#1629 Jump Kick
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Brian’s adopted son Lucas, almost eight, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just a year after joining their family.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox podcast.
Brian 0:15
My name is Brian. I'm a dad to an aspiring athlete who happens to have type one diabetes and He's seven years old.
Scott Benner 0:27
If this is your first time listening to the Juicebox podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple podcast or Spotify, really, any audio app at all, look for the Juicebox podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Want to learn more about your diabetes management. Go to Juicebox podcast.com up in the menu and look for bold Beginnings The Diabetes Pro Tip series and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. The episode you're about to enjoy was brought to you by Dexcom, the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox us med is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from us med for years. You can as well us med.com/juicebox or call 888-721-1514, use the link or the number. Get your free benefits. Check and get started today with us. Med, the episode you're about to listen to is sponsored by tandem Moby, the impressively small insulin pump. Tandem. Moby features tandems newest algorithm control iq plus technology. It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom and improved time and range. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox,
Brian 2:12
my name is Brian. I'm a dad to an aspiring athlete who happens to have type one diabetes, and He's seven years old.
Scott Benner 2:23
Are all of our sons and daughters aspiring athletes? Do you think?
Brian 2:27
I think so. I think so, especially after, after we get into they have high hopes and dreams. I
Scott Benner 2:36
guess you could say, Yeah, no kidding. Do you have other children? I
Brian 2:40
don't, I don't, he's, he's our only. He's actually adopted too, which, you know, we adopted him when he was, like, four months old. So for all intents and purposes, he's ours. So it's pretty, pretty interesting kind of his backstory and stuff like that. But Brian, I'm adopted as well. Oh, nice. Nice. What led to you adopting? So my wife and I, we had been kind of struggling with having children of our own for a while, and we decided to kind of go down the route of like in vitro and all those things, which wasn't very successful. It was funny. It was like Thanksgiving, I guess 2017 and because he was born on October 2017 and somebody, a friend of mine, is like, hey, he texts me. He's like, are you interested in taking care of a child? I'm like, what? So it happened to be his his girlfriend's daughter that had a child, and she couldn't keep the child for various reasons and things like that. So we ended up fostering him through state of Florida for geez, it took about two years going through court, court and things like that, until we finally were able to adopt him. So
Scott Benner 4:00
you fostered him as a newborn,
Brian 4:03
yeah, four months, yeah, yeah, it's
Scott Benner 4:06
interesting. So he never went into the system. It's because somebody knew somebody, and they were able to, like, settle up that way, exactly, exactly. So your buddy knew you had been trying to have kids. Yes, had you ever, like wondered out loud about adoption in front of your friend, or is this just happenstance?
Brian 4:24
You know, I think it was just happenstance. He kind of, he was in, he was actually in a church group of mine, and he kind of saw our struggles and things like that. And, you know, he just, he said, You guys were the first on my mind When this happened, and coincidentally, I think two months prior to Lucas, who's who's our son, prior to him being born, we actually miscarried. So it was kind of like everything all happened at once, and we're like, Okay, well, here's the emotions. We were actually in the Detroit airport eating lunch when he called me, and we're like, bawling our eyes out at. Dinner. And here it is, you know, like people are kind of looking at us a little bit strange and stuff like that. But yeah, it was, it was really interesting.
Scott Benner 5:07
Well, they didn't know how much you spent on in vitro. So, right, yeah,
Brian 5:11
right. I mean, jeez, yeah. How old is Lucas now? He's seven. He'll be eight in October. Awesome. So,
Scott Benner 5:19
well, that's awesome. So what do you know about his background? Like, I imagine a fair amount, is there type one diabetes or other autoimmune issues in his family?
Brian 5:28
So we do, we do stay in touch with his maternal grandmother, just kind of, she's kind of on the outside looking in, you know, sending pictures and stuff like that every once in a while. But what we did here is his grandfather's half brother actually had type one diabetes. So, I mean, could it be genetic, probably, but, you know, we're not, we're not sure, right? Yeah, so it's, it's really interesting,
Scott Benner 5:57
when was he diagnosed? How old?
Brian 6:00
So it was July, July of last year. So it was July 1, right before the Fourth of July. We had just come home from vacation. And, you know, typical, I mean, typical. Now I can say that I didn't know what the heck it was, you know, going into it, but, you know, he was extremely thirsty, he was tired all these things, and when we got home the next day, on Monday, my wife took him to a kid's Pool Party, and he collapsed at the pool. Thankfully, one of her really good dear friends of ours is a pediatric ER doc, and she kind of went into the, you know, emergency mode and said, hey, well, you know, what are some of his symptoms? And she's like, Yeah, you know he, he was thirsty. He wet the bed. He hasn't done that since he was, like, six months old, yeah. So she, she called up the hospital in Tampa and said, hey, you know the this family is going to come visit you guys, and I think he has diabetes. So that's, I don't know if we were ahead of the game, because, you know, I've listened to your podcast and we've had things on there about, you know, having bad medical experiences. But for the most part, it was really, really like, despite all the chaos and emotions and stuff like that, I mean, they took really, really good care of us, like, immediately, yeah,
Scott Benner 7:27
listen, if everybody had a pediatric ER doc with them when something happened, then they'd be doing, they'd be doing awesome. I know. I know, right? So when you got to the hospital, how far along was he in the process? Like, was he in DKA? Or, you know, where was, yeah,
Brian 7:44
yeah. So he was, he was in DKA, he read, I think his sugar rose, like, right around 807 8800, somewhere around there, he walked inside the hospital, and the doctors were like, I don't know how he did it, but I guess, you know, kids are resilient, but, you know, I guess that's a cliche thing to say, but, but when the docs kind of told me, you know, a couple hours later that, you know, we were within hours of him going into a coma, that's when kind of things kind of sunk in there, right? Yeah. So,
Scott Benner 8:15
so how does this all Brian intersect with, like, because your notes are interesting. Like, how does this all intersect with your journey and what's been happening to you? Can you kind of give me a little bit of that and we can blend them
Brian 8:26
together? Yeah, yeah. For sure, for sure. So, you know, I am a Army veteran. Served over in Germany, Bosnia. I did counterintelligence. It was fun times, but I like to tell people it was just like a Jason Bourne movie, except for less explosions and more paperwork involved. So, you know, it wasn't as exciting as the movies, but it was. It was kind of interesting, you know. But I was, you know, 1920 21 years of age, didn't really think much of it until, you know, later on life. It's opened a lot of doors and things like that as well, right? So one of the things, you know, per my notes, is, you know, we, I enjoy doing martial arts with Lucas, and I taught some of the classes with his class and all this stuff. And we were doing a warm up exercise. And part of the warm up exercise was doing these jump front kicks to bring the cardio up, right? I landed absolutely wrong way or the right way, depending on how you look at it, and I tore both my ACLs at the same time. Oh, so, yeah, yeah. How did that feel? Like I'm being serious, like, what's the level of pain there? It was kind of a shock, like I remember thinking, you know, time slowed down, obviously, but I felt like that can't be good. It was a strange feeling. Another instructor in the class, he said it sounded like two gunshots going off, and I just kind of like shuffled myself to the to the side of the wall. All, I tried to stand up. I couldn't stand and I remember calling my wife. I said, Hey, you got to come pick Lucas. And I up. She's like, why? What happened to your car? I'm like, well, it wasn't my car. It was my knees, and I don't know what's going on. So, yeah, it was a lot of pain. It was somewhat embarrassing too, because, you know, there was anywhere from seven year olds to teenagers in the room, and
Scott Benner 10:24
you suddenly, yeah, like the old man. The old man tried to jump up in there and look what happened to him.
Brian 10:29
Yeah, how were you at that point? Yeah, I was old enough to know better, but yeah, I'm 51 now. So yeah, 50 at the time. So doing, yeah, doing 20 year old moves at a 50 year old. Yeah, Brian,
Scott Benner 10:43
let me tell you something. There's a video making the rounds today on the online, and it's a light, like, like a lightweight plane crash landing on a golf course. I think it's an it's an Australia so, you know, from this one perspective, people are filming, and this plane comes in, and it's startling, you know, comes in at like, he doesn't quite get it down smoothly. It kind of, kind of plops down a little bit. And this guy, who, you know, I'm gonna guess, somewhere between 50 and 60 years old, up on this rise, uh, happened to be next to the person holding the camera. So the camera continues on to the plane, while this man is like, I'm gonna go help. He jumps over like a curb, goes across a little bit of grass, starts heading down an embankment. You know, he takes four or five steps going down the hill, and his momentum gets ahead of how quickly his old ass can keep up with the momentum, and his hat flies off. He goes over, tumbling down the hill. And I'm like, I don't know where the bigger tragedy was here today, because I think the people on the plane are okay. This man probably broke every bone in his body, like falling down this hill, you know? Like it was just horrible. But what struck me as I kind of like walked away from the video, is about what you just talked about, which is, in his mind, he could do that. You know what I mean? Like, it wasn't like, there wasn't some horribly steep hill, you know, it's probably a thing he's run down a million times in his life, but just not at his age. And the last time he did it, he probably doesn't remember anyway, I imagine you in that same situation, like, jump, kick, no problem. Oh, bang, what the hell. And but then that tumbles you into a medical
Brian 12:22
issue, right, right, right. So we went to the ER and of course, they're like, Okay, well, let's do X rays. Nothing's broken. They brace me up. And they said, Okay, see a orthopedic surgeon in the morning. I'm like, awesome. Okay, yeah. Like, thanks. So I had, I had some crutches. I've never had to walk on crutches in my life. So it was like, you know, usually you have like, one good leg and one bad leg, but when you have two bad ones, it's kind of like, yeah, what do you do, right? Yeah, yeah. I had no idea. So, yeah. So fast forward a couple of weeks. I did some PT to kind of reduce swelling, all those things. Saw the orthopedic doctor. He said, Okay, well, we have to do the surgery if you want any sort of mobility back. I'm like, yes. I'm like, go ahead, do them both. And he's like, Well, actually, we don't do them both at the same time. I'm like, okay, so what does that look like? So it was just a lot of PT, getting me at least some strength back up and things like that. And then in April, I had my first surgery. Fast forward the whole summer, so going through, and we'll get to that too. But you know, going through all the diabetes journey, and then in August, having to have the second surgery, it was a load of fun, I
Scott Benner 13:39
tell you, surgery, diabetes, second surgery. That's kind of how it went. Yep, exactly. She's exactly. And you're not, like, first of all, they ever explained you why? Because you hear this all the time. Like, even when you go to the dentist, you're like, hey, I have a cavity on this side and on that side, yeah, there's two different visits. I'm like, why? Like, oh, what? You get so numb you'll bite your tongue. I was like, what if I promise not to? Like, you know what I mean? Like, can't wait, but so, but I understand, like, there's, there's reasons behind it that I'm not jiving with, I don't understand with the surgery though, like, you're laid up one way or the other. Like, what's one non surgical still bum leg good for I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years, though, because we began using us Med, you can too us med.com/juicebox, or call 888-721-1514, to get your free benefits, check us med has served over 1 million people living with diabetes since 1996 they carry everything you need, from CGM to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and more. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites, libre three, Dexcom g7 and pumps like Omnipod five, Omnipod dash tandem and most recently, the eyelet pump from. To bionics, the stuff you're looking for, they have it at us. Med, 888-721-1514, or go to us. Med, comm slash juice box to get started now use my link to support the podcast that's usmed.com/juice, box. Or call 888-721-1514, this episode is sponsored by tandem Diabetes Care, and today I'm going to tell you about tandems, newest pump and algorithm, the tandem mobi system with control iq plus technology features auto Bolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, this is going to help you to get started with tandem, smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever control iq plus technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels 30 minutes ahead, and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the tandem Moby in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately. Clip it discreetly to your clothing or slip it into your pocket head now to my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, to check out your benefits and get started today.
Brian 16:24
I don't know, you know, looking back, I'm like, because it's interesting, the first surgery on the left knee is still the knee that bothers me the most. The right one was like, Okay, well, that was surgery. Went through it. It feels pretty good now, okay, but yeah, the left one's still giving me issues. You know, a year and a half later, I don't know the reasoning, but yeah,
Scott Benner 16:46
you do the surgery, then there's the recovery, then there's the gap of time, and then another surgery and a recovery. What keeping the diabetes at it for? For a second? How long are you laid up for? And what's the impact on you being laid up that long?
Brian 16:59
Yeah, so the first surgery, you know, I really didn't know what to expect. I never really had any surgeries in my life, except for maybe, like, ear tubes as a kid or something like that. So I didn't know. I mean, I thought I was gonna die in anesthesia. So I'm, like, telling my wife, hey, if I don't wake up, you know, do this and that it was a good, like, two weeks, and you go from, like, being laid up in bed to,
Scott Benner 17:29
I mean,
Brian 17:31
not being able to use the bathroom on your own. My wife had to, like, help me shower. Got this strange bag you put on the surgical leg so that you could kind of take a shower and feel somewhat human like but that was like four or five days after the surgery. So, I mean, you can imagine it was, it wasn't very pleasant. But that being said, probably after a week, the doctor really wanted me to at least start putting weight on it and start moving and things like that. So he was an athletic orthopedic surgeon. I mean, he had many, many years of experience. In fact, he said, out of his 28 years of experience, I'm like, one of less than five that have done both at the same time. So I'm like, Hey, does that make me an elite athlete or something? He's like, No.
Scott Benner 18:20
Makes you elite at falling, is what it makes you. Yeah, makes it makes you the guy tumbling down the hill at the at the golf course,
Brian 18:28
exactly, exactly. So it was, it was a lot of fun. And I'm using finger quotes. So I had a walker. I started using a walker for a little bit, which actually the Walker was better than the crutches. I felt like I could maneuver a little bit better on a walker. So if you can imagine, like grandma with the tennis balls, well, here's this 50 year old guy. I have two broken legs pretty much on a walker trying to get his coffee in the kitchen.
Scott Benner 18:54
So yeah, are you able to work during that a
Brian 18:58
little bit? So I work from home most days. But thankfully, I work for a really good company that's got a great culture, and they totally understood, like, this is a life changing type of thing you're going through. And I was able to take a good amount of time off and then kind of weave work in there as I could. Yeah, the first surgery, it was a good three weeks before I could kind of get my mind back to things and stuff, because, I mean, you're on narcotics and all sorts of fun stuff, right? So
Scott Benner 19:29
my daughter is on like, day 11 of her, like, tonsil surgery. She's 21 and I have to admit, in the beginning they were like, look, you're, you know, she's gonna be laid up for two weeks. And some people don't go back to work for two or three weeks afterwards. Even I was like, Listen, I'm like, kind of baby can't get back to work after having their tonsils taken out, but now I'm watching it happen to her. My God, it's hard on you. And, oh yeah, not just difficult and incredibly painful, but then, like you said, you're taking the meds to deal with the pain, and you're kind of half out of it to. Begin with. And I was like, Oh, this is why people can't do this and go to work at the same time. Kind of obvious in hindsight, but it was one of those things, like, they're like, we're just going to take our tonsils out. And I was like, okay, like, that doesn't sound like on its face. Is like, terrible. And even, like, going through surgery for an ACL like, as we're talking about, I'm thinking, like, maybe you can't do two of them because, like, maybe your body just can't, like, rebound from something like that. You can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g7 dexcom.com/juicebox, the Dexcom g7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The g7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smart watch. The g7 is made for all types of diabetes, type one and type two, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom g7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1c The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom clarity app, you can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected a 1c in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom, dexcom.com/juicebox, when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast, dexcom.com/juicebox,
Brian 21:25
head over there. Now, yeah, yeah, that's probably what it is. Because, I mean, there's a very structured PT thing that they do. I mean, they start with the basics of like, raising your leg. And if you can't do that, then they do, like electro stem on it. And thankfully, I did have the ability to raise my leg, like, literally, the day after surgery. So, I mean, I didn't feel good by any means, but I was able to still use my muscles, which was good a lot of people those type of injuries, the muscles just totally shut off. And there's a lot more extensive stuff they have to do with PT. So
Scott Benner 22:05
before we started recording, you kind of alluded to this for a second. But did this put weight on you?
Brian 22:11
Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, a lot. So I was always been fairly active. I mean, I was in military, ups and downs like any, anybody, right? But just the, you know, feeling sorry for myself and a lazy boy that, or actually was like one of those lift chairs that we got from Amazon. You know, you feel sorry for yourself. You start eating bad, all that stuff. So I put on a good, like, 50 pounds through that whole thing, up until probably last November, when my doctor is like, well, you know, your cholesterol is up and you're all that. I'm like, yeah, no, no, crap. I mean, I've been in a lazy boy this whole time. Yeah, he suggested the GLP meds to to help with that, because he's like, you know, you're otherwise healthy, your knees aren't going to do any good with all this extra weight. And, you know, I think some of that weight gain and stuff like that was, it was hard to recover from a lot of that stuff, because I gained so much
Scott Benner 23:13
weight, so there's a lack of mobility. You're not eating well, you're a little bummed out about, I mean, it's got to be a bummer. Just just not be able to walk around and be using a walker for months and months at a time, and then in the middle of it, your kid gets diabetes too, right?
Brian 23:26
Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you could understand, probably, the mental gymnastics that that places on people and right based off of people that you've talked to. And you add, you know, another medical complication in the mix, and it's, it becomes more
Scott Benner 23:41
than you can kind of overwhelm on your own. So Exactly, yeah, tell me your How tall are you?
Brian 23:47
So I'm 510 okay, I was pushing 250 injury, I was right around 200 and now I'm actually back down to like 180 which is, I haven't been 180 since probably the military. So it's, it's felt really, really good, yeah,
Scott Benner 24:03
I was gonna say 510, two, hundreds, even a little extra. So, yeah, yeah. So wow, you were, you were probably 70 pounds overweight. Then, yeah, yeah, easily, easily. And how long has this process been since you started the GLP till now?
Brian 24:17
So I think early November. So, yeah, not even a year. Yeah, not even a year. And I, I don't know what it is, I think it's sometimes. I think it's like, the the military kicks in and be like, Okay, well, they're giving me this medicine. I just, I gotta do it, and I gotta stick to the plan and go, go, go. And, I mean, between that I was doing PT twice a week, and then going to the gym all that stuff, it just started coming off like crazy, which is amazing, but, yeah, so
Scott Benner 24:49
it is odd how quickly can happen. I'm down just 70 pounds too. It took me two years, though. Yeah, yeah. So you have your first surgery, then the story we heard about your. Child being diagnosed, is there? Like, talk to me about the layering of the diabetes on top of your life. Like, what, what did you find to be the biggest adjustment for you personally, and how did your son handle
Brian 25:14
it? You know, it was, it was definitely, you know, at first it was a shock. Like, why is this happening to us right now, you know, like, can it, you know, if it's going to happen, why can't it happen a year from now? You know, but you know, it doesn't, you know, diabetes doesn't really have any say in when it, when it gets to somebody, right? So, so I think it's the shock, and I think a lot of it, too, is kind of a, it's almost like a grieving process, right? Like, you're like, Okay, I had all these aspirations for my son, and now he's got diabetes. What does that mean? And, you know, you go down rabbit holes of internet. I had no idea, really what type one diabetes was. And I'm like, you know, like everybody else, I was like, Hey, he's fit, you know, He's skinny. How? How did he get it? You know? Was it the Chick fil A milkshake he had the day before, you know? And, and obviously it wasn't right,
Scott Benner 26:08
but it was, but it doesn't stop your mind from racing through all that, right, right, right?
Brian 26:13
So, you know, we get through the first three days at the hospital, which, again, awesome. Care. In fact, he didn't want to leave because he was like, excited about picking his own meals on the on the screen, and then they had, like, an Xbox in the children's hospital. So he's like, Yeah, I just want to sit here and play NFL. I'm like, No, dude, you we got to go home now. Okay. Well, this is this bag of stuff you guys get to take home now. And now you have to give injections, and now you have to do these, you know, mental calculations and correction factors and all this stuff. And, you know, I'm a it nerd, right? Like, I'm like, Okay, well, this is an engineering problem. I can solve it. And, you know, I still, I mean, he's on, he's on a pump. Now he's on the Omnipod five, and I think I've got it tweaked about as good as I can at this point. But, you know, like yesterday, he was, you know, 90% in range. Today, he's 60% in range, you know, it's, it just depends, right? So, yeah, in the hospital, doing all this stuff, you know. And I'm walking into the hospital at this point, like, in a cane and, you know. And here I'm like, I, you know, I'm kind of a humorous person. I'm trying to joke. And I'm like, Well, you know, I'm in the hospital too, because I just tore both my ACLs. And of course, you know, you're talking to doctors that are not orthopedic people, and I don't think they appreciated, you know, my medical stuff going on at the same time, but I don't know. I was trying to make light of the situation, which was a very difficult situation. So no,
Scott Benner 27:52
I mean, it's got to be a lot, right? So do you and your wife kind of split the diabetes care, or does one? Does it kind of lend towards one of you more than the other?
Brian 28:02
Yeah, so it's interesting. Now it's, it's both of us. I mean, we have to, otherwise it's overwhelming. You know, we equate it to, like, if you know, when he was a newborn and he woke up in the middle of the night screaming, Well, right now, that's the sugar pixel going off, and now it's time to get up and give him some juice or something, because he's 45 going straight down, right? Yeah, you know. So there's that, and we kind of tag team the alerts, and we kind of have a general understanding, like, if it's a work week for me, she'll try to get up. But, you know, I can't help not getting up. Like, I'm not gonna, like, lay in bed and be like, Oh no, you go get him, right? So a lot of times it's both of us getting up interrupted sleep, checking the sugar, making sure it's good. For the weirdest period of time, I think it was earlier on in the year with the Dexcom. The Dexcom was like 100 points off, so he'd be low. But actually it was, like, 125 and we're like, okay, that's weird. You just got a 125 blood sugar high, yeah? Like, I'm like, he's perfect. But can you imagine, like, all right, I didn't if I didn't do a finger stick, like, Okay, now he's in the 300
Scott Benner 29:16
to drive it up. Yeah. Listen, I have Arden. We've been making adjustments to ardent insulin, as she's done with the surgery, and, you know, and things are getting different. And like last night, I said to her when she went to bed, I'm like, I think we're good now. I'm like, but you still might get low overnight, I'm not sure. And then, yeah, two o'clock, you know, the low alarm went off. And you know, she's still whacked on the pain meds. So I went in to help her, and and she's looking at me, and she's kind of going slowly because her throat hurts, so she's eating slowly. And there's part of me that's like, well, I'll stand here with her make sure she's okay. And then there's the other part of me wanted to go, like, Hey, you're all right, right. Like, can I I gotta go lay back down. So she just she looked at me, and even in the dark, she's like, are you all right? I said. I think I'm getting too old for this. I really do. And that's me and my 21 year old. You have a seven year old, right? You're not that much younger than me. You
Brian 30:08
know? Yeah, it's, it's definitely interesting. There's the mental gymnastics too, because, like, if he's low, we've discovered he gets like, really, really, like, angry, right? And, you know, who wouldn't I mean, people react differently to low and the high blood sugars, right? But I mean, it took us a while to realize that, though we're like, why is he flipping out? Like, what? What's going on? And, oh, well, he's 55 right now. Okay, so get some sugar in on all that stuff, and he's, he's back to his normal Lucas self, right? It took us a while and still, like my wife said to me the other day, she's like, Oh, I think, I think he hates me. I'm like, No, he doesn't hate you. He's having a you know, but, I mean, you're, you're a dad, you know how it is, right? It's just it stops and the downs, that is really a struggle, right?
Scott Benner 30:58
Also, the the low blood sugars and the balancing blood sugars are hard on you. We haven't happened an episode called altered minds that discusses how you know just your blood sugar being low changes your personality. Yeah, yeah. I try very hard not to judge anything that's happening during a low blood sugar, that's for sure. And you got to learn how to not take it with you when it's over too, which is not always as easy as it sounds. Yeah, when he comes out of the hospital, is it injections? Are you? MDI, are there CGM? So there are not. How did they start you through the process?
Brian 31:29
So, yeah. So they started us with the insulin pens, long term insulin, with the, you know, regular insulin, carb ratios, all that stuff. But he didn't come out of the hospital with a CGM, which that made it a little weird, but I kind of understand, like, I think their philosophy, or his original endocrinologist, you know, her philosophy, was essentially, you know, let's, let's get him the basics so they understand exactly how to do it. Should the technology not be there? And then, after about two, three weeks, then he was on the Dexcom g7 and even with that and injections, it made it a lot easier to manage. Oh, sure, yeah, absolutely. But, yeah, it took him about, or I think it was about three months. We got prescribed the the Omnipod, which is it's been, you know, he got on the Omnipod right as he was entering first grade. And that's, that's another story to the first grade nurse at the time, she actually had type one diabetes, which was awesome, right
Scott Benner 32:35
for you, not for her, but, yeah, yeah.
Brian 32:40
But you know, we love her dearly, like, if she listens to this podcast, like, Hey, we love you. You know all that stuff, but you know his low blood sugars weren't like yours. He doesn't need 30 carbs, you know? I mean, he would take maybe, and still, if he's 55 or 45 we can give him 10 carbs and he's back to where he needs to be, but he's little, she would get scared, and she'd give him a juice and, like, Ritz crackers and gummies and all this stuff, and all of a sudden he's back up to, like, 275 and it's like, Ah, come on, you know? But you know, I think her thing was like, Hey, I don't want him to, like, go into a seizure in the school so, plus school nurses, I have realized aren't, you know, personal care for my son, right? She's got other students to take care of as well. So, right? So, yeah, it's, it's interesting.
Scott Benner 33:32
Yeah, you start to get it, you know what I mean? Like you have these expectations every time something happens, and then you see how it really is, and you go, Okay, this is a good person trying their hardest. And exactly, yeah, exactly, she got other things to do too. But when on day one, you think, Oh, it's great. There's a nurse there, like, just for him, and it's going to be awesome. Yeah, exactly, everything's a learning curve. It really, just genuinely is as much as you want. You know, things to be one way doesn't always work that way, you know, like everything's not perfect,
Brian 34:03
not at all, not at all, yeah, so he's actually on his as of this year. He just started second grade. It's his third school in two years. And that was an interesting thing too, because last talking about things stacking up, you know, when it rains, it pours literally. So hurricane Milton, you know, I'm in Florida, Tampa area, you know, we had some home damage, and then we had to move. So that was one of those other fun moments as well. And it wasn't like our house got swept away by the water, but it was, you know, it came through the roof. We had mold issues, all this stuff. And I'm just like, Okay, well, it's time to move to a better place that doesn't get impacted as hurricanes do. I mean, we're in Florida, we're gonna get impacted, but it's we're way more inland right now than we were. So time
Scott Benner 34:57
to get out of there. Well, in your note. You talk about the resilience that you had to find in yourself, and I was wondering if you could kind of go into what led you to start thinking about that and how you made your way through it. Yeah, I think,
Brian 35:12
you know, you go back to, there's a quote I read from somebody the other day like, and it essentially goes like, hey, you know, you can choose to think your situation sucks, or you can choose to have your situation be awesome. And it's really a choice, right? And, you know, looking back, it's like, Okay, we have this diagnosis. You know, we could sit here and post all about, you know, the bad parts on on Instagram and and have everybody, you know, I guess, what do they call that? People? I don't know. It's a term, right? Or we could say, hey, you know, let's make the best of it. And it sucks. It's a crappy thing that can happen, especially to kids, but as a dad, you know, I have to be the one that kind of like leads the family, or lead by example, right? If I'm down on my on myself, which, I mean, I had plenty of reasons to be, but then that kind of trickles down to the rest of the family, right? So, guys, we always like to try to fix things, and, you know, I guess you just try to try to get through it and fix what you can and realize that, you know, you got to lean on your doctors. You got to lean on your community, you know, people around you, and stuff like that. So
Scott Benner 36:37
would you say that prior to your your jump kick, which, by the way, is that what you call it a front kick, what you call it
Brian 36:44
front jump so if you imagine the original Karate Kid, where he's doing the Crane Kick, and he, like, jumps up and down. So it's just like that, although I didn't do the arms and the air type of thing. So it's just, you know, well, thank God you had jumped
Scott Benner 36:57
up on your head. So prior to that, things just went right for you, right? Like you, you weren't having you and your wife didn't have medical issues until the you couldn't conceive. You didn't have any issues at all, even the the issue with the conception, the miscarriage, you get, the you know, the adoption, even that kind of turns out well, because there's Lucas, everything's great again. Like, so like, is that the idea that, like, you get to that, that injury, that it's not just, like, it's not a 10 day illness, right? It's not the flu or something like that. Like, this is a long haul. It brings you down. It makes you question yourself. And then in the middle of it, this thing happens, the Lucas, with the diabetes, and then you get the next surgery, and it's just, is it like a weight? Like, do you do you feel depressed? Is it like, you know, can you explain to me how you felt in that time?
Brian 37:47
Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously there's, there's depression involved and things like that. But you know, if you can't get out of that, or you start feeling sorry for yourself, then what kind of example are you setting for your kids too, right? So I think that was the key. And then also, like, with my wife, I was like, you know, we've gone through stuff like this before. I mean, not diabetes, but like, we've miscarried, we've lost children, you know, we've
Scott Benner 38:16
you've been through hard things in the past. You know how to do it, right? Yeah, right, right. Were you saying to me earlier that, like, there's an ability, because of the internet, to get like, like you can, I don't know, find a bunch of people in a similar situation, and get in like, some sort of a misery loop, or, like a victim bonding thing, or and let yourself go into that direction, and you willfully and meaningfully avoided it.
Brian 38:44
Yeah, yeah. In fact, my wife joined, like, a moms of type one diabetes group, and she was like, I just, I just can't keep looking at this stuff. She's like, I feel so bad for all these people, but you know, and rightfully so, right? I mean, I'm not discounting the role of motherhood by any means, or the ability to grieve for the disease or anything like that, but I think if you quit yourself in that situation, then you start to find reasons to also get into that loop as well. Yeah,
Scott Benner 39:18
it becomes, there's a word for it. I don't know what it is when people get in a group and they start kind of just like, describing what happened to themselves and reliving it over and over again, and the rehashing happens over and over without, like, without moving forward, without, without their it just it turns into a pity party for the lack of like, a better term. And you can get caught in it's almost like, Oh, what's that movie that my kids are always telling me, like, it's some movie where the characters end up in a nightclub, and the nightclub, like, slows down time and keeps you captured there, because you're happy forever and like, it's almost like the the the opposite of that, like, You're so sad, you just kind of it. It's like quicksand, like you can't get out of it then, right? And then the more people that come in, you feel like you have a community. But it's not really as much of a community as it is. You all just become like, I don't know, you all become like each other's anchors, and you're and you're you end up holding yourself in there. And then the opposite happens. So are you in my group, have you tried that one? I haven't yet. No, that one's not like that. If you're looking forward, still point your wife towards that one. There's, there's people in there trying to find answers, not trying to stay stuck. You know
Brian 40:33
what? I mean? Okay, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. And that's, I think that's what draw me to your podcast, too, is it was, you know, more educational, informative type of stuff, rather than, you know, pity party. I guess you could say,
Scott Benner 40:48
yeah, maybe whatever. I don't even mean to, like, I'm not trying to undervalue the sadness or the real burden of type one, or for yourself or for a loved one. But there's a moment I feel like this is what I heard you saying. Like, there's a moment where you got to just, like, pick yourself up and be like, All right, we got to get the moving here. Like, that's yes, it's enough, absolutely, yeah, right, absolutely, yeah. So you were able to do that for yourself. But why? Like, that's my last question around this. Is that, where did you draw your strength from? Like, there's the reason I asked Brian is it occurs to me, as I'm talking to so many people, that people have a much easier time doing stuff for other people than for themselves. Oh, yeah, so I'm looking for like, what your motivation was to say, Hey, I'm getting out of this nightclub, out of this tar pit, and I'm gonna get moving again.
Brian 41:37
Who are you doing it for? Definitely the family. Being in the the military, I have PTSD and all that fun stuff. And I think some of that, like tools that I use to get through that I think sometimes translates to, hey, you know, I've got this going on in my brain right now. I don't, I don't want them to kind of go through the same type of thing that I am right now. So I think it's, I don't know exactly, like, a two, yeah,
Scott Benner 42:07
you have experience or training with being in a terrible situation and realizing I can't stand here anymore, I gotta move exactly. Yeah, exactly, yep, when you train for the military, is that, like, quite literally, like live fire training, right? Like you did. You have to go through that.
Brian 42:23
Yeah, there was, there was some of that. I actually was, I did, essentially counter intelligence, anti terrorism stuff. And I guess the short story is, you know, we dealt with war crimes and seeing some of those things. And then after the military, I was actually working for a state police agency doing I was on a federal task force doing crimes against children, and I think, you know, PTSD definitely from the military, but also, you know, seeing the worst of human behavior on two sides of the spectrum. You know, the military and civilian life, I think really kind of makes it like, hey, I want something, something better for for my kids. I want them to not experience those things, some deep stuff, I guess so.
Scott Benner 43:15
No. I mean, you have a blend of interesting experiences, like you've gotten to see people willfully trying to hurt other people? Yep, yeah. And you know that there's often just a group of other people who are willfully trying to stop them. It's the only thing between, you know, between them and reaching their goals. And then you see it like on that state police level with kids, that's even, I mean, I mean, it's less shocking to hear that, you know, politically and you know, around money, people are trying to do what they're trying to do what they're trying to do, but when they're trying to hurt kids, then, I mean, all common sense, like anybody who's reasonable is, like, I don't this shouldn't be happening, right? Like, right. But it's not just happening once. It's happening constantly. I know, yeah, you're faced with it over and over again and and then, I guess then you start seeing your kids. I'm trying to put this all together, but I guess you start guess you start seeing your kid put into a situation where you think, like, wow, you know, could his life be less than what he deserves? I got to do everything I can, like, the world's already a bad enough place, or it can be like, we can't have this on top of the rest of that. Is that what you're trying to tell me,
Brian 44:18
yeah, yeah. I think, I think you nailed it there. I think it's, you know, you want the best for your for your kids, or most rational parents, too, right? Yeah. And when you see the worst of people, I think it makes it maybe easier to get to a place where you can make it better for somebody I don't
Scott Benner 44:38
know, you know. So, I mean, I would think for most rational people who don't have feelings like that, or don't involve themselves in hurting other people or taking advantage of, you know, large groups of citizens, you know, or anything in between, it just all sounds crazy. It's like the news comes on and you're like, you're hearing about a war here and a war there. And you're like, No, Can we all just stop? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Take the. 12 year old inside of you comes out, like, and you're just like, hey, I think if we all just stop hitting each other, this would be better. Oh, yeah, 100% right? And then, but then you realize, like, that's not going to happen, right, right? And now guys like you and women like you are out there trying to get in between that and the rest and trying to slow it down a little break your job is not even to stop it, right? It's just to slow it down a little bit. Yeah. And I think that's the feeding, right, right?
Brian 45:26
And, you know, innocence is lost in children so easily that you go through something like that, and then all of a sudden, you know, type one diabetes pops up. And you're like, Man, this kid's got to grow up super, super fast now. And thankfully, he's good at math, but my goodness, you know, I I can't imagine what a seven year old brain is doing right now, like thinking about all this
Scott Benner 45:49
stuff, no, it's until you really understand your entire like backstory and everything, that it didn't quite make sense to me, until I put it all together like that, like you've, you've seen what the world can be, and you think at some point that kid's gonna have to deal with this world? I need to put that off for as long as possible. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So you get up and get yourself moving, and pull yourself out of wherever you are and start figuring all this out, and put him in the best case scenario, like you even moved him out of the house and poured took him somewhere. Oh, oh yeah, yeah, you're on, like, a whole little reclamation thing, Brian, it's nice.
Brian 46:22
Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Look at you. And then, and then there's little league. Oh my goodness, yeah.
Scott Benner 46:29
So go ahead, tell me, by the way, because those people, they exist in Little League too. And Brian, I don't know if you know this about my family, but my son played baseball from the time he was four until the day graduated from college, and Arden, had she not gotten hurt when she was about 14, was probably on her way to playing in college too. As a matter of fact, I've watched Arden. She was two games shy of reaching the Little League World Series in softball, so about nine years ago. So I have a ton of background in this. I can't wait to hear what you're experiencing.
Brian 47:00
Yeah, so it's so before diabetes, he was on a team in our in our old town, near Tampa, and he was doing well, extremely supportive people and all that. So we moved and I'm like, Hey, I gotta find the closest Little League to us. So I did, you know, and you know, met with a coach and all this stuff. And you know, from the beginning, I just didn't get the right, like, the right vibes, you know, just my my senses just went off, you know. And I said, Well, you know, he really loves baseball, so let's put him in there. And I said, you know, he does have type one diabetes, but you know that shouldn't limit him and all that. And then I just started seeing the, okay, well, he was last on the roster to go up for bat. He'd be sitting on the bench. Because, you know, well, we can only put, what is it, 10 players on the field at a time, and he was player number 11, and then, okay, well, he can go in a catcher, because I don't want his blood sugars to go bad. And I'm like, Okay, well, let me deal with that part of things, you know, if he goes low or if he goes high, you know, we can handle that, but we never really were able to kind of communicate with that individual about, like, hey, you know, let him just play. He's a kid. But then there was also, like, the they were taking it way too serious for like seven year olds and and it was just it was terrible. So hindsight,
Scott Benner 48:26
they were worried about the diabetes without any actual background, kind of helping, in quotes, the wrong way. And then on top of that, you realized you were the bunch of people who thought all their kids were like the next
Brian 48:40
coming of Derek Jeter, exactly. And I think, you know, I even said to this individual, I said, I don't think they really appreciated it when I did, but I said, Hey, none of these kids are going to be these kids are going to make the major so just let them
Scott Benner 48:57
have fun. They don't want to hear that. Oh, wait a second. I don't want to hear that for sure. Listen, I've said this a number of times. I'm happy to say it again, that if you would have gone to when my son was 12, and maybe even till when he was 14, and assessed his entire team and said, I want you to pick the kid on this team that's going to play college baseball for four years. In a million years, you would not have picked my son. There was always a kid that was bigger or appeared stronger or appeared faster or something, and you thought like, oh, it's going to be that one. It's going to be that one. It was and it was none of those, the primordial goo that has to come together to turn you into a college athlete. It also has something to do with like your your mental makeup, right? I watched a kid make it to a school as a pitcher, and couldn't have felt better for the kid, you know what I mean. And one day you hear like he's pitching, like you can watch it on ESPN. I was like, This is crazy, and I flipped it. TV on, and I was like, Oh, my God, good for him. Look at him there. And five minutes later, I watched a ball leave that stadium that he pitched, and it went so far that, I think it knocked him right out of the school and took him right home again. You know what I mean? Like he was in over his head. He took a spot that, like he wasn't going to be able to compete in, but thought he was lucky and everything. And instead of just saying, like, oh, I don't fit here. I should have gone somewhere where I fit better. He shot the moon. He threw a half. I mean, one half of an inning where they shelled him so hard they literally, like, kicked him off the team. Wow. Like, that was another person who, at four years old, started playing baseball and made it all the way to the thing, and then one day it was just like, Now, get out of here. And, wow. So that's the one kid that made it. My son made it. Played the whole four years, and then, by the way, covid happened in the middle of it, and just a horror for kids playing school sports and in college at that point. The bigger issue is that it's unless you're just a giant and you're and you're just gifted in a way that literally just feels like it's handed down to you. You You know what I mean? Like, like, God, decided you're going to be a baseball player. If you're not one of those people, and very few people are, then the things that have to come together for, and you still have to love it, you have to not get hurt and, like, all this stuff has to happen. It just, it's not something you can plan for, right? Right? If I had five seconds to talk to those people, those people you tried to speak to, who, by the way, probably just thought you were, you know, a loser for saying that not everybody, of course, they're all going to make it, yeah, you know, like, like, if I had five seconds to talk to them, I'd say, Listen, you know, I watch professional baseball. You know, every day there's 30 some teams on each one of those teams. There's five middle reliever pitchers that suck, which means that there's like, 150 guys in the league who suck, but they're still the best that's going Yeah, exactly. And you think your kid, there are these two people. I wish I don't know them. There's no way they're listening to this. But I've never met two shorter people in my entire life and the entire time through Little League. They were a little younger than my son, so you kind of got to watch them, like, through the rear view mirror a little bit. And they acted like that kid was just the second coming of anything. And I kept thinking, like, he's going to be very tiny. Like, you're tiny people, he's going to be tiny too. Like, this doesn't work. Like, go turn your television on, you know. Do you see a lot of five, four guys playing professional baseball anywhere, you know, but they still, like, they burdened that kid and tortured him, like, and everything that could have been fun about that experience was a horror for that child. So, yeah, you know, he could have just had a great time playing baseball while he was a kid, and instead, yeah, he got told that he had a job to do, and he failed at it. I'm like, Yeah, you guys are misunderstanding parenting, that's for
Brian 52:51
sure. But so, yeah, it's so now we're doing basketball tryouts are in a week from now, and that was a interesting story how that all came about, too. That actually happened at friends for life. Really, it was, yeah, it was the last day there's a organization that was working with Medtronic called diabetes, doing things. Oh,
Scott Benner 53:16
Rob, yeah, of course, yeah.
Brian 53:19
So it's Rob and Gary Forbes. And then there was a female WNBA player as well, and I can't remember her name off the top of my head, but Lauren Cox, Lauren, yes, yes.
Scott Benner 53:33
Well, that was right off of my memory. Hey, I'm taking a victory lap on there. Like I'm so bad with names, I'm so impressed with myself. Okay, so go ahead.
Brian 53:40
Yeah. So, so we went through Lucas. And I went through this like, hey, you know these professional athletes, they have type one diabetes phase, and he's got cards from, you know, all the famous people. Like, now, of course, none of the names are coming at the top of my head, but yeah. And so I signed him up for this basketball thing, and Gary, it's amazing, like, so Lucas goes right up to Gary, and he's like, Hey, Gary, you're my favorite basketball player of all time. And he's like, he's like, Oh, well, well, thanks. And I think Lucas was like, on his Instagram and stuff like that. And it was, it was really cool. But Gary actually came talk to me, and I kind of told him the baseball story and all that. He's like, get him that F out of that and put him into something that he enjoys. I'm like, okay,
Scott Benner 54:34
but did your son not enjoy baseball? Or did he not enjoy what came with it?
Brian 54:39
I think it was what came with it, right? Like he enjoyed being out there. He was proud to wear his hat. You know, he would wear the baseball hat to school every day, all this stuff. But I think it was the he had a hard time hitting the ball. Like we went from machine pitch to coach pitch, and, you know, he had the timing right on the machine. But then. The coach, who knows, you know, how they pitch, right? And I think it was just a lot of variables, plus then you add the type one on top of it as well, and, you know, he's up and down depending on, you know, the day. So I think there was a lot of that. If
Scott Benner 55:17
you're not very naturally inclined to baseball, it's a lot of work, and it doesn't pay you back right away. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And there's a couple of people who, when you really stop and look at it, at that age, the kids that are are excelling are just physically, usually larger or stronger, and then they can overwhelm the pitching, and that's why they end up being successful when they're younger. There's always some kid who grows to like their full size by the time they're 10, and they just are dominating the whole thing. And then you look up three years later and they can't play, yeah, because then everybody grew past them, and now they're dominating them. So if your son's a little smaller, or a little, you know, or hasn't just been doing it every second of his life, you know, it's, it's just difficult to do, man, like, there's nothing harder than hitting that little ball. Like, it really, it really, it really, is hard. So, so why not do something that lends itself to some, you know, a more immediate enjoyment and success, and, you know, I mean, lets him Have fun. Because that's really what it's about, is having fun.
Brian 56:19
Yeah, absolutely. And he's, he's very tall for his age, too. And, I mean, just the other day he was practicing, and he's drilling like normal free throws, like, like a mad man. I'm like, wow, this is really good. So hopefully he keeps up with it, right, but enjoys it. You know, the the arcades where they have the basketball hoops that you play those, I mean, Chuck E Cheese, or any one of those places, right? He'll be drilling those like all the time. So I think he's got a natural ability, at least as a seven year old. But you know, like I said earlier, an aspiring athlete is probably a good definition, not necessarily, I guess. You know, time will tell.
Scott Benner 56:58
That'd be fun. Every year I'd say to my son in the off season, I'm like, Look, you don't have to do this. Like, if you're not enjoying this, tell me if you're like, This isn't for me. It's for you. If you don't, if you want to keep doing it, keep doing it, if you don't say something, like, you know, it's a lot of work. You know, especially baseball, there's a lot of failure in baseball. And you know, you can make this simple, like, statement that, like, Oh, it's good for you. Like, it builds character and stuff like that doesn't not for everybody. Some people just feel like they're failing, right, right? Do you really need to make a seven year old feel like they're failing? Like, it's just, it's just supposed to be fun, you know what? I mean? Yeah, like, it, trust me, if your son grows into a collegiate basketball player, or if he grew into a professional baseball player, like, you're not going to know that right now. Like, it just anybody who thinks they know where these kids are going, like, they're going to be sadly mistaken, like, at some point, and they're going to realize how much time they gave away to something that, in the end, didn't, you know, maybe do much more for them than it could have done if they would have just taken it less, not seriously, but just, you know, not treated it like it was life or death, and just let people have a good time. So, yeah,
Brian 58:07
yeah, I think you hit, hit the nail on the head, I guess there, because I think it's, you know, you want them to have fun. And look, I mean, being a kid is hard enough, right? And then you throw diabetes on top of it, and then the pressure to perform. You know that some some parents put on their kids and look, I want them to do well, right? And I'll probably be yelling at him if he misses a shot or something. But, you know, at the end of the day, if he's not having fun, like, Let's do something else, right? So
Scott Benner 58:37
I could endlessly tell you story I watched the one boy be just chastised, like, screamed at in his car every day after practice, like, I mean, like you could see from a distance the screaming that was going on in the car from the Father. And, you know now this many years later, that kid is 26 years old, and you know what he does for a living. He's not a professional baseball player, I can tell you that much, right, all right. And I could tell you that on the last day my son played college baseball, he was a center fielder who has been who had been told by numerous professional scouts that he graded out defensively as a professional baseball player, who also pitched sometimes, and had a 93 mile an hour fastball. And you know what my son does for a living now, he's 25 he is not a professional baseball player. In case you're wondering, if I said to you right now, Hey, your seven year old will one day be 21 and have a 93 mile an hour fastball, you'd say, Oh, they're going to play professional baseball. It's not necessarily the case, and it's not because he wouldn't have wanted to, or he didn't know how to work at it. It's this idea of best way I've ever been able to explain it to anybody trying to play baseball and probably any sport, really, if you aspire to college. And you know is that it's like a pyramid. So if you can imagine the fattest part of the pyramid at the bottom, the most people fit around the edge of the pyramid. And so like, you know that year, my. Kid starts playing Little League. I The number, I think, is 4 million American boys started playing Little League baseball that same summer. Yeah, and they all fit around the bottom of that pyramid. And then you take a step up, and there's a little less pyramid, and you take another step up and there's a little less and a little less, and one day, there's so little room that you and your amazing talent and your 93 mile an hour fastball and your ability to play both ways is literally not as good as the people who are left over next to you, and then they all step up and there's nowhere for you to hold on to, and just slide down and you slide off. Yeah, and it doesn't make you not good. It just makes you trying to do something that only a few 1000 people in the world do like. So, you know, at some point you have to be a giant freak of nature who also has all those same skills. Yeah, that's when you realize, like you're you've got yourself involved in something, that there's no way that when your kid was seven or eight years old, you would have known how it was going to end. Right, right? I as I look at it in the rear view mirror of my life and all I saw with other people's children, like so many kids would have benefited if everyone would have just said, like, this is just fun. Like, let this just be fun. You know, instead, you go find those kids now, and their memories are not positive, generally speaking, of their time playing sports, and that's a shame, but anyway, I'm sorry. Ron, good, no, no,
Brian 1:01:24
no, that's That's exactly right. I think, you know, I've even watched it when I was growing up, I was on the swim team, and there was a swimmer on the team that could have made the he went to the Olympic trials, and he actually told us he purposely tanked his trial because his parents pressured him so much to be this athlete like his. I mean, it was, what, 17 years old at the time, right? And the pressure, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So has every record, you know, in the city, probably still to this day. But you know, when it came to the Olympic trials, he just blew it because you didn't want to do it anymore.
Scott Benner 1:02:02
Yeah, so just wanted to get away from it. Arden tells me, she's like, I She's like, I'm not happy I got hurt. But she's like, I am glad that. Like, she's like, I don't think I would have enjoyed playing softball in college. And I was like, right? She said, but she could have. And I think that becomes, like, one of those things, like, you get to the point where you're like, Oh, I guess if I could have done it, I would have done it. And, like, would I have done it because I wanted to do it or because it's the thing I do? Because I spent so many years being the person who does this, you know? Like, that's the one worry I always have about my son. Like, I don't know. Like, did he? Did he just think that that's who he was at that point. You know what I mean? Like, of course I'm doing this because I mean, there's arguments to be made. He got into a good college because of of it. He got a better education because of it. He didn't pay as much for that education. Before I do it, I will tell you that that money we saved on his education just got spent somewhere else learning how to play baseball, right? That's, that's a wash, really. Yeah, you know, you just always kind of wonder if it's, you know, if we don't get a little too caught up in the whole thing, and and then once you you see other people taking it that seriously, you feel like, well, if I don't take it this seriously too, then I'll be on the outside, and that'll be it, like, I'll be on the bench, or they won't ask me back on the team, or, you know, whatever people end up thinking. And I don't know, I just tell people always the same thing, like, there's so much travel sports now, if you're not starting and playing, you're the one keeping the financial part of it afloat. You're either the check or you're a player. And if you don't know which you are, you're the check. Yeah, the most important thing about your kids playing sports is that it's fun, it's close to your home, and it's not expensive, exactly, not really, exactly. That's what I would tell you, is the best thing to do. Yeah, y'all are gonna not listen to me or Brian. You all think your kid is, uh, is the next coming of something, and God bless you. Have a good time. But I've lived through it. I just hope they
Brian 1:03:56
get in a good college, because that's a lot of money, travel ball and all that stuff. So
Scott Benner 1:04:01
no idea, like, the, I mean, listen, some of it was fun, like, I'm not gonna lie to you, and some of it was a great experience. And just being together with my son and doing that stuff and with Arden and doing that stuff was awesome. But, like, it didn't need to be to the level it was. He was always gonna grow into the player he was. He didn't need to go to Atlanta and play one summer. He didn't need to go to Florida and play. He didn't need to go to tournaments. And, you know, like, you know, everybody's like, Oh, you got to play better teams so that you can get better. Never once made them any better. To do that. Like, it's, you know, you got to have a certain amount of skill, and you got to want to play. And that's what makes you better. Just, it's repetition. I mean, you people are listening now, like, well, you know, if you're hitting bad pitching, how do you know if you know if you can play I'm like, I mean, take your point. But there's not pitching that much better in Florida, and when it is that much better, right? Nobody can hit him anyway, right? Right? Because you're down there playing against some kid who is going to be playing minor league baseball in 18 months, and you know, you're 15, and he's throwing nine. 91 and you're just like, yeah, like, I'm not getting better doing this thing. We this, this one situation where Cole's team went to Florida and they were told, like, you know, like, look the team you're playing on the first day. Yeah, there's going to be some scouts out there looking at their pitcher. And man, I'm going to tell you right now, there were 25 scouts there. The backstop was lined with guys with, like, guns, like measuring, this kid's pitching. And my son was like, I've never seen anything like this, like at the time, I think he was like, 15, and this kid's like throwing, like, 92 miles an hour already, like we're talking before the game. And he goes, What am I supposed to do? And I just, I gave him what I thought was good advice. I gave him what I think ends up being good life advice. I said he throws way harder than you're accustomed to. You're probably not going to hit it. I was like, but don't change who you are. Like, get in there, use your swing and put it on the ball and just try to compete with him. And if he, you know, and I said, and look at the strike zone and swing at the strikes, that's pretty much it. And he went in there. He didn't change his approach. He didn't try to speed up. There were kids who tried to speed up. There were kids who tried to, like, do little things to touch the ball, you know. And instead, he took three swings, he fouled off a ball, he struck out. Eventually, he came over to me after the game, and he's like, Hey, I fouled one off. And I was like, Yeah, that was awesome, like, and that ended up being a win for him, like he touched it, you know what I mean? And instead of putting the pressure on him that what he needed to do was go hit a 92 mile an hour fastball, which is not a thing that he had ever seen before in his entire life. And like, and putting that pressure on him, I just said, like, Just be true to yourself. And like, this will come along. And, you know, three years later, my son had hit a 92 mile an hour fastball, like, it's nothing, but like, yeah, there you go. That wasn't the day to teach him to do it. And but I saw other guys pulling their kids aside, and they were like, what they thought was, if you hit that ball off that kid, then these scouts are going to care about you too. And, yeah, that is not how any of that works. No, yeah. So anyway, I could bum you all out about youth sports for longer, if you needed me to, but we're out of time right now. Oh, my goodness, Ryan, is there anything that we didn't talk about that we should
Brian 1:07:22
have? No, I think you know, if I were to say anything to the dads out there, you know, just hang in there, right? And find other like minded dads. I know there was a great group at friends for life that all got together over some drinks and stuff like that. Take care of your family. Unfortunately, we can't figure everything out, but, you know, do the best you can. So,
Scott Benner 1:07:46
yeah, hey, man, listen, just in the end, like, you know, maybe not much different than what I just said is, like, you know, be consistent. Be yourself. Go out there and try to help other people, and that's your kid or your wife or your other kids in your family, like, just put other people first and and make decisions that you think are going to help them. And I think remember that this is going to get easier as it goes, that you're going to get better and better at it, that, you know, child or your life is not going to be some terrible failure or, you know, horrible let down because this happened. There are plenty of people out there living perfectly lovely lives with type one diabetes. Yeah, I think to Brian's point earlier, like you can choose to sit and wallow in it, or you can choose to get going. And, you know, so it's that movie, son, again, we can get busy living or get busy dying, right? Like, I don't know what, I don't know a movie that's from, but you know, just choose motion, move forward, you know, as best you can, and it really does work out so absolutely. All right, man, thank you very much. No, thank you as a pleasure. Hold on one second for me. Okay, all right,
today's episode of The Juicebox podcast was sponsored by the new tandem Moby system and control iq plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox check it out. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from us med for three years. You can as well us, med.com/juicebox, or Paul, 888-721-1514, my thanks to us, med for sponsoring this episode and for being longtime sponsors of the Juicebox podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at Juicebox podcast.com to us, med and all of the sponsors. Today's episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g7 and the Dexcom g7 warms up in just 30 minutes. Check it out now at dexcom.com/juicebox, I can't thank you enough for listening. Please make sure you're subscribed or following in your audio app. I'll be back. Back tomorrow with another episode of The Juicebox podcast. I created the diabetes variables series because I know that in type one diabetes management, the little things aren't that little, and they really add up. In this series, we'll break down everyday factors like stress, sleep, exercise and those other variables that impact your day more than you might think Jenny Smith and I are going to get straight to the point with practical advice that you can trust. So check out the diabetes variable series in your podcast player or at Juicebox podcast.com if you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox podcast private Facebook group Juicebox podcast type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome type one type two, gestational loved ones. It doesn't matter to me, if you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juicebox podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrongway recording.com.
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