#1916 Chilly Reception
Chilly Reception
Christina has had type 1 for fifteen years. Her son William was diagnosed in DKA on a ski team trip to Chile, in a hospital where the care was entirely in Spanish — and the hardest part came after they got home.
Jump to a moment
- Adult-onset type 1 found her at 36, and the celiac link was news to her. Christina had been dragging for months with two children under three and put it down to exhaustion. A friend who is an ER doctor told her to get bloodwork; the result came back at 748 while Christina was driving her to the grocery store. She had already had celiac for a decade and gestational diabetes with her first pregnancy, and says no one had ever mentioned that celiac and type 1 travel together.
- A diagnosis abroad is a different event entirely. William was diagnosed in DKA at 10,000 feet in Chile, evacuated by ambulance to Santiago, and spent his first days in an ICU where the care was conducted in Spanish. Christina could not get a flight for two days. She got through it on Google Translate, a bilingual physician from a credit-card assistance service, friends conferenced in to interpret, and strangers who stepped in — and her own conclusion is blunt: arriving at that with no prior knowledge of type 1 would have been debilitating.
- “You made it look too easy.” Christina had spent fifteen years being private about her own diabetes and deliberately not burdening her kids with it. William’s response after his diagnosis was that she had made it look easy and never told him it was this hard, and for a while he was openly resentful that it had come from her. She started playing the podcast in the car on the way to ski races so the information would reach him from someone other than his mother.
- She names the mental health piece as the thing she would go back and change. By her account William was self-medicating within months, and what looked like unexplained overnight lows turned out to be the visible edge of it. She is direct that she was focused on the physical side and did not put support around the emotional side early enough — and she describes it as grieving the life he thought he was going to have. She is not offering this as advice, only as her own hindsight.
- Finding treatment that would accept a type 1 adolescent was its own ordeal. Program after program told her he was too high-risk to take. One asked whether insulin could be misused and had no protocol for storing it. She eventually found a place in Arizona, 2,200 miles from Brooklyn, that had cared for several people with type 1 and could tell her exactly how. That gap — between the care a family needs and the programs willing to provide it — is the most concrete thing this episode surfaces.
- Mental Wellness series — Episodes with therapist Erika Forsyth — the part of a diagnosis Christina says she wishes she had addressed sooner.
- Bold Beginnings series — The newly diagnosed series, for the first weeks she describes.
- Small Sips series — Short, curated takeaways — the series Scott plugs at the close.
- Juicebox FAQ — The searchable question bank on the site.
- SugarPixel — The bedside glucose display Christina sent to the ranch so staff could see his numbers from a distance.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Free, confidential, 24/7. Call or text 988 in the US. Outside the US, Find A Helpline lists services by country at findahelpline.com.
- SAMHSA National Helpline — Free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral and information for substance use and mental health — 1-800-662-4357.
Every word of the conversation
Welcome & Sponsors0:08
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Juice Box podcast.
So introduction, how how do you how do you should I I guess I haven't thought about that. So I should just introduce myself as a type one diabetic and a mother of a type one diabetic. Is that how it goes or where I'm from? Or
On today's episode of the podcast, there will be nothing that you should take as advice, medical or otherwise. So please, please consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. I've got two OG sponsors for you today, Omnipod five and Dexcom. That's right. The episode that you're about to enjoy was brought to you today by Dexcom and the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears.
You can learn more and get started today with my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. And this little slice of podcasting perfection is also brought to you today by the Omnipod five. The Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that has been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. You can learn more and get started today at my link omnipod.com/juicebox. At that link, you can get yourself a free starter kit right now.
What did I just say? Free. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
You'll find those links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now and at juiceboxpodcast.com. It's so it sounds reasonable to me. One person, last week just went, hey. My name is Bill. And I went, hey, Bill.
And that was it. And then he's so I would say open your mouth, start talking, and then wherever you end up will be okay.
Got it.
You're ready? Well, I'm ready when you're ready. So go ahead. Next word to me here.
I'm ready.
Okay. Next thing we hear is you saying hi.
Meet Christina2:19
Hi. My name is Christina. I am a type one diabetic, and I am also the mother of a type one diabetic and a resident of New York City.
Okay. Do you have other children other than that other type one?
I do. I have an older son who is 18, and my type one is 16, almost 17.
Okay. How old were you when you were diagnosed?
I was 36.
How old are you now?
I am turning 51 tomorrow.
Oh, happy birthday.
Why, thank you.
That's lovely.
So yeah. So I got I got through having my two children before I was diagnosed, but I did have I did have gestational diabetes with my first child, Sebastian, who is my 18 year old, and I did not have it with my second child that was eighteen months behind him.
Okay. Oh, 18. Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.
You were diagnosed when you were 36. So what was that like? I I I I imagine that's an age where you kinda don't imagine that's gonna happen. Right?
“Just a Little High” — Diagnosed at 363:20
No. Yeah. I so it's it's sort of an interesting story. I knew something was wrong with me, but I thought I just was tired because I had two kids under the age of three. I just thought that I was really tired and what nothing was right and dragging and dragging.
I had bronchitis. I couldn't shake it. And I had a friend who was an ER doctor, a mom. And I kept on going, What do think's wrong with me? Because why would I go to the doctor?
I thought she could just diagnose me. She was like, I think you should go get some blood work. I think you should just go get some blood work. So I did, and funnily enough, I got my blood work back when I was in the car with her. I was driving her to the grocery store because she was on bed rest with her third child.
They're like, Oh, we got your blood work back. Your blood sugar is a little high, so we want you to go get some more blood work. She whispers to me, she goes, Ask them what the number is. And they said, oh, you're at you're at seven forty eight.
Just a little high.
Just a little high. And she goes, ask them to have it have your blood work sent to you and pull over. And so she had
to pull over. You driving me and my unborn child.
She goes exactly. She goes, I'm gonna drive you, and we're gonna go to the you we're gonna go to my ER right now. And she drove me to the ER, and she admitted me into the ICU.
Wow. Just a little high.
And was in
That's fine.
Yeah. Full full DK had been going on for a while.
We might wanna just get you a little more blood work to really nail this down. Yeah. So
so and I was like, I don't think I need to go to the hospital. She's like, you do, and you're gonna go. So so, you know, right where she was in the right place at the right time, and I was doing the right thing at the right time taking her to taking her to the grocery. I'm like, but what about your groceries? And she goes, it'll be fine.
You got good karma came right back at you for helping her.
And it it did. It did.
So how how long were you in the hospital?
I was only in the hospital for a couple days, because I had had gestational diabetes. I sorta knew the drill on, how to, like, manage my diet a little bit. I also I I have celiac, so I'd had celiac for ten years. So I kept on saying, well, I don't have any nobody in my life has diabetes. I don't understand why I have it.
And they said, well, said, well, I just have celiac. And they said, oh, well, there you go, which I never knew there was the connection.
Other, autoimmune in your family line or celiac?
Yes. Yeah. So since, my mom has celiac, my mom has fil a lago, and my sister has celiac, and she has colitis.
Are you guys Irish?
Yeah. Sorry.
Yeah. It's just easier if I generalize.
I didn't I didn't know. You know, I've had I've had celiac since, you know, for twenty five years. It's been a really long time. So I I just never I never knew the connection. No one ever told me.
What do you do for your celiac? Or, like, has that changed since you've had diabetes, or do you just kinda maintain the same process?
I sort of maintain the same thing. I will say it's like, you know, a lot of like, the sort of awareness around gluten is a good thing, so there's a lot more availability. But at the same time, you know, now you have to sort of be clear that it's an allergy, not a preference. But when I was first diagnosed, it would I'd be like, in a restaurant, does it have this? But I'm like, do you know what gluten is?
It's anything that you'd have to sort of explain, and now it's like you go into a restaurant and there's gluten free stuff on the menu. And so it is a lot easier. I eat sort of a I shop from the outside of the grocery store, so I eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, protein.
Yeah.
Not a ton of carbs, not eating a processed food.
Interesting. You have to declare that it's a allergy, not a preference. Is that what happened when when the whole world decided they were they had
to they had to yeah. They're like, well, Oprah Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow thinks it's great to be gluten free. I'm like, yes, But they're not allergic, so that's a difference.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you can't mess up. It's a different situation.
Correct. That's interesting interesting wording. Okay. So how do you begin to I mean, what are we looking at here? Thirty six, forty six, fifteen years ago, What what kind of gear did they give you on the way out the door, and how has your management changed over the years?
Celiac, MDI, and Coming Around to a Pump7:17
I started on MDI. I was very like, I don't want anything attached to my body. And they kept saying, oh, you get a pump. You get a pump. And was like, I don't want one.
So I was pretty resistant on that. And then I ended up meeting with a work friend who was celiac and type one, and she'd been type one since she was two. And she kind of introduced me to the world of a CGM because dexcom had sort of just kinda come out not that long ago. So I went on a I think it was a three. It was big.
And I had the little, like, adapter that I would it was pink that I would carry around. So I I started off with that, and that worked really well. And then I started traveling a ton for work. I was going back and forth between London and San Francisco and just dealing with the time change and the long acting insulin, it was it was really hard. So I went on the first tandem, and I've been on a tandem ever since.
No pump.
A tandem.
Unless I get a pump. How long did it take you to go from no pump to pump?
About two years. Okay.
Well, do you think that that journey was valuable for you, or do you think that if somebody would have strong armed you into a pump sooner, you would have been happier?
I think my honeymoon phase lasted a long time, so I wasn't I wasn't using a ton of insulin. I didn't eat a lot of carbs. I was very active. So I I I managed my a one c was really low. I managed it really well.
It was when I started traveling that everything kind of went upside down, and I just struggled. I'd go to London one week, and then I was in San Francisco the next week. And just the time change, my sugars were all over the place. So they were like, well, when you have a pump, you change the time, and it just sort of it adjusts a lot easier. So I embraced it.
You know, I still sometimes wonder if I could ever go back to MDI, but I've been on the pump now. It's so easy. I I don't know if I could ever go back.
Are you on like, you're using Control IQ?
I am using Control IQ, and I'm on the and I love the Moby. I've switched over to that about a year and a half ago, like, when it first came out. And that's been sort of game changer for me because it's just so small.
Describe to me what would have to like, what would have to be the the, the win for you to go back to MDI?
I think I just sometimes get I like everyone. I think I get tired of having something attached to me.
So that's still an issue for you. So you knew yourself pretty well when you said I don't wanna get a pump. I don't want something attached to me.
Yeah. I feel like I'm pretty active, and I think it just felt like, you know, it's the, you know, the moments I have where, like, it catches I it catches on the doorknob or it's I run out of power. It's just kinda thinking about it.
Mhmm.
I would love to not have that have that. But now it's sort of just a way of life. And, you know, every now and then, like, I went to a meeting the other day, I realized I left my pump on the charger. So that was a little bit of that was a little bit of a whoopsie, but, you know, it happens.
You left the house and the pump was at home?
Oh, yeah. Still on the charger until I was, like, looking at my numbers. I'm like, what's going on? Why am I going up enough?
How did you manage that? Did you go home? Did have somebody bring it to you?
I tried to get someone to bring it to me, but ultimately, I just went home.
I had I met somebody recently who had a a similar situation. They just didn't do anything about it. And they had had diabetes a really long time. And I was like, what do you mean? Well, I got to work and, you know, I ran out of insulin.
Was kind of a a similar situation in their pump. And I said, so you went right home and got more? I said, no. I just kept working. And then, you know, six hours later, her blood sugar was 400.
And they're like, I can't get this to come down. I'm like, really? Fast fasting.
I went home immediately. Yeah. Yeah. And a friend of mine was like, why don't you just go to the pharmacy? She you know, she she's a nurse.
She's like, I'll call you in. She's like, I'll call you in the script. I'm like, no. I'm just gonna run home on the subway. It's fine.
She she wanted you to, like, inject some insulin to get you through the day?
Yes. She was like, are you sure you wanna wait? I'm like, I'm fine. I'm fine.
I'll I'll write you a script. Is that it was the doctor this friend?
Yes.
Yeah. So listen. I know you think you've oversimplified this, but it's at my house. I just gotta go get it.
Yeah. And I had just taken out my backup pen because I've been traveling. I just took my backup pen out of my backpack that morning. It was just so usually I usually I do carry a backup backup supplies with
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Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. I'm in Brooklyn.
Thirteen Years Later, William13:24
So Gotcha. Alright. So how long after your diagnosis is your youngest diagnosed?
So he was two just turning two when I was diagnosed, and he was diagnosed at 15. 15.
Oh, okay.
So thirteen years. Yeah. So he had kinda grown up with me. You know, he didn't know anything else besides me, having diabetes.
And this so this is a more recent diagnosis for him?
So he was diagnosed in August 2024.
2024. Okay. Describe what that was like. Like, you're you're a person with type one diabetes. I wanna know, like, did you spend every day that your children were alive looking at them thinking they were going to get it one day, or did it kinda I
did think about I did think about it, and I was actually more worried about the celiac disease with you
because, like,
with Luvs, like I just like the restrictive of food I thought was harder. And they never showed any signs. And I you know, when they were younger, I think I was a little bit more paranoid and, like, definitely fully have tested their blood one or two times, both of them, when I thought something was up, and they were always fine. And then when they got older and sort of teenagers, I guess I sort of just let it go and didn't think about it that much, which I have thought about a lot because I feel like leading up to William's diagnosis, I should have seen the signs, but I just didn't see them.
Christina, let me stop you for a second because I know you're wearing AirPods. Is there any chance you have long hair that is sometimes covering your AirPods and sometimes not covering them?
Yes. It is. Let me pull my hair back. Thank you. So yeah.
So I think that that part that part was hard that I feel like I should've I should've known the signs. I didn't see the signs, and I continue to sort of think, like, I would have avoided a lot of headache.
Well, what kind of headache came?
So so William was diagnosed with I'm trying to find this hair tie, so hold on one second.
William
was diagnosed while he was traveling with his ski team in Chile. Oh. Yeah.
Christina, I didn't know we were talking to a proper fancy white lady. You're you're I got it.
Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. So he was, you know, Scott, I'm gonna put you on hold for one second. I'm gonna go with this hair tie because otherwise, this is gonna be
You're fine. We'll put an ad right here. Don't worry about
it. Okay.
Rob, you want me to look? I could just, like I don't even know if I know the ads anymore. I'm trying. Oh, well, I can do you as oh, sorry. I was trying to you know, I used to read back.
Christina, I used to read the ads into every episode. Like, I would I would freestyle the ads into every episode. So, like because I used to do the editing myself. So, like, I'd record the conversation with somebody, and then later I'd yank out that that recording, and I'd kinda splice it up. And then I'd get to the spot, and I'd I'd I'd freestyle like an ad.
I could be like, you know, let's say I'm gonna talk about US med, and I'd start doing that. And then one day one day, I was like, oh my god. This is gonna kill me. And and people with real jobs are like, oh, yeah. Sure.
That'll probably kill you saying US med ads. But I recorded a number of different versions, got them you know, like, the companies were like, these are good. And then we just rotate them, and I have an editor now, the editor drops them in. And so just now, like, when you walked away for a second, I was like, I can freestyle on that. And I was like, oh, no.
I can't. I was like, couldn't I I used to be able to do them in my sleep, and I just sat here thinking like, Omnipod? And then anyway.
No worries. I'm back, and my hair is out of the way.
Awesome. Thank you. Okay. So, back to William.
A Ski Trip to Chile17:11
Okay. So William so William was William, you know, he was it was between his freshman and sophomore year of high school. He had been at boarding school for the year before. So he's home for the summer. He was playing tennis, working as, like, you know, sporting tennis, you know, outside every day, really active.
He's total athlete. He's a very competitive ski racer. He skis on the New York State ski team, and he his team was going down to Chile to train for for two weeks, because it's winter and summertime. So he he was scheduled to go down with, you know, 15 other kids. It's a twelve hour flight.
There was three coaches that went with them, so I dropped him off at the airport. He went off on his way with, you know, three sets of seas, all sorts of stuff. He's there for the first day, and it's very, very high altitude. So they get there in Santiago. They drive, like, three hours from there up to Valley Nevado, which is at the base, I think, about 10,000 feet.
He has the first day. He's skiing. He's like, mom, it's amazing. The snow is awesome. I'm having such a great time.
The next day, he wakes up. He calls me and says, you know, I don't know. I feel a little sick. I feel like I got a cold. You know?
I was like, well, could be altitude. Drink lots of fluids. You know? Get out there. Go skiing.
He's like, okay. And it just for a couple days, it just progressed. Like, I really don't feel very good. Then he's like, I'm vomiting. I can't stop vomiting.
I'm not gonna ski today. I said, okay. We'll hang out in the room. I go, why don't you go get a Coke or something? Like, get yourself some caffeine and just some sugar in your body.
It'll it'll help give you a little energy. So he's doing that. He's trying to drink Gatorade. Then finally then I start texting with the coach, I was like, this isn't like him to be this sick, but there had been other kids that were sick. Other kids were struggling with altitude sickness.
Other kids were just not feeling great. So he he skied this was on a Saturday. He skied Saturday. He skied Sunday. Monday, he didn't ski.
Tuesday morning, he's like, I I'm gonna go out for a little bit, but I don't know how long I can do it. Then finally, on Wednesday, I said to the coach, I think he needs to go to the clinic and be checked out because he's just really not at his full energy.
Right.
The Clinic at 10,000 Feet19:26
The coach is like, okay. At lunchtime, I'll bring him to the clinic and see how he's doing. They bring him to the clinic. He's in his ski clothes, and they have a clinic at the top of the mountain because they were staying at 10,000 feet, then they would go up to, like, 24 like, 17 to 24,000 feet to actually ski. Mhmm.
And so they bring him to the clinic, and, you know, there's people on oxygen there because a lot of people struggle with the altitude sickness. And they do a chest X-ray of him, and they discover that he has an air pocket outside of his esophagus, which is apparently very dangerous. And they say he needs to be evacuated immediately. He needs to get down to sea level. So they put him in an ambulance.
There's two ambulances. There's the mountain ambulance and then the city ambulance. So he goes down these switchbacks to get down to the mountain and gets down in into Santiago, and where they take him to the hospital. And the coach is going with him. And so we kinda get a you know, we get a text message.
Hey. They want him to they're they're worried about this this air pocket. They want him to get down, but they think it will correct itself once he gets to C level, but he needs to go now. So we're like, okay. Seems a little scary.
We'll wait. We'll stand by and see what's going on. So then they get him down to the hospital. And in the meanwhile, I have texted my pediatrician who I have a good relationship with, I was like, Is this a big deal? Should I be starting to make plans to go there or should he just come home?
She said, Give me the ski coach's number. My daughter's home from college with her friend from Spain. Are you okay if I call and have her help me translate to speak to the doctor? I'm like, okay. Sure.
Yeah. Thank you.
I said, sure. Great.
Yeah. Awesome. Come clean my house. You're fantastic.
And I've known and I've known her forever. She's been the kid's pediatrician since since they were born, and she kind of went through my whole diagnosis with me. And so when I was diagnosed with type one, so she so she so then she gets through to them. She calls me back, and she said, the air pocket's not what we need to worry about, Christina. She goes, he's in DKA.
Oh, gosh. Did your heart sink?
My heart sank, and my husband was, like, out at the pharmacy for me because my pump had failed that morning. We're just like, everything was going wrong. I was like, I don't even know what to do with this information. And I said so I called the ski coach. I said, have they told him?
And he says, well, everything's in Spanish, but he kept on hearing the words diabetic diabetic. And so he is aware of what's going on because they came after the coach to say, you never told us he was diabetic. He goes, well, he's not. And they said, oh, yes, he is.
Jeez.
So that like, the whole world kinda stopped in that moment. And, originally, my husband was gonna go down and pick him up, and then we changed roles on that one. And so I got myself together, and this was now, like, five, 06:00 at night on a Wednesday. So there's only one flight that flies to Santiago a day at a JFK, and it leaves at 10:00. So I couldn't get on that flight.
So I had to go on the next day flight. So I had to wait two days to get there. And then you fly all night long, and you get there at, like, 06:00 in the morning. It's a twelve hour flight. So I scrambled around.
Getting There22:47
I got all the supplies I could think of. I brought dex coms, I brought pens, I brought vials, I brought everything because I didn't know what I was walking into. And I flew down there and I got down there two days later. He was still in the ICU. And we were there for a week and there was one endocrinologist for the entire hospital.
She had spent a little bit of time in The US, so she spoke a little bit of English. But otherwise, our care was entirely in Spanish, And I do not speak Spanish. So it was Google Translate to kinda understand. The the doctors would come in. I said, well, what know, you did an endoscopy.
What did you see? And they would just sort of smile at me.
And We don't speak English, you don't speak Spanish. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So I was I would conference in friends that were I have, you know, I have friends from Spain, I conference them in and have them help me. I did, through my credit card, I did have sort of global rescue. And what they would do is they would they provided a physician that spoke both languages, he would get on the phone with me and he would read the reports and translate them to me.
My gosh.
Whole thing. So then I'm sort of inserting myself and kind of managing him because I can't understand what like, the nurses would come in and they would feed him. And I said, well, how many units are you giving him? And they would just sort of smile and I would be like over their shoulders. So it was really hard because it was total control.
It was not I did not have control. He was really freaked out. He was still very, very sick, because he still had this air pocket that all of a sudden became not as big of an issue.
But still an issue.
It's still an issue. And so the the trauma of being in a hospital where no one spoke English and going through all of this so far away from home
Yeah. No. I mean
that, you know
He's not in the hospital for two days, just him and the coach. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. Who didn't speak who didn't speak who didn't speak Spanish either. But it turns out his girlfriend is a pediatric ICU nurse, so she was helping him on the other end.
Wow. But but he has no he has no feeling for diabetes either. Well
None at all.
None at all. I I realized it in the moment when everything's going by the way, when you said everything was going wrong, I thought that's the name of every one of our biographies. Everyone listening, we could all like, if we needed a biography title, we could just go with everything is going wrong. So, but but does he, oh, what's happening? Hold on.
I hear a loud noise. Do you hear a loud noise?
No. I don't hear a
loud noise. Well, then I shouldn't have brought it up. Sorry. I I just think it like, those two days must have been crazy for your son. Like, really insane.
Like, because you're also, like, flying. It's not like he could call you or talk to you or anything like that. Right?
No. And I got on the flight to fly down there. There was no Wi Fi on the flight. It was a twelve hour flight. And I just was like, okay.
It make you insane? Like, be seriously, were you, like, out of your mind, or did you handle it well?
I was I was very, like, mission focused. I was like, just need to get there. That was sort of my you know, once I get there, I can address the issue. I I was, I guess, trusting. I said, okay.
He's in a hospital. I did the research on the hospital. It's you know, it very good health care there. It was not like it was not some, like, country like, it was a city hospital, modern. They just were short staffed, and there was not a lot of English.
And you're a level headed person, it sounds like. So you weren't busy. You're not anxious. Right?
No. Not particularly.
Yeah. I was gonna say, were you because you didn't you didn't spend any time worrying about things that were out of your control.
No. I I you know, we got once I once I was there, I was much better. I was definitely a little bit comatose getting there. But once I was there, I was feeling much better just being in the same room as him. You know, I had some confidence from, you know, it's amazing your network can get really big and really small very quickly.
And, you know, I had friends that were like, hey. Here's here's a friend of ours that lives in Santiago. They have had they have connections to hospital. Get on the phone with them and talk to them. You know?
So I did talk to a lot of people that reassured me he was getting really good care.
Mhmm.
And so I just had to put a little bit of trust in it.
Okay. Let's pivot here to his experience. So once he's feeling better, I mean, is the first conversation about, wow. I I'm sorry you have diabetes. Like, do you get to that?
Or how how does the that more interpersonal part play out?
He was very upset. He had a lot of why me? Why does this happen to me? Why not why not my brother? Why does this have to
happen me? Why couldn't it have been him? So
Pretty much. Pretty much. He was like, why does Seb never have anything wrong with him? He had had like, during COVID, he had a ruptured appendix, which was really and he got stuck in the hospital for two weeks with that. So he had a little bit of hospital trauma going into this.
Mhmm. And he just you know, this was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime, and it just went really wrong really quickly. And I don't think he really wrapped his head around what it means to be a type one. I think what has come out since then is he told me that I make it look too easy, and you never told me it was this hard.
Oh, yeah. It's your fault. Yeah.
Yeah. So
Welcome to being a parent there.
Yeah. I was like, I'm sorry. I just tried to never burden you with what was going on with me. And he just was he was really resentful for that. You know, Chile presented some other challenges because he was supposed to travel in and out with his ski team.
All his paperwork was attached to his his ski team. So when I went to go leave with him because I didn't have documentation from my husband saying I could travel with him
Mhmm.
They wouldn't leave let us leave the country.
Oh, okay.
So we got stuck there. Yeah. And they have an anti trafficking laws there that are very strict, which I think is good. But because I didn't have an original document notarized with an apostille on it from my husband, they wouldn't let us leave. So he had to get that processed up in New York, and then DHL did down to us.
So we got stuck waiting there for three days for the paperwork to arrive so we could actually get on an airplane again.
Sounds like a tourism scam to me. They're just trying to make more hotel money off of I don't know.
So we had some time. So, fortunately, while we were there, I was able to get in touch with an endocrinologist in New York at at NYU Hospital, she was fantastic and really helped us prepare. He got on the phone with a diabetes educator. We had a game plan in place. And so when we arrived back into to New York, we literally landed, went home, showered, and went to the endocrinologist.
So so that was that would gave us some time to plan.
Does he go right on a pump and a CGM and all that stuff?
Back to Boarding School30:01
Yes. So the the next big question so we get him home from Chile. So that was, like, ten days. We finally get back, and he goes to boarding school. And it's middle of August, and he is scheduled to go back to boarding school in September.
And I'm like, I don't know. I got on the phone with the school, and one of the nurses, her son just graduated from the school that he was at and has been a type one since he was 12 old. And I was like, am I crazy to even consider this? She said, Nope, we've got this. We can really support him.
It's a super small school. It's a school for kids with ADHD and dyslexia.
Really
supportive and like, We can do this. We know school's important to him. We want to make this work. So they were all all in and talking to us while we were in Chile and kinda giving us the sort of votes of support there. So we got back.
They we he we gave him the choice with the endocrinologist, what kind of pump do you wanna go on? He said he didn't wanna be on my pump, so he chose the Omnipod because he didn't want a tube.
Why why did he not want why did he not wanna be on your pump? He's like,
I don't know. He didn't want a tube.
By the way He wanted tubeless. If I was one of those cheesy podcasts, I would do a voice over at the beginning of this one. It would go like this. Would be like, Christina had diabetes for fifteen years when her son suddenly was afflicted on a ski trip in, abroad. He he eventually blamed her for making diabetes look too easy.
It could be said that she received a chilly reception. And, and then I if only I was douchey, I would definitely do that. But, anyway, this is for Rob. Let's call this one chilly reception and then and move on. Go ahead.
Stop. Jesus. I love that he's like, not her pump. Not her.
So No. He was he I think he want you know, I think he was you know, he's 15, and was wanting to assert his own control.
Sure.
And he's like you know, when he was in Chile, I couldn't get the Dexcom to work, so I had to go buy a I I bought a Libra three because you can just go buy one. So I went and bought them. So he was on that while we were in Chile. You know, they don't send you when you leave the hospital, they don't send you with any insulin. Thank god I brought it.
They were, like, wrote me a prescription on a piece of paper. They're like, we'll go to the pharmacy. And I was like, I can't do this.
I don't speak English. Not from Chile. Could I just have a vial of insulin, please? Yeah. I was
like, where where's the long acting? You're not giving me any long acting? Oh, well, he finished the last pen. So just go to the pharmacy and picks him up. I'm like, can I move him to this long acting, which is mine?
They're like, oh, yeah. That's fine.
Well, it's nice to know that the standard of inconsistent care is worldwide.
Yeah. You know, Scott, the scary thing is is that I went into that situation with a lot of knowledge. So I knew how to manage. I knew I had supplies.
But
if you were brand new to this disease, it would have been absolutely terrifying and debilitating. You you didn't like, there was they were trying to explain carb counting in Spanish, and I was like, I got it. It's fine. But it was real it would have been really, really hard, And I don't know how someone would have gotten through it.
No. No. I I don't either. Did you did you did it occur to you just to pick up your shirt, show them your pump, and be like, we're we're good? Or
They they did. They did. I I kept on saying, I I am too. I kept on going, I am too, and I would show my show my stuff, and I had all my, like, suitcase. Like, I had a cooler full of stuff with me.
Yeah. And, like, I would definitely insert myself. And this endocrinologist who was super sweet, she gave me her own personal phone number. I would WhatsApp with her and she would help. She's like, I have three boys.
Do you need clothes? Do you need a place to stay? You know?
That's lovely.
Of the amazing there was so much community that came through for me in that. I didn't even have a hotel room when I showed up in in the airport, and I said, well, I'm just gonna stay in the hospital. End up speaking to this woman in line who's who's Irish and was working for the embassy and living in Santiago, and I go to go through customs, and she goes, they're not gonna let you through because you don't have a place to stay. She jumps in and she goes, she's staying with me. She's my friend.
Oh, yeah. See, that's lovely.
Just yeah. So the the the the you know, as hard as it was, there was a lot of, you know, good faith in people that came came through for us. But, yeah, it was it it would have been really scary. Like, even my husband who's knowledgeable, but he's not that knowledgeable on this stuff because I never really
But you hide it from everybody apparently, Christina. You're a you're a terrible, terrible person who doesn't wanna burden can we talk about that for a second? Do you really not wanna burden people, or are you private about your diabetes?
I'm I'm pretty private about it. I think I'm less private now that William and I are in it together. But leading up to it, I just was like, I'm kind of a put my head down and just get it done and and deal with it. And I don't I don't sort of make a big deal of it. I don't really share it with a lot of people.
A lot of people were like, you're a type one. I'm like, yeah. I go, well, you know, it's because, you know, he it's not uncommon for us to like, where did this come from? I was like, well, you know, I am a type one diabetic. They're like, what?
Like so a lot of people don't even know.
Prior to to his diet
I just
I'm sorry. Cut you off.
Just don't share it that much. I don't know.
I'm sorry. I cut you off, then I caused confusion. Prior to your diagnosis, like, what was your a one c? Over to his diagnosis, what was your a one c?
So my a one c always hovered around six, 6.1.
Okay. And has it anything about your care for yourself changed since he's been diagnosed?
Yeah. I I've got myself down to, a 5.4.
Why do
much more dialed in on it.
Is it because you're trying to be a good, like, I don't know, shepherd for this whole thing, or you just wanna be a good, you know I don't I don't know. Like, how does that happen, do you think?
So I think part of it happened because I would sort of just it was, like, kind of figuring it out. I think once I had to learn it once I had to be able to explain it, you know, to him, I had to just learn more. Right? Like, I don't eat a lot of high fatty meals. I don't you know, like, all of a sudden, didn't I knew what it was like to be, you know, a a 50 year old woman and diabetic.
I didn't know what it was like to be a 15 year old boy and be a diabetic. It's a total it's two totally different worlds Yeah. Just from the food consumption and the types of things. And we actually William and I, because of the ski racing, we did a lot of driving. So we'd actually listen to your podcast a lot because it was my way of, like, giving him some information that wasn't coming from me so he wasn't as resentful about it.
Yeah. Let him resent me.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And so and so I, like, learned some tricks. I was like, oh, okay. Let try me this. Let me try that. And that definitely helps some things.
Cool. That's awesome. I mean, you're obviously you know, an a one and c and the sixes is, you know, to be celebrated, obviously. But I've heard from other people that their kids get diagnosed, and then they really, like, pull themselves together in different ways. Like, it it's interesting how it it kinda shakes out.
Did he ever do you think he blames you for the diabetes, or is that something you guys have spoken about?
Oh, we've spoken extensively about it, and he definitely does blame me for it.
Oh, how nice. So did you explain to him that somebody gave it to you? You weren't asking for it either?
Yeah. You know, it's I think it's you know, we've we've been on this really long journey, and there I think he's come more to peace with it. And I kept on saying to him, just get through six months. If you can do six months, you're gonna be so much better. The first six months are the hardest.
His doctor would be like, get through the first six months, William. You can do this. I think for him, where he really struggled the most is that his body you know, he was such an athlete, then all of a sudden his body was so much more complex.
Mhmm.
And just had to think about things that never crossed his mind. But, you know, we gave him the option. Do you wanna go back to school? You know, you can take a break. You don't need to go away to school.
No. No. No. That's where I wanna go. That's where my that's where my friends are.
It's where I wanna be. So we sent him off to boarding school. I will say his endocrinologist is amazing, and their diabetes educator came up to the boarding school, which is in Connecticut, so like two and a half hours away. She gave a presentation to all of the administration and anyone that's sort of all the athletics. They recorded it about like how to manage a kid with type one diabetes out like, here's here's what you do.
Here's what our protocols are. And and really, they recorded it. They shared it with people. She made herself available to the entire nurses team so they could text her if she had any questions. So, like, I did feel like we were going into school.
He didn't really well set well set up. Mhmm. But he wasn't in my house. So, like, I didn't know what he was eating, and he would sometimes send me pictures and be like, well, what would you what would you count this for? What would you think this is?
You know, we we definitely struggled with him not bringing supplies, you know, like the usual Yeah. Usual stuff. But the school kinda did everything for him, so he didn't have to do as much. You know, they were the you know, the coaches brought the go bag with him everywhere he went. He had supplies, you know, stashed all over campus that he could go to if he needed it.
So school was actually not not that not that hard from a management perspective. And, you know, with technology, I could see what his numbers are. We definitely had to get creative. The one thing the school said they wouldn't do is they would not do the overnight monitoring. So that was on us.
Yeah. They didn't wanna be responsible No. I would imagine. Did the six month thing work out? Like
No. No. No.
What happened next? No.
What the Nights Were Telling Her39:30
So it was September. So we went into September. We're going okay. So we had to definitely figure out what you know, how to get him up at night. So he would sleep through a lot of alarms.
So we'd have the phone stuff. I put an Amazon Alexa in his dorm room, and so I could drop into his room and just talk to him in the middle of the night and kind of wake him up, which was which was really key. So I'd be like, William, you gotta get up. Your numbers are down. I'm gonna call I'm gonna call the the dean you know, the dorm parent, and they'll come into the room if not, but I'd like to avoid doing that.
We only had to do it twice. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm awake. Okay. Can you okay. Can you do a finger like, we would just talk through it. And I was like, okay.
You can snooze a little bit. I'll I'll stay awake. I'll watch what your numbers are doing. So we we would just chat back and forth through the Amazon Alexa because he didn't have to pick the phone up. He would hear my voice.
How did I not know it did that?
It's great. It's an amazing thing, particularly if you're managing a kid far away.
Can I just put one in my wife's office so I can just, like, yap at her all day? That would she would Yeah. Yeah. She'd unplug that.
Yeah. Yeah. You try to say, like, drop in William's room and all of a sudden it starts happening and, you know, and then I'd be in and I could see into the room. I could see if he's up. Okay.
Stand up. You know, and it was good.
It a camera?
Has a camera.
Yep. You're lucky you didn't see a girl.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well,
yeah. He did he did not like it if he said it felt like a, you know, a monitor, a baby monitor, and, you know, there was a lot of conflict over it.
How did you argue that? Because it does seem like a baby monitor.
I said, William, you you gotta tell me that your numbers are okay, but his numbers weren't. He was tanking out at night a lot and having these incredible lows. And what we realized sort of four months in is that he was self medicating with alcohol and THC and really was not okay with his mental state. We gave all the doctors help, but we really didn't support the mental mental health side of it.
So he wanted to go to school maybe more to so that he could do things like that to get through the the psychological tragedy that he'd gone through more than anything else, maybe maybe less about his
I don't think that's why he wanted to go to school. I think once he got to school, someone was like, okay. And he was like, oh, this feels great. I don't have to think about anything. Yeah.
I'm really bummed at my life, and this makes me feel better.
So a lot I'm sorry. You said THC, a lot of weed?
Lot of weed Mhmm. That progressed into other things as well, but it was a lot of alcohol at first. Alcohol was sort of the first thing, and, you know, was we know, like, it's not great not great for your blood sugar. So he we were seeing the highs, then he would have these terrible lows. And he was just basically passed out, and that's why we couldn't get him up.
Remind me again. He was 15?
15.
Okay. Was he, do you think he was smoking weed prior to this and it was just accelerated? Do you think he was drinking prior to this? Do you think this is something he all took on in that situation?
What he told me is that he was definitely trying stuff around trying stuff, but not, you know, dissimilar to other kids. So he was trying it, and he said and once the diabetes started, he's like, I just really couldn't stop. He's like, I just wanted to be in that state all the time.
Okay. So he was depressed from the diagnosis, do you think?
Yeah. Very, very depressed.
How how do you deal with that then once you figure it out? And how'd you figure it out, first of all?
So, you know, he got caught at school. So they were like, we understand he's going through a hard time, so we sent in you know, he did, like, an after school program there that they recommended sort of, you know, therapy and working through sort of what the challenges were. He seemed to do well on that. So that was around Christmas time, and then he came home for Christmas break. He went back after in January, and things were going okay.
He was on the honor roll. He was doing really well at school. Things things seemed to be okay. He was ski racing every weekend, so I would while he was at school during the week, during the wintertime, he would come home every weekend because he was skiing with us. I would pick him up from school, we would travel all over New York State.
We got a fair amount of looks at him, but he was still he didn't want it was a lot of conflict between him and I when he said that all I wanted to do was talk about his diabetes and talk about what he was doing with it, which was which was hard. Can I ask
was that true? Did did is all you did were you talking about it too much, or or do you think that was just him trying to avoid talking about it by saying that to you?
I think it was probably a little bit of both. I think I was terrified, because I would see these lows at night, and I would see these terrible lows that would step for a long time and not being able to get him up at night. It was hard. He was resistant, and I just like, I couldn't it was sort of a loss of control, so I couldn't see what he was eating. I couldn't see what he was doing.
And I was kind of putting my faith in those that were around him to kind of help him figure this out. He went off to school. He'd been diagnosed for three weeks. He's a 15 year old. I was like, why were you so high?
And he was like, don't know. I ate a bag of Goldfish, then I had some candy. And I was like, okay. Did you did you treat for it? And he goes, no.
I kinda forgot. And it's like, we'd have a lot of those kind of conversations.
Is that how he ate prior to this, or do you think that was part of his, like, tumble?
I think he was had a big appetite, but he ate pretty well. He was a snacker, though, so he was a perpetual snacker, and I think that's what caught up on him. And I think what kids do in dorm rooms at night is, like, someone orders a pizza or they go and get ice cream. Like, there's a lot of late night eating, and that was what was happening.
Okay. Can you talk for a half more second about, like, when you you said it was hard for you, but can you contextualize that a little more for me?
No. I think for me, where the challenge was is that I couldn't see what he was doing. So I didn't see what went into his body. I didn't see how much, like, how much insulin he was taking or how where he was starting off because he wouldn't tell me when he was like, I didn't know when he was eating and stuff. So I would just sort of I was, like, an hour or two behind on everything
Mhmm.
And just would see the results and trying to get him you know, like, I would I would even go as far as to, like, oh, William, I looked at what's on the menu today. Here's what's for breakfast. Here's what's for lunch. Like, what do you think you're gonna have? Do you wanna talk about how you might manage these?
Because he didn't, you know, he didn't know how to count carbs. Mhmm. You They gave him the apps. We tried different things, but he just he was very embarrassed. He didn't want anyone to see that he was doing it, so he would tend to take his insulin after he's eaten.
The power of the pre bolus was something I kept on and said, If you're pre bolus, it's going be a lot easier for you if you have that half pie of pizza. And he just didn't want to do it. So for me, it was just the lack of control and the lack of insight to kinda see what he was doing. And once I got him home on the weekends his weekends were always very good because I'd be like, here's your meal. And he'd like, how much should I do this?
And so we there was a little bit more of education there.
Mhmm.
But I think he was just really hiding it.
Yeah. Would you mind or if you wouldn't mind, just tell me to go to hell. But, like, you said it started with weed, but did it where did that progress to?
Well, he you know, so he so we started with weed and alcohol. Alcohol was kind of his favorite thing. He so he went to this program in during the Christmas break and before Christmas break, and we thought, okay. It's like an IOP intensive outpatient. So you go a couple times a week after school and they do exercises and a little bit of therapy.
We're like, okay, that should work. No problem. And then he went back to school in January he got because by that point, he had to do sporadic drug tests at school. That was part of their thing because you got caught once, here's your second shot. And so he failed a drug test and they said, Well, we're going to run it again, but probably he just needs to come home for a couple of days.
Coming Home47:45
This school was incredibly sympathetic to his situation. They knew he was struggling and they were trying to work it out with him. By the time, you know, came around to end of February, he failed another drug test and the school basically said, we are terrified. We do not think we can support him anymore. He needs to come home.
He can come back next year if he gets some help, but he needs he he needs to be in a place that that we can that we can
We can't be responsible for this.
Yeah. Cannot be responsible for it. He needs to be in a place that that has better responsibility for this. So we said, okay. No.
Not ideal, but we'll bring him home. And we brought him home. And honestly, Scott, I didn't know what to do with him. I said, I don't know where to send you to school. I don't know where to send you for help.
None of this makes sense. And I sort of, you know, went into crisis mode and just kinda started calling around and talking to people. And then it became very clear that he probably needed a residential program to really figure out what was going on with his mental health because it was really crashing.
Mhmm.
I said, okay. Alright. So I got some names, and so I started calling them and saying, okay. You were highly recommended to me. I go through his profile and I said, and he is a type one diabetic.
Oh, no. Oh, no. No. No. No.
We cannot take that. Nope. Nope. So I could not find any program that would take them. That's that's too high risk for us.
We just can't manage it. And so that was really hard because I said, okay. He needs this help. You know, a lot of people, you know, there's, like, you know, outdoor stuff. There's in like, I knew he couldn't do any of the outdoor therapy sort of resets because just given where he was.
But I you know, but being newly diagnosed, no one would touch him. So I finally found a place that took our insurance and would take him in Connecticut. And the big caveat they said is we'll take him, but he needs to be off his pump on MDI for minimum of two weeks and stable, which his endocrinologist to this day, she's like, I don't understand. She's like, they should have just taken him right away. But so I said, okay.
We'll do that. So we took him off the pump. He went on to MDI. He was living at home with us for two plus weeks, and then we dropped him off into a program in on 03/13/2025, where he spent sixty three days at it was a residential treatment center. It was a lot of therapy, a lot of figuring out what was going on.
It good. It wasn't great. There was definitely a lot of shenanigans still going on inside the place, but it definitely stabilized and it revealed that there was a lot bigger problem. He had progressed to psychedelics. There was a lot more drug use in place, and it was constant.
He really had a problem, and he was severely depressed. I Again, the world comes together in different places. The clinical director there had wrote her thesis on type one diabetics and addiction. She knew all about it and she said, I am not surprised he is here. She said, Learning disabilities, medical trauma completely makes sense that this is where he showed up.
And ADHD is the other he has ADHD, and that's the other x factor that really drove it.
Okay. How do those things precipitate and and create more of a a belief in her that he would end up in this situation? Like, how does ADHD, apply to this, for example?
So, particularly, in adolescence and don't quote me on this sort of the the medical stuff, but ADHD is a predominant trait for, kids that struggle with substance abuse. It's almost a hundred percent.
Okay. And so ADHD lends to substance abuse? Yep. Do you think
because they tend to self medicate.
Do you think that this ends this way for him with or without the diabetes? Like, would something else have come up in his life, do you think? Or do you think it had a little bit to do with timing and age as well?
I think it could be. I've tried to not go there because I don't know. It doesn't really matter because he has the circumstances he has, whether diabetes is a part of it or not. I think maybe it triggered it earlier. Maybe it would have presented itself in college.
I don't know. I never will know. But the challenge is is that you're using and you're a type one diabetic. All of a sudden, the consequences are a lot higher because as we all know you know, as we know, like, the just the side effects are bigger.
Mhmm. So what do they do? They treat the ADHD to help it, like, not be as impactful? Is he on something for that now?
He's had ADHD since he was a little kid. He has severe dyslexia, so he's always been on he's been medicated for ADHD since he was in first grade. So that wasn't so much the difference, but it just happens to be a trait that a lot of them walk in with. You know, while he was at this RTC, they they really you know, they took a type one. They were great.
Again, the world comes together in a major way. One of the nurses there is a type one. She's on a tandem. She was like, I got this. I will make sure he's okay.
I was terrified dropping him off because I couldn't I what happened, I couldn't call him. He didn't he lost use of his phone. So they were managing his stuff a 100%, and they would monitor his blood sugar there. They would, we got them to accept his phone to run his Dexcom if we shut off everything else and locked it. You know, there was definitely some some agreements that we came to, but his numbers were actually okay while he was there, you know, because they he they had nurses around the clock, so they were really working towards you know, they're all about safety.
So at night, they would go and check his blood sugar every thirty minutes, and they keep a log every night.
Jeez. This this is a lot. Like, how long ago was this now? Like, and where is he at?
So this was at this was in March 2025. So he was there for sixty three days, and we thought he would be coming home after that. And it became very evident that he needed more, that really the mental health stuff hadn't hadn't been addressed enough. He was going to come back to Brooklyn and he'd probably be back using within two weeks is what they told us and said he needs longer term care. They had a place that they would recommend.
Finding a Program That Would Take Him54:15
They recommended, two different places, and I being the, you know, the control person as you're learning. So I was like, alright. Well, I'm going to visit them. I'm not I'm not I'm not just sending him there without this.
Yeah.
And so I got on an airplane, and I went and visited a program in Utah that was, a program they said, oh, we've had a type one before. I said, okay. Right. So we're about what the protocols are, and and then they asked me the question. They were like, well, can anyone you know, I was like, well, where do you store the insulin?
How do you how does he get stuff? And they said, well, can you abuse insulin? And I said, well, if you wanna kill yourself, you can. They're like, oh, so we should lock it up. And I was like, yeah, probably a good idea.
And they just really didn't have a good hold of it. Then I went to another program that was in Arizona about an hour and forty minutes south of Tucson. They said, We've had many type one diabetics. The most we've had at once is three. We understand what you need.
Here's how we do it. And it was like this huge relief that came over me because they actually really got it.
Is he there now?
So he went so he went there May 2025, and it's a it's a a horse ranch in Southern Arizona, all for for all boys. And it combines you there's some work, there's school, and there's a lot of therapy. And so he was there for ten months. And then in March, he graduated to their transitional living program. So he is now living in Tucson in sort of a group home where he goes to school and lives with other boys and is kind of figuring out how to be in the world without a lot of, you know, what they view you know, when you're on the ranch what they call the ranch.
You're on the ranch, and it's this amazing place, Align Adolescent Recovery, and they it's very closed container. So it's on 350 acres. There's nothing around you. Like, there's you can't get into anything. Yeah.
And once you kind of sort of graduate and sort of do the things that you need to do to graduate, you move to this transitional living, and it's more of an open container. All of a sudden, you're in Tucson, you can leave the house, you have your phone back, you can do things. And so we're seeing how that goes, which I think the biggest change for William is now he's really having to manage his diabetes on his own because there's no one there kinda hovering over him.
Yeah. And tell me again how old he is right now.
He is 16.
Who's who pays for all this?
So, we've been paying for it. Then because he because it is a school, we he's and he's been in specialized school since you know, for years and years. We, sue the Department of Education of New York City for reimbursement for his education, and we go through this whole process. And they are reimbursing us for his for his schooling because it's it's a therapeutic boarding school.
Gotcha.
That's outrageously expensive.
Well, no. I I I I'm I'm trying to imagine, but I don't I don't think I am probably imagining it exactly. It's it sounds like a $20,000 a month sort of situation, but I don't I don't know.
Not that bad, but it's
close. Yeah. Yeah. And is do you and you think that without that, he'd be addicted and just rudderless?
I think without that, he probably would end up dead.
Because it because so he's from zero to a 100 miles an hour in in no time at all?
He went very quickly. Okay. And that's what they've all said. It was it was a it was a real steep fall off of the cliff.
I see. Did he make it to cocaine, heroin, meth?
No. No.
No. No. It stuck with weed, alcohol, psychedelics.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. And when you sit and you even sit and talk to him about it, or or is he getting
We talk all the time. Yeah. So we you know, part of the amazing thing with this program is the family is very involved. So there's intensive family weekends. There's weekly family therapy.
He's in weekly therapy. Everyone's in therapy. But you have these really honest conversations and our relationship is really close. There's not the secrets. That's why I know he's really resentful about the diabetes.
He was angry and that I passed this on to him, even though I didn't mean to do it, but it came from me. Then it became a big basis of what our relationship was, was this sort of struggle of trying to keep him you know, my was trying to keep him alive, and he was like, it's not that big of a deal. And I he just couldn't really wrap his heads around the consequences if you don't manage it well.
Yeah. And you think even if you would have been completely hands off, this happens about the same way, though. Like, if you would have been like, whatever, your blood sugar's fine. Like, we'll it will let you, like, ease into it, and you'll get low and but, like, you still he ends up here because he's he's medicating himself almost immediately after this happens.
Yeah. Yeah. He was very you know, for him, it was, my body's not as strong. I have this deficiency. You know, I he it was, like, even when he was ski racing, it was, like, figuring out, like, it's really cold and, like, that would do funky things.
And then the adrenaline would kick in and then he would drop. Like, it was it was we had to figure it out.
Yeah. It's a lot.
And and not knowing the answers, you know, right away. Like, sometimes it was trial and error and, like, figuring out the Amazon, like Amazon Alexa, how do I use that to help you out? Like, how like, what are the sort of tricks that work? You know? When he went to the ranch, I got SugarPix pixels that I put in the ranch so they could see what his like, so he'd be out on the you know, working with the horses, and all a sudden, the alarms were going off, so they would scurry out to him.
Mhmm. They would keep you know, they would do the night monitoring. You know? I would, like, call I would text the night guy at the at the ranch and be like, I see his number's down. I I need you to go back in if he needs another juice.
And he was like, are you sure? I'm like, I'm a 100% sure. And they were great Yeah. And really open to it and all about keeping him safe and and just sort of surrounding him with a lot of love. Then there was another type one who came onto the ranch for a bit with him, and so he felt like he wasn't you know, it was nice for him to know somebody else.
Yeah. Hey. We should tell people that William's okay with you using his name and telling his story and all that stuff. I've realized we didn't say that before.
Yes. He is he is he is he is open to share his story. He is not ashamed. He is you you know, we are extremely proud of what he has done, and he is not you know, he doesn't shy away from it. He is really open about his struggles and where he's at, and will tell anyone about it.
You know, I think that is something we've learned through this is that this is really hard. And if you can do this and share share your story with others that others can learn from it. Like, I wish I knew that I needed it. When this all happened in Chile, I wish I put better mental health support around him. Would he have maybe ended up in the same place?
I don't know. But I think it was something I was so focused on the physical side of things that I didn't really think with the mental health thing, and it is hard. Sixteen's really hard.
Yeah. Hey.
It's not when you wanna be doing this.
Hindsight, and as honest as you can be, prior to his diabetes diagnosis, did you see any of this pathway for him, or did you think my son's athletic and he's a ski racer and he's, like, gonna go to college and everything's gonna be great? Like or did you could you smell any of this prior to that?
I don't think so. I think looking back, maybe a little bit here and there, you know, I think he's got some anxiety, you know, pretty high anxiety. You know, the ADHD, anxiety, learning disabilities are definitely a pathway to this to this challenge. It's not something that's not within our family. So I I think he could have ended up there.
I think this probably put us on a fast track, which in which in a way is actually good because he's under 18, so he's under our care, and we're able to get him the right care and hopefully, you know, builds really strong resilience and give him a lot of tools for the rest of his life.
I take your point. If he was 20 and in college when this happened, you it would have slipped away from you quickly. You would have had no control over what happened next either.
100%.
Yeah. Yeah.
But it's not over. It is like a journey that he is gonna be on for a long time, and he you he's not home yet. We're hoping he'll be home in the next couple of months, but, you know, we don't know. I think it's up to him. And and, you know, he I do think he has come to terms with his diabetes.
I think, you know, like everyone, he has moments where he's like, this sucks because it does. But he it's not what he leads with anymore. He doesn't have the resentment with it. He's managing it fairly. You know?
He and so now the program he's in right now, he has to do all of his own cooking. So he goes to the grocery store each week, and he has to make his own meals. And he's eating a lot of pasta, and we're definitely seeing a lot more highs than he used to see. But he's like, mom, it's easier. I was like, I get it.
Mom, I figured out how to boil pasta. Oh, good.
Yeah. I'm like, I'll throw a little protein in there. Just a little protein will go a long way.
Is there not a grill at the ranch somewhere? Could you make a steak? Yeah. He
he he does have a there is grill there. He has been grilling. He's like, oh, I got some steaks. I'm like, great.
Nice.
And, you know, what I've also learned is, like, I can tell how he's feeling about himself. So, like, when he was early days when he was at the ranch, he was eating without telling anyone. He wasn't dealing with his numbers. His A1C went to we were like 7.5, and now he's back down in the low sixes. We did introduce part of the challenges is that we introduced lots of different medications.
Steadier Ground1:04:13
So one of the medications, he gained a ton of weight on, and was really upset about that. But his endocrinologist, he's now on Wegovy, which has been a game changer for him.
Oh, yeah. It's probably helping with his insulin use and everything. Right?
Helping with the insulin use. It also helps with addiction. It's it's it's got a lot of good things, he lost all of the weight, so he's feeling pretty good about that. So his numbers are great.
Is anxiety any better?
He he takes medication for it. His anxiety is definitely much better. Good.
Wow.
But he you know, he's he's it's every, you know, every change you make has sort of ripple effects, and, you know, his numbers are good. But he was going know, there was one stage he was taking like, he was on, like, a hundred and ten units of insulin a day. I'm like, oh my gosh, William. That's a lot. And now I think he takes twenty.
So it's like he's a huge difference.
Wow. And he's making a lot of progress for sure.
Yeah. And he's back to working out and taking care of himself.
Yeah. Any addiction in your family line or your husband's?
Yes. In my husband's side. Uh-huh. And my and my and my side too. It's definitely it is not you know, it is in our family.
I mean, I heard you say Irish. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But and how about that anxiety, the ADHD?
Does that all can you, like, look at your family line and see it?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, his his the the ADHD is definitely prevalent in our family, and, and so is substance use. So it's it's it's all there. All the pieces are there.
I think we just unfortunately had a little bit of the perfect storm that brought it together.
Yeah. It it lit a wildfire for you, really. Like, out of like, you went from just a calm day till the wind picked up and a spark hit the ground and, woof, and just Yeah. Off and running. You guys do you feel like you're handling it well?
I think we're in a better shape now. I think I for I had a lot of anger about trying to find him treatment, and nobody would treat him because of he was a type one diabetic. Just the amount of no's I got, no, that's too risky for us. No, that's too risky for us. I said, what am I supposed to do?
Oh, we don't know. Fine. We'll do it on a case by case basis. Then I had he was early diagnosed, so he hadn't lived with it for a long time. So that was, like, another red flag in that part.
And, you know, scouring the Internet, trying to find places that would not only support a type one diabetes, but an adolescent. And the combination of the two was really, really hard.
Difficult. My gosh. Well, you get you
Twenty two hundred twenty two hundred miles away. He's in Arizona. I'm like, why you know, no one wants to send their kid to Arizona, but they were the place that opened their arms to me and were like, we get it. We understand, and we're gonna and it has been a really great experience. And the therapy and the experience he has had there has has been amazing.
Well, you found the right fit then. And and the way you got to it probably wasn't ideal, but maybe if somebody else would have said yes, he'd be at some, you know, place that wouldn't have been as valuable for him. So maybe it worked out well.
Yeah. Yeah. I guess.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everything's going great, Scott. Thanks.
Is this tough on your marriage?
It has its moments. I think, you know, Chris and I are pretty my husband and I are pretty aligned on how to address this. I tend to do a lot of the legwork, but, you know, we've been in it together. I think, you know, we just sort you know, we just want him to be healthy. We want him to live a long life, and sending him away at first was really hard to swallow.
It is you know, he has been gone for a really long time.
Yeah.
And, you know, when he was on the ranch for ten months, there's no phone. We spoke to him once a week.
So you have this feeling like he's gonna come back a different person. You're gonna have missed it. Right?
Yep. And he's just growing up, and he has a different perspective on life. And, you know, meanwhile, his older brother is graduating high school and gonna go off to college, and he sort of missed this time together, but not, only talking to him once a day. So I have 15 with him and I would have to have almost a script and say, Okay, I'm not going to ask about the blood sugar. I'm not going to do this.
I'm going to just bite my tongue on it. Did fortunately, the medical person on-site at the ranch, him and I became very close friends. And so I would, you know, I would text him and be like, I don't know what's going on between 2AM and 6AM, but something's happening. We need to make an adjustment. So, you know, we would we would so we were sort of a team, and they were good at delivering some of the news that I wanted to to deliver, and they would deliver it through him.
So that was helpful.
Hey. Did, they tell you what not to ask him, or did you figure it out?
We would work together on it. You know, they were working with him, and they would say he's really he doesn't want to talk about the diabetes stuff. He really wants to make sure that it's not coming from you and that's the only thing you want to talk about. Now he's come a long way and he prefers it when I text him about something versus using it as our phone time. And he's you know, I'm sort of also I've learned to kind of just step back and say, you know, okay.
You you have to figure it out. You you wanna be healthy and you wanna, you know, you wanna live your life, so you you've gotta make choices. But, you know, eating pasta for lunch every day is not gonna solve things. But I've also learned to let let it go. Like, I can't, you know
What You Can and Can't Decide for Someone1:09:39
I think maybe the most difficult part of this conversation is that it's not like it's not like he, you know, he it's not like he wanted to be a a short order cook and you wanted him to be an attorney, and you think it's gonna change his life. It's it it's about health and and and maybe an immediate, like, you know, I don't know, health issue that could be that could be emergent. Right? And so you've got that pressure. But if he doesn't see it the way you see it, there's not a lot you can do about it.
Nope. Yeah. It it's really a it's a it's a valuable lesson for everybody listening whether they have I mean, your situation is obviously is is different. Right? It's bigger and and maybe more explosive.
But, like, in small moments, day to day stuff, I find this to be the most difficult part about the diabetes, which is that my desire for it isn't necessarily her desire for it, and that there's really nothing you can do about that. Like yeah.
And we each have to manage it our own way. And so what what I do is differently than him, and he's gonna do stuff differently than me. I want him what the only thing I am trying to get him to have is to have the information and knowledge to make choices.
Yeah. I mean, I think, like, for me, bigger picture, like, you whether the person you're supporting is, like, you know, I count my carbs, and I do everything right, and I exercise, and blah blah blah. And that's really their desire all the way to the spectrum of, I don't care if this kills me. I don't care. Like and everywhere in between, it's not your decision.
You can't you you there's nothing you can do about it. Like, you can't decide how another person feels or or deals with their life. And that's probably the most difficult part of parenting, I I think. You know, like, they're so much easier when they're younger because you could just make them do something. And they're like, okay.
Absolutely. Yeah. And then there's a moment And
he and he yeah. And he was definitely in a moment where he didn't care if he lived or died. You know? He was like, I didn't care. And he's very open about it.
He's like, I just hoped some mornings that I just wouldn't wake up, and that's awful to hear.
Yeah. No kidding. But I think that everyone who has type one or other, you know, chronic illnesses in general, I think they they all live in a spectrum of that feeling somewhere. Like, somewhere. Like, I don't you hear people say it, like, in different ways.
Like, I didn't wanna wear I didn't want something attached to me. Or, you know, I can't remember the pre bolus or, you know, my a one c is seven and a half, but it's okay with me. Like, there's that's the way you hear them talk about it. But, like, I don't I don't know that I'm doing a great job explaining this, and I wish I was doing a better job of it. But it it it lives in the idea of you don't know what influences another person has when they're making a decision, and it's possible that they're depressed and that they don't care if they live or die.
It's also possible that they're not depressed and they feel that way. Like so Yeah. You just don't get to you don't get to tell people how they feel about something. And when you care about them and it seems emergent like this because it is, I I I don't know how you're not drinking, like, I guess. It's it's my point.
Yeah. And it's it's it's been stressful for sure. But I think at the same time, I also you know, one of the reasons I wanted to come and chat with you, like, I do think mental health is super important for someone dealing with this, and there is a lot that goes into it. And I think there's a grievance that you you grieve the life that you thought you were gonna have.
Yeah.
And and that coming to terms with that, and I think that's where he was. He was grieving the life that he thought he was gonna have. He loves to play tennis, and he was like, I can't just go play tennis. Like, the first time he played tennis, he had low after low after low, and he was and he was not paying he was miserable. He's like, I well, I guess I'm never doing this again.
And I said, that's not the truth. I said, you're two weeks in. You gotta give it a minute. And he just was really impatient about it and and just felt like his whole thing was I don't wanna be different. I'm so tired of being different.
You know, he's dyslexic, he's like, I've always been different in school. Why do I have to be different like this? Why is this another difference?
What do you think the answer is medically? Do you think it's inflammation? Do you think it's, like, an autoimmune thing? Like, he obviously has a lot of different issues, but they all center around this core. Right?
I mean, do you think the did you see everything get a little better with the Ozempic? Or what do you
A little bit. You know, he's been on it while I'm not with him. So, I think it has gotten a little bit better for sure. I'm not I'm not a 100% sure. You know, he feels a lot healthier to me, like, way he talks, the way he thinks about himself since he's been on been on that and lost the weight.
But I don't know. Is it because he lost the weight? Is it because he's working out more? Is it because his numbers are better? Is it because he's just further along in his journey of recovery and therapy?
Maybe.
Is the answer yes, though? Like, all those things are helping?
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't I mean, listen again. What I understand about science fits into a thimble. But I again, my entire life, people have been talking about inflammation.
Inflammation's bad. It's bad for this. It's bad for that. We don't understand inflammation. We don't know how to get it down, like, you know, blah blah blah.
And then this medication comes out, and it produces people's inflammation. You're you know, you you pick up the the paper, which is not a thing anymore. I guess I should find a a new colloquialism for that. But you, you know, you look at Google News and you hear about, PCOS, anxiety, addiction, all kinds of things that, you know, that people are are feeling like a lessening of, and and they don't know why. Like, they're just still studying it and trying to figure it out.
But, I mean, it sounds like it it helped them, like, with a lot of different things. Huge. A lot. Yeah. Yeah.
So and it you know, you because you can make the, like, the I mean, I think a doctor would look and go, well, yeah, we lost weight maybe, and so maybe hormonal balance is better. Yeah. Okay. But what else? And, you know, the from a hundred and ten units a day down to twenty units a day of insulin.
Crazy. What an improvement. Nuts.
Yeah. Yeah. Totally nuts.
Yeah. And he
see you know, he seems healthy. He seems stronger, and his voice is brighter. And but it doesn't mean that it the other things he doesn't still struggle with at times.
No. I'm not saying it was like a magic wand. I'm just saying, like, they it just it to me, it feels like if he was under a weighted blanket that weighed 30 pounds, the weighted blanket might weigh 25 pounds now. And Yeah. Isn't that better?
Yeah. A 100%. He does have some weird side effects with the GLP one. He definitely gets some, like, nausea, which bumps him.
Yeah. No. Of course. Like well, listen. Nothing's perfect.
Nope. Yeah. Is there anything that we didn't talk about that we should have or anything that you think we missed? Keeping in mind that I have to be at my dentist office in fourteen minutes.
Okay. I don't think there's any I don't think there's anything else. I think the big thing is just, you know, the mental health and that there are these places out there that will support these kids and finding them is hard, but they do exist. And that's really my big thing is that if this branch in Tucson, which I never thought I would be at, didn't exist, I I don't know what I would have done because nobody else there was not another program that would have fit him in the same way.
I I will add to what you said by saying that even though all of you out there are probably not experiencing this level of calamity in your life, I think you are experiencing some level of it. And the mental health part of type one diabetes is, is not to be ignored even if it's minor. Therapy, you know, I don't know what I don't know what you'll do, but I I think ignoring it's a is a big mistake. So
Yeah. Yeah. And I wish I did a little bit more of it early on. Like, my hindsight is is I wish I put that in place earlier in the diagnosis. A lot of things there was a lot of things that went right, there was a lot of sort of angels along the way that helped him.
But I wish we had just gotten in front of that mental health stuff earlier. Not to say we wouldn't end up where we are. I just think it would have maybe shortened our journey a bit.
What about for you, though? Like, I mean, you're now involved in, like, therapy, like family therapy and stuff like that. Has it helped you? Is it unburdened you at all with your diabetes?
Luck of the Draw1:18:11
I you know, the strange thing is I've never, like listen. I maybe it's because I make the diabetes look really easy. I've never been super depressed about it. It just sort of is what it is, and it's just who I am, and it's how I manage my life, but I don't think about it that much.
Luck of the drawl. I I I so I've been thinking this about you the whole time we've been talking. It is luck of the drawl because you really do have that attitude. Like, you and that's a I think it's probably baked in. Like, you're just like a like, we'll take care of it.
I'll do the next thing that needs to be done. I'm not gonna get drugged backwards by this. Like, that's just dumb luck. You didn't no one taught you to be that way. It's just how you are.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
And I just kinda care you know, maybe it's because I got diagnosed when I had two little kids, and I was trying to figure it like, it just I was like, I just gotta keep myself going and standing. I couldn't wallow in it.
I don't know. I bet you
days have I had days where I'm like, oh my gosh. This sucks? Yes. Of course. Yeah.
But Everything seems to go wrong, but no. You know, as a whole, it just it is what
it is.
It is who I am.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hey. If I said to you, hey. We have to pick up and move across the country, it has to happen. You would just do it. Right?
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have there's a vibe about you that is, like, you're just lucky to have it, I think. I I I have it, and I'm I feel incredibly lucky to not be burdened by things when stuff like this comes up.
Because you even handled the thing in Chile the way I would have. Like, you know, I I'm gonna get on the next plane. Can't get on that one. I'll get on the next one. I I'm not gonna worry about what's happening to them right now because it'll probably be okay.
And if it's not, there's really nothing I can do about it anyway. And then the if something bad goes happens, then the situational change, then I'll pivot, and I'll follow the new situation and do what I can do to support that. Like, that's how your brain works.
For most for the most part. There's definitely parts of me that, like, I, you know, I do have a little bit of, like, stuff. Like, my hackles will go up on something, and I'm like, I need to look into this because I feel like this isn't going down the right way, but usually, I'm right.
And you and you can bend it to your will. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. I try.
Yeah. You and I wouldn't be good always work. You and I wouldn't be good together. I just wanna say that. So Okay.
Good to know. Good to know. We'd out there just like like, we'll just fix it all. Like, So
I am a fixer and get it done person.
No. No. I I figured you out in the first ten minutes. I know. But it was easier to figure out because I think you and me might be the same person.
Awesome. I really appreciate you doing this. I'm gonna float this out there, and nothing has to come of it. You you shouldn't mention it, obviously, now. But if you ever if he's ever saying that he'd like to, like, share his story later, I'd be thrilled to talk to him about it.
And I would also be really interested to get a a maybe a check-in from you in, like, a year or so.
Yeah. I'll let him know. He's excited I'm doing this. So he's definitely like he's like, this is really cool, mom. I can't wait I can't wait to hear your how you tell the story.
So he's
proud of it.
Well, William, listen. If you're listening, man, I would I'd love you to come on here and tell your side of this. So, thank you very much. I am literally nine minutes away from having to be in a dentist chair, so I'm gonna go now. But thank you very much.
Okay. Bye.
Thanks so much to Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast. Get your Dexcom g seven right now with my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. And, of course, that Omnipod five has the new 100 target. You want it, trust me. Omnipod.com/juicebox.
Get over there right now. Use the links in the show notes. Use the links at juiceboxpodcast.com. By any chance, have you tried the small sip series? It's curated takeaways from the juice box podcast voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes.
These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Take a deep dive, take a sip, and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com, and then go oh, actually, we changed the website. Let me see. Go to juiceboxpodcast.com.
And from there, there's these two little lines on the right side top. That's the menu. Then click that. Then click series. Then there's pro there's small steps right there, pro tips at the top, bold beginnings, bolus four, asks that.
There's lot of them there. There's actually a little search there too. Could you just type small sips into the search? Oh, wow. That search works great.
Look at that. And then you could go right to, like, all results for small sips. Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ. You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq.
Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website is I mean, have you, like, seen it? You should you should go check out the website. The website rocks. It is a potpourri, a never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey.
That's right. It really is. What else we got over here? Oh, I don't like the way that works. I'm gonna fix that.
Note to self. Change the change the masthead on the frequently asked questions page. Yeah. I don't like that. Fix that.
Oh, Claude. Oh, hell. I forgot to say thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon.
What is that noise? Stop it. Stop. Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking.
Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against the don't tell people I have reptiles. They'll think I'm weird. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.
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