right , thank you . Thank you so much for listening , for tuning into this Special episode , the special campaign way episode with Drew Miller . I really appreciate all of your support tuning in listening to these episodes . I really hope that , especially these camp campaign way episodes , that if you're a caregiver , that they're giving you some much needed Grace and much needed support in terms of like hearing these kids stories , knowing that you're not alone . And then same thing if you're a young , a young person or a newly diagnosed person , because a lot of these kids are no more than one , maybe two , maybe three years into their diagnosis . Some of them , I think , are a little bit farther along . But yeah , I just really hope that you're getting some really good value out of these episodes .
Please make sure that you are sharing the podcast , sharing these episodes with someone that you believe is going to get value out of it .
Speaker 2I just I know there's so many people that are struggling out there with you . Know , whatever it is with diabetes I mean diabetes , such a complex , complex condition and we need all the support that we can get every single day . No , regardless , whatever that support needs to be , whether it's you know you'd love to do some coaching with me , whether it's you just want to keep listening to the Podcast and you're getting these really good nuggets . Every single episode that you can , you know , put towards your management style . Whatever , whatever it is , I just really , really hope that you are sharing this with someone that you know is going to get some good value out of it . Thank you so much for listening and I will see you next time .