#1933 Blinded by the Light - Part 2
Blinded by the Light, Part 2
Ryan returns after the Juice Cruise: 38 years with type 1, a vision journey through retinopathy and cataract surgery, a harrowing overdose the night before surgery, and why he now advocates hard.
Jump to a moment
- Thirty-eight years, and a hard-won turnaround. Diagnosed at 16 in 1988 on regular and NPH, Ryan describes decades with little guidance. After a pump trainer named Jordan pointed him to the podcast in late 2023, he went from a 10.7 A1c to the mid-5s — and has held there. He and Scott both note that dropping an A1c that fast can carry its own risks and should happen with a care team.
- A vision journey most people never hear about. He walks through years of diabetic retinopathy, surgeries in both eyes, a cataract, and finally a YAG procedure that cleared his sight. Scott reads a plain-language summary of what a YAG capsulotomy is; it is background, not a recommendation, and any eye care belongs to an ophthalmologist.
- The night he dosed 20 units instead of 2. Fasting before cataract surgery, half-asleep, Ryan gave ten times his intended dose and dropped hard. He used two doses of nasal glucagon, stayed in contact with a group member online, and recovered. His own stated lesson: he should have woken his wife for a second set of hands. This is a story about severe-low response, not dosing guidance.
- Advocate for yourself — loudly. An urgent care that assumed he was drunk on New Year's Eve, a motorcycle crash where no one checked his blood sugar, an ER stay for his daughter Arden where her type 1 went unaddressed for 13 hours: the throughline is that patients and caregivers often have to insist on basic diabetes care. Say it plainly, and don't leave someone with type 1 alone if you can help it.
- The “I'm fine” trap. At 22, with an A1c of 13, Ryan would have told you he was doing “not bad.” Scott connects it to survivorship bias in who finds the show, and to his own father's pride at “beating” smoking — the false security of feeling okay while the numbers say otherwise. The tools exist now; using them is what changes the outcome.
- Juice Cruise 2027 — The third annual Juicebox community cruise, on sale now — the trip where this conversation was recorded.
- Ryan's first episode: Blinded by the Light (#1415) — Ryan's original story — diagnosis, vision loss, and the turnaround — for the full backstory.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — The management foundation — basal, pre-bolusing, and the tug-of-war framing Ryan credits for the change.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:00
Welcome back my friends to the diabetes show that never ends. It's never too early to prepare to have a good time. Juice Cruise 2027 is on sale right now. Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. This is gonna be the third annual juice cruise, and you're not gonna wanna miss it.
Remember this, nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. Don't forget to go to t one d exchange dot org slash juice box and complete the survey. Today's podcast is sponsored by US Med and Tandem Diabetes Care. What a pair.
I'm a poet and didn't even know it. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Tandem MOBI system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. Tandem MOBI has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do.
And I'm talking about all your favorites, Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, Ilet, much, much more. Go to usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Get your supplies the same way we do from US Med. Ryan, welcome back. How are you?
Roommates on the Juice Cruise1:58
Doing fantastic, Scott. How are you?
Awesome. Thank you. I think we should just tell people right away that you and I just spent a week together.
Sounds good to me.
So they know. We were on the cruise, the juice cruise together, and we shared a room. So we got to we got to know each other much much differently than we would have if we certainly weren't sleeping next to each other in single beds, I just wanna say. Not that
In single beds, there was a six inch gap that they were able to put in between those beds.
It it there it wasn't much, was it?
It it really wasn't.
It wasn't much, was it? When we first got into the room, it was still a double bed. And Yeah.
Well yeah. And to be fair, we showed up, like, five hour four hours earlier than we were supposed to.
We snuck we snuck on the ship before it was our time.
Sure did.
Yeah. Yeah. And I I it's a it is, like, just a funny story because when we first got in the room, we were both, like, It's just set up for for for, like, a what is that? What do you call it? Like, a it's not a queen quite, is it?
It's a little smaller.
Yeah. I think I think it was close to a king because I think they were two, like, twin size
birds. You think it was bigger than that? Okay. Okay.
I think so.
Yeah. And so, like, we kinda both looked. It took us a minute to realize that we were supposed to get on the ship at two, and what do we walk on at, like, 10:30 or something like that?
It was, like, 10:30 or eleven. Like, it
was really early. Apparently, there's rules, but they're not that strict.
So Yeah. They don't care. Yeah.
Catching up: 38 years in, diagnosed at 163:20
Anyway, yeah, that was it. So we I you know, like I said, got to know each other better, but let's make sure people know who you are. You were on the podcast previously. Do you have any idea what episode you were on?
Episode fourteen fifteen, Blinded by the Light.
Fourteen fifteen. People should check it out. You have a really cool story. Let's just give them a little a little background. Maybe I should try to do it to prove that I was paying attention while we were talking.
You were diagnosed as a baby. Is that right? Yeah. Uh-huh. How old?
16.
Yeah. I knew that. That's a baby. That's really a baby. And you're how old today?
38. I'm 39. I'll be 40 in November.
Okay. So I was I
was given my I was given my diabetic years, not my not my age.
That's crazy, though. So you're close to 40 with type one?
Close to.
Wow. And other in your family? Anybody else have type one?
Nobody has type one. As far as I know, I don't I don't really know of either of any other autoimmunes either. Okay. I think I'm the only one.
Do you have other autoimmune?
I don't.
Yeah. I didn't see
At least not yet.
I didn't see you take a pill while we were there.
No.
Okay. Alright. So I I wanna give people a tiny bit of of background in case they have not heard fourteen fifteen. So just do the, like, the flyover. How how how did diabetes look growing up?
Where did it lead you to? How did you end up on the podcast? A quick jump through.
The flyover: pumps, no guidance, a Dexcom he quit4:49
Alright. So quick jump through. So, again, diagnosed in 1988 at 16 old on regular and Miles per hour. Lived doing that for the first, I don't know, eleven years or so. I think when I was 12 years old, got my first pump.
And terrible pump training led me into terrible lifestyle choices around not pre bolusing, just eating whatever I wanted, and not, like, even knowing how to really manage the the carbs at that point and the and the pump, the settings. There was no real guidance at
all. Mhmm.
Got a Dexcom because the enter the endo wanted to see what my blood sugar was doing, gave me no direction around that either. And I I threw I was like, I'm never using these again. Ever never gonna happen.
Retinopathy, and losing his vision5:41
How long ago do you think that was you got that Dexcom?
I think I got that Dexcom in, like, 2013.
Okay. And this was just, like, the doctor they were new back then. So the doctor's just looking for insight?
Doctor's looking for insight. The doc I was new to their practice. Mhmm. And they wanted to see why what my blood sugars were doing to try to help. I think they were wanting to help me, but they went about it the wrong way without giving me any insight of what they were doing.
Okay.
And and at least in my head. I I put the Dexcom on. My blood sugars back then were all over the place and very elevated all the time. So I would see my blood sugar go up, and now this is the first time I'm able to see all this, like, all the time because I wasn't really doing my I wasn't checking my blood sugar. I wasn't I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing.
So I'd see my blood sugar go up. So I said, okay. I'm gonna do insulin. And then I would die. I would free fall.
And then I would eat I would eat something to bring it up. And then I would it was just in this massive roller coaster for forever. And then I so I was just like, I'm done with this. I don't I don't wanna do this. That was in 2013, 2014.
I had my first bout of diabetic retinopathy. Popped up in my left eye first. Had the surgery for that in, like, November of thousand fourteen. It was right after my best friend's wedding in Mexico. And then, like, six months later, my right eye.
Six months later, my left eye again. And then went about eight years with vision going in and out of my left eye. My right eye stayed pretty good the whole time. Then in the end of twenty twenty three, my endo said, hey. I think let's I'd like you to try a new pump with the Dexcom again.
Explain to me, like, what was new about it, that it's better than the Guardian three sensor that Medtronic had that I had used that I also had used. Mhmm. And I said, okay. I go to the pump training. On the way to the pump training, I said to myself, this guy's gonna teach me how to put insulin in the pump, and that's it.
And I was very wrong and very happy to be wrong. Sat down. I met with Jordan. He he taught me how to use the tandem pump. He told me about the podcast.
He told me about the Facebook group. And in in my other episode, I I said that I went from a 10.7 a one c to a 5.5 in about four months.
A 10.7 to a 5.5 — maybe too fast8:08
Probably too fast, though.
Probably too fast because then it was only about nine months later or so. Woke up in the middle of the night blind in both eyes with diabetic retinopathy, hit me hit me in both eyes at the same time.
Wow. Jeez.
Now this can actually lead into like right away because when we recorded last time, I had finished both of my diabetic retinopathy surgeries.
Mhmm.
During the first one, the doctor noticed that I had a cataract that started in my right eye. So he said, you're gonna need to get that cataract fixed once you're healed from these surgeries. So our last recording happened we recorded a week before I went in for cataract surgery.
Mhmm.
So now we can do the follow-up of where
happened after that? Since then. Yeah. And and time wise, was I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies, and I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us though for the last few years because we began to use US Med back then, and you can too.
Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514 to get your free benefits check. US Med has served over one million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and even more than that. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites, Libre three, Dexcom g seven, the pumps like Omnipod five, Tandem, and the Islet pump from Beta Bionics. They have even more than that.
You gotta go check them out because the stuff you're looking for, they have it at US Med. (888) 721-1514. Or go to usmed.com/juicebox to get started now. Use my Slink. Use my Slink.
Use my link to support the podcast. That's usmed.com/juicebox. Now let's talk about the Tandem Mobi insulin pump from today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. Their newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology, and the new Tandem Mobi pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control. It's the only system with auto bolus that helps with missed meals and preventing hyperglycemia.
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The Tandem Mobi system is available for people ages two and up who want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up in range, and address high blood sugars with Autobolus. Two years?
Twenty units instead of two11:04
That was
Not two years. Not even that far. Right?
It was almost two years ago.
Okay.
It was it was, like, November 2024 is when when all this was going on. So I think my appoint so my appointment was it was, like, November 24 or something in the morning. That night I went to bed. I was like, okay. I'm I'm gonna go in.
I'm gonna get this cataract surgery. I'm gonna be good. Like, I'm fine. Like, I'm gonna be done. Went to bed.
I was exhausted, fell asleep. High blood sugar beeps, wake me up in the middle of the night. I'm dead tired, and I dose my insulin. I wake up a couple hours later, and my blood sugar is 38, like, diag or, like, 40 diagonally or down or whatever it was. I get up and I check it, and then I realized that I did twenty units of insulin instead of two.
And
and you're fasting for your for your procedure the next day.
And I'm fasting for my procedure the next day.
Which you very much wanna go to.
Which I am not gonna miss. There's there's nothing like, I'm either gonna lie to these doctors and say that I haven't eaten, or even being low, I I I was able to sit back and take a minute and say, alright. At this moment, I'm still with it enough. What can I do differently? And my wife is sleeping.
I didn't wake her up, like, which we've had that conversation since then. I should have woken her
She she mentioned maybe it would have been a good idea to have another set of hands. Yeah.
A 100%.
Yeah.
A 100%. So I I said, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna I'm gonna just gonna use this glucagon. I'm gonna use my Baqsimi, shot it in my nose. I went and sat on the couch.
And I'm talking on the Internet with Cassandra, the group expert who's on the other side of the world, because she's awake at this time, and her and I are just talking. I'm telling her what's happening. And, you know, like, we're we're just having this conversation, and I I know I blacked out at some point, because I I don't remember much of much of anything for a good little bit.
Were you talking to her verbally? Just typing.
Just texting.
Just texting. Alright. Does she remember it as you disappearing for a point? Have you ever asked her?
I don't know. I don't know if I've ever asked her that.
Okay.
I wake up. My blood sugar I see my blood sugar's still very low. I looked at the chart. I had gone up and then started and then I was I was going back down again. So I said, okay.
I'm gonna use another glucagon. So I used the second a second Baqsimi, shot it. Right now, if if I had to guess, it's like four 03:30, 04:00 in the morning my time. Mhmm. And I had about an hour and a half before my kids start waking up, and I was like, I I gotta figure this out.
Like, I don't want them to see me like this. Like, I I know I was probably not gonna make sense if they're talking to me. So I I just sat there, and my blood sugar did start coming back up. And now I didn't like, I'm still I hadn't eaten anything. Like, I was like, I'm still having the surgery.
My older daughter wakes up, and she's I think she knew something was wrong. Like, I just wasn't acting like myself. Mhmm. And I, like, I still drove her to school. By the time it was time for her to go to school, I drove her to school.
I felt very confident at that point that I was okay.
Okay.
I was tired. I was, you know, I was but I was I was very okay. I would never put her I would never put my kids in jeopardy.
On
the way to school, my blood sugar, like, was a 165. It was starting to level out. I was like, okay. Like, I I made it through that. Let's get her to school.
Let's go get the baby to school, and let's go get this surgery. I did a little bit of insulin. By the time I got to the surgery, my blood sugar was, like, 98, and I rode perfect through the whole surgery. Got that done.
How long were you out for that, or were you in a twilight? What do they do for that?
I mean, it's it's a little less than a twilight. They numb you. They they they knock you out to numb your eye, and then you're awake through the whole surgery.
Okay. I was just thinking you didn't even get to rest during it. It would have been nice if it was
Not really.
If it was a ninety night thing. At least you coulda.
Yeah. No. And then I you know, like, by the by the time that by the time we go we're getting to the surgery, like, I've I've now looped, like, the rest of the group experts wake up. They see part of the probably a conversation that her and I that Cassandra and I are having, and they're, like, they're, well, as soon as you can, go eat something. Like, you need to eat to replenish your glucagon stores and your and your you know?
And I was, like, alright. Like, so, like, was I was hungry. I was ready. Got out of that surgery. That one was definitely easier than the than the retina surgeries, but it I mean, it was just
it was a couple
of days a couple of days healing. Was still a lot. It was a a long night. And once I was able to start seeing things, things weren't better. My my eye my vision wasn't better yet, which should have been.
I went to the doctor to the the cataract surgery for a follow-up, and they said that I had a mini hemorrhage still in my eye.
Okay.
So I went back to the retina doctor, and he's looking at it. My eye's a little swollen. There is a little hemorrhage in my eye. So now I'm on the shots. Then I had I had to start the shot procedure to to try to stop that from happening, get the swelling down.
That lasted for about a year. And in February of this year, I went for my or no. Was maybe December 2025. I went for a retina's follow-up. The doctor told me that my eye the swelling was down.
Okay. The bleeding was done. And now there's just a haze on the back of my lens that I just need to go back to the cataract surgeon. He'll clean it up, and then I'll be good to go. So by the time I I went I went made an appointment with the doctor.
They no longer took my insurance, so I had to find a new doctor. Went and found the new doctor. I think I was in the office for about fifteen minutes, and by the time I left, two days later, my vision is clear.
Getting his sight back16:53
Wow. It's I mean, you wear glasses. Right? But
Yeah.
But you're just you see just how would you describe it versus I I guess I guess I'd like to understand how it degrades. So, you know, go back ten years. How did you see? Go back five years. Go back before the surgery.
Like, what what's the what's it look like to you when you're looking into the world?
I mean, it I don't know. It just it just looks it looks normal. Like, for the longest time for after my first set of surgeries leading up until the second time Mhmm. It was really hard for me to focus on a computer screen because
I
had one guy one eye that was good and one eye that was not good.
Okay.
And so I would be trying to focus and and and it was very different.
Right.
And now, my prescription in my right eye after the cataract surgery is vastly different than my left eye. But the way that, I mean, the way that glasses are now and technology, like, I don't notice it. Like, I look at my screen and I can see everything. I think the different the biggest difference for me now is that when I don't have my glasses on, I can I can still see things across the room? Where before, my eyes were so bad, just my eyes were always bad, not even big just prescription wise
Mhmm.
My whole life. Where if somebody was 10 feet away from me, if I didn't know who they were, I I wasn't gonna be able to pick them out of a lineup.
Okay.
And so now I can. I can I can see things on the TV? I can see I can see my family across the room without my glasses on. But I think that's only out of my right eye because the the prescription got way way lessened with the with the new cataract.
What procedure just made your vision better in general?
It's called a YAG procedure.
Okay.
And I well, that was the last one. I think that I mean, like, the the vision getting better in my right eye was the cataract surgery because they replaced the lens that was damaged that caused your eyes to not be able to see anymore or, like, to need glasses. Mhmm. So once I get the new lens in, that that drastically changed, like, how far I can see out of my right eye.
Okay.
Eventually, I know I'll need one in my left eye because they said that the retina surgeries cause cataracts. So I'll need it there. And then once that happens, like, I'm gonna be able to see really well. And then the yag it's called a yag procedure where, like, a a cloudiness gets on the back of your lens, and they they literally they put numbing drops in my eye Mhmm. And shot a laser into my eye while I was wide awake and just cleaned up the back of my lens.
And it was, I mean, maybe forty five seconds, thirty to forty five seconds, and he was done.
And yeah. Because I'm looking here. It says, you sit in a machine like a regular eye exam. They usually dilate the eye and may use numbing drops. The doctor uses a laser to make an opening.
It's typically painless very fast. You go home the same day. Vision often improves quickly, though sometimes it takes a day or two. You may notice floaters for a while. The eye can have short term pressure spikes or inflammation, so some doctors check pressure afterwards and prescribe a drop.
Less common risks include swelling in the retina, lens movement, or retinal tear detachment, especially in high risk eyes. There is another procedure called yag laser erodotomy, which is different. That one makes a tiny hole in the iris to help fluid flow in people with narrow angles or risk of angle closure glaucoma. Man, they've really come a long way with all this.
It's and and when I go to the retina doctor
Yeah.
I'm the youngest guy in the room.
Yeah. I would imagine. Because this is more of a cataract thing. Right? Like, older people This one
is this one is a cataract thing. Yeah. But my point like, just to tie into what you said about, like, how far they've come. I like, I'm hearing all the other problems that people are having, and it's to me, it's just incredible that, like, we can fix this stuff.
Yeah. No kidding.
And and it's just yeah. I mean
A yag capsulotomy. Is that what you had?
I believe so.
Yeah. How about that? Done after cataract surgery if busy if vision gets cloudy again.
Yep. And that's I mean, that's that's what happened. So I
wonder if they could fix my vision. I I wanna be able to see so I it like, the two feet between me and, like, my hand, I wish someone would fix that. It's so frustrating. I know that's it's a it's a crazy thing for me to say to you, but but because my vision is really good other than that. But it but I'm just trying to point out that that's a very small imposition, and it's incredibly frustrating.
I can't
I'm I'm sure they can do something for you. Yeah.
Yeah. But I can't imagine, like, my wife says all the time, like, from across the room, I know it's you because we've been together for so long. Yeah. But if two people walked in here, I couldn't tell them apart. That's Yeah.
I I I would that would freak me out. I have to be honest with you. But I guess if you live with it, it's not it'd probably be different situation. Absolutely. So describe your vision now today.
Right now, my vision's great. I I I mean, I I don't I just I just had a doctor's appointment shortly before the cruise. Everything was fine. Everything is still good in my eyes. Mhmm.
No more shots. But as far as my vision goes, I don't have any issues. There's very rarely do I, like, think, like, oh, man. Like, anything's wrong. Like, if I'm tired and I wake up, like I'm not gonna lie.
There's probably a small part of me. Like, if I wake up tie if I wake up extra tired or something or, like, I work in I work with wood. And so, like, if I accidentally get something near my eye, maybe, like, it dries my eye out a little bit. My first thought is, like, oh, crap. And then I'm, like, oh, hold on a second.
Yeah. I'm good. I an eye drop, and it clears up, and then everything's good. And I'm, okay.
Like Different world.
Different world.
Where he'd be without meeting Jordan22:25
It's What do you think happens to your vision if you don't meet Jordan? So if the doctor doesn't put you on the on the pump, the pump doesn't send you a pump trainer. Dry Jordan's been on the podcast a number of times. But you don't meet Jordan and everything like, where do you think you are right now?
Well, let me tell you. I I think I know exactly where where I'd be at.
Okay.
I had a very bad doctor tell me right I mean, before before I met Jordan, before I got on the new pump, before I found the podcast, went to a doctor because I said, I I need to start taking care of my eyes. I wanna be able to see my kids grow up. And so I went to the doctor, and a doctor told me, it doesn't look like there's anything we can do for you.
Oh, gosh.
He said, I can't see into your eye. If it starts to hurt, we'll just take your eye out. And I said, well, that's not happening, doc.
My god. How long ago was this?
It was the beginning of twenty twenty three. Wow. It's Months months before I met Jordan.
Three years ago, someone said to you, hey. We might have to pop your eye out.
Yeah.
Okay.
Because he because he wasn't he it wasn't his area of expertise.
He had
no idea what he was doing. But that's but how do you just say that instead of recommending me to, like, a better doctor?
No. He would've a 100% taken out your eye.
He was ready to take I mean, he was ready to take it out that day. If if I would've said, hey, let's just do it now, why wait? He would've done it. But I think I I don't I I for sure don't think I would've ever went down that path. But I I for sure think that I would have still ended up in the same position that I was in Mhmm.
But probably I probably don't think I would have gotten my vision back Yeah. If I hadn't gotten my a one c's under control. If they did come back, it wasn't gonna last, and and I I would I would be constantly in the same position.
Okay.
The doctors have all said that since since then, since since I started listening to the podcast, my a one c has I I touched a six one time, and I've been I've been a 5.7, 5.8, 5.6, like, consistently.
So this don't make this about me. Okay? But, like, from the way you grew up, regular Miles per hour, not great control care, direction, etcetera. Three years ago, somebody says, try a pump. Well, by way, what do you you're on the Moby.
Right?
I'm on the t slim.
T slim. Excuse me. You're on the t slim. Right? So you're using the using the Control IQ plus Control IQ.
Yep. Tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. And you're, so you're on you're using that pump. Jordan just tells you, go listen to the podcast?
Yep. 100%.
He's just, like, give you the pro tip series or something like that?
Nope. He didn't he didn't say anything
other than
just listen to the just go listen to the podcast. It will change your life. And then said.
What he mined from the podcast25:10
What did you like, I think the important part is, like, what did you mine out of it that was able to overcome what you understood or didn't understand and and set you I mean, obviously, the motivation's there because of your eyesight, but still, like, that's a lot to change.
Yeah. I just I I think I touched on this a little bit before in my in my last episode is that when I'm given information and it's something that that I'd like obviously, like, diabetes is part of my life forever. And so, like, I've always been I always I always cared about it, but I didn't know the backstory to it. Once I start learning more about it on the technical side and how things actually work, I'm the kind of guy who I'm just gonna dive head first. I'm gonna figure everything out.
Mhmm.
And the the podcast was the tool was the was the research that allowed me to do it. It was the the information I needed to hear to for me to make the changes that I did. So when I started listening to the podcast, the way that you would talk to people, and if it was you and you and some random person or if it was you and Jenny, it made it make sense in a way that I just don't think that I probably would have listened to somebody else explaining it a different way.
Okay.
For me, it it just put everything into perspective of, oh, basil is really important. Because growing up, the doctor I didn't have an endo ever explain to me how important the basil is. Mhmm. So I started messing with my basil right away. And I would I would then listen to episodes about pre bolusing and, like and now I'm getting somebody who's explaining why pre bolusing is is needed.
Not just, like because the doctors told me, like, a couple times, like I was actually thinking about this the other day. The doctors told me, do your insulin fifteen minutes before you eat. And and I now that I'm able to look back on it, I really think that in my head, I thought they were telling me to do this because of that I wasn't a good patient. I didn't think or be I wasn't I don't I don't like saying it like that. I wasn't I wasn't doing everything I was supposed to be doing.
I think that in my head, I assume that everybody else didn't have to do this and they wanted me to do it Oh. Because of the way they said it.
Oh, so what you took from it wasn't that it was a piece of advice. You took you took from it, like, well, you're so terrible at this. Like, maybe this thing that no one else does will help you.
That's I like, I
It's how it felt.
That's how it felt. That's that's how it feels now that I'm able to look back on it.
I see. Back then, you just didn't do it when they said it one way or
the I just didn't do it.
Okay.
So now that I'm listening to the way that you and Jenny described it and talk about it all the time, I was like, oh, this is something that everybody should be doing. Mhmm. And now but here's why. And, I mean, the tug of war is the perfect example of what it is. When you describe that tug of war, then it made sense to me.
And I was able to then time it better because fifteen minutes doesn't isn't I mean, fifteen minutes is just a number that they threw out, but it's it's always different.
Yeah.
I've had I've had I've had forty five minute long pre boluses because my blood sugar was high. And and I'm like I'm like when I was when I was starting to learn and I was getting into it, I was not going to eat if I wasn't if my blood sugar wasn't prepared for what I was about to go into. It didn't matter that I would wait forty five minutes to eat and my family's already done. I was like, no. I'm I need to figure this out.
Mhmm. And and I'm at that point now where my blood sugars are no longer like sure. They they they get elevated. But I know how to fix it faster, and I can and I'm and I know that if my blood sugar is still a little elevated going into a meal, I can just add a little bit of extra insulin, look at how much I have on board, and then make it all work.
Yeah. And that just comes from listening to just people talk about it more colloquially in a way that, like, sticks to you eventually.
100%.
Stories, pictures, that kind of thing.
Yep.
Yeah. That's awesome. Well, I mean I mean, I can't say enough how happy I am for you. It's really it's a it's a fantastic story. It really is.
And, you know, there's nothing wrong with me getting to feel like once in a while the podcast is really helpful. I actually had the experience this morning. I I shared it online because I was embarrassed. Somebody took you you know the two, the the Knud Knicks that climbed to the top of the, what they climbed to in
The top of
the State Building? Yeah. Yeah. And then they they
Shout out to Andy Oliver.
Yeah. Andy.
He posted it today? Andy made I think it was last night.
He takes a photo of them that that I guess the Internet is just using, like, crazy now. Right? It's them up there with this big black flag, and people are dropping stuff onto the flag and, you know, making their own flags. Yeah. And he puts up it just says Juice Box podcast forever, and it's lovely and everything.
But the the point is is that when I saw it, I I I don't know what it is about, like, when I grew up or what the Internet was like as I was, like, experiencing it growing up, but I thought that's the closest I feel to famous, that somebody would, like, make a meme about a thing I did. You you know what I mean? I was like, oh, that's right. It I've never felt so good since people started getting juice box license plates. Like, that's the other the only other two the only two things that have made me feel like, oh, this thing really reaches a lot of people is is that kind of stuff.
Because now you got
the I got I some got something on my calf that probably should make you feel
Well, you have a a yeah. You have a Juice Box podcast tattoo, which is, again, like, one of those things where I look at it and I go, wow. This thing has transcended my initial, my initial desire for it, which is fantastic. But now you've had this experience, if you don't mind pivoting. I is there a reason you're on today?
Because I or can I just take this wherever I want to? Would you
You you take it wherever you want to. I definitely wanted to give, like, a I wanted to give a follow-up.
Yeah.
We just did the cruise together.
Sharing the hard stories on purpose31:00
Mhmm.
And there were a few stories about from the past.
Okay. You broke up you just broke up for just a second. There's a few
There's a few there's a few stories that I think that I would like to talk about in a in a way that it helps me, like I don't know how to word it. I've I've been thinking about how to word this is that, like, I don't want it to be like the here's what you shouldn't do kind of thing, but more of those things of like, this these are things that I did. And because of where we are at tech with technology today
Yeah.
That you you can overcome this kind of stuff and you can get you can get around it probably a lot easier than I was able to.
Alright. So you wanna spotlight a couple of, like, remembrances from your life these
days? Remembrances, things like that and just
Go ahead. Jump in. That's fine. We'll do
it. I mean, we don't have to we can
go That's a great idea. I'll I'll pepper in the thing I was gonna do too. So go ahead.
So, you know, I mean, just, like, a couple random things that throughout my life that have happened to me that, like, as I now can look back on it, I think if I, like, if I had a CGM back in the day, and it wouldn't have mattered if it was a 100% accurate Mhmm. It would have helped me a lot. I I went to a school field trip one time, and I I tested my blood sugar, and my blood sugar read, like, 17 on the meter. Where if I had the technology we have today, would've I been able to see it falling faster, would've been able to fix it. So, like, I you know, like, these are things that I, like at any moment, at that point, I could've just passed out on that bus.
Yeah.
So, like, to me, it's like when you know, like, I get that parents worry about their kids. I worry about my kids. They're not diabetic. But knowing that we have these things in place now to help, like, I just I want to, I guess, stress the point. I say it online all the time.
But we're at a point now where, like, we have all these tools that help us to to succeed when we didn't have them in the past and we still lived. And and there's just something to be said about that anything could happen. It's not gonna you can't stop a low blood sugar from happening. Mhmm. But what you can do is have is have the tools.
So even if it's not working out perfectly for you, I think it's, you know, it's I don't I don't wanna say, like, we'll figure it out, but just
You think it's the difference
between a different one.
Yeah. It's the difference from just being alive and thriving? Is that fair?
Percent.
Right. Like 100. You you because to your point, even though you I mean, listen. You were diagnosed at 16, and you said 88. Right?
Yeah.
So around the time my buddy was diagnosed when we were, like, 18 or 19. He's not even here anymore. So he got he got your standard of care, and he didn't meet Jordan. Or he was just ten years ahead of you and in age, and so it it maybe it caught up to him or maybe he's got different, you know, lifestyle or, like, genetic factors or whatnot. But, I mean, you know, I mean, I've I've said this a million times.
Mike's talking to his wife about what to have for dinner, stands up to go in the kitchen, falls over. Just like that.
Yeah. No. It's it's crazy.
Yeah. And and and I realized that he and you were put on the same path because of the time frame of when it happened. And you probably just had more time because you were younger. And then you get lucky and somebody says try a pump. The the technology comes around.
Somebody mentions it to you. You run into a thoughtful person who knew about the podcast. The podcast actually works well for you. It intersects well with how you think or how you listen or or whatever. You you know?
And then you take it really seriously, apply, apply, apply, and get and get very quickly to where you are right now. I mean, honestly, your turnaround in three years is astonishing.
Well, thank you. I mean, I appreciate it. And I I mean, like, I I've said it a 100 times. I know that you'd like, it is, like, it's because of you. It's because of Jordan, like, getting me to the the information and, like and being able to, like the way that you the way that you describe it to people to get people to understand is just incredible.
Thank you.
And I hear that and I hear it all the time online. I hear it, like I'll talk more about that in a minute. I wanted to say something else about something something different that ties into this, but, you know, there I guess another couple stories that I wanted to just just share with
The urgent care that thought he was drunk35:10
Please.
For people Yeah. Is about advocating for yourself for things that, like, have because of things that have happened to me. Again, before my before having a CGM, there was a a New Year's Eve where my wife and I and our daughter were just sitting around by the fire. I had maybe one drink, like a glass of wine, and we were just hanging out. And all of a sudden, like, we had bad shrimp cocktail or something.
All of us are getting sick. And my blood sugar is dropping, and I can't get it to stay up. I'm struggling to get my blood sugar to stay up. Every time I try to eat something, I throw up. Eat something, throw up.
I said, I need you to take me to the urgent care right down the street. It and so, like, so
that thought you were heading you you were in a bad way.
I was in a bad way. I I didn't think I didn't think I was gonna be able to to get out of this without help.
Okay.
So we get to the urgent care. This is during COVID. So my wife can't sit in the waiting room with me. I'm wearing a mask. I walk up to the counter to the to the lady at the reception.
Said, I I can't get my blood sugar up. I need help. And I keep throwing up. And, like, she's watching me like, watched me throw up when I walked like, right when I walked through the door.
Yeah.
So I she says, okay. She gives me the paperwork to fill out. She said, we'll get you we'll we'll get you back soon. I go sit down. It very quickly occurs to me, they think I'm drunk.
Oh. They don't think that I'm diabetic. I don't like Yeah. I in her head, she's like, it's New Year's Eve.
Yeah.
This idiot's just drunk.
Drunky over there thinks he knows something about blood sugar. Yeah. You're right. Yeah.
So I'm sitting here and I'm like, every couple like, I mean, probably five minutes later, I get up and I go, I I need help. And I'm I'm I'm, like, pleading to her at this point. Mhmm. I need help. And I quickly like, my blood sugar wasn't so low that I didn't know what was going on, but I just again, like, I I didn't think I was gonna come I I wasn't gonna be able to come away from it for too much longer.
Yeah.
So I started sending myself emails because I didn't know what else to do. This time, I asked for help. No no direction. No this. Like, they I kept emailing myself because I was like, if if I pass out and something happens
Do you think maybe somebody will see this?
Somebody will see it. Who knows what I mean, who knows? But at least, like, if I pass out, then they'll probably come and get me.
Okay.
But but I'll be able to show that, like, hey, like, you guys failed at your job. Finally, it I probably sat in that waiting room for thirty minutes, forty five minutes before anybody even came to bring me back into a room. When I got back into the room, I finally looked at the nurse and I said, I need help. My blood sugar is low. And he said, okay.
We'll be back in a minute. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor finally comes into the room. And he says, what's going on tonight? I said, I need help. I yelled at this guy.
Mhmm. My blood sugar is low. He looks at the nurse. He says, has anybody tested his blood sugar? And they all said, no.
The nurse got a quick yelling at. They tested my blood sugar. Five minutes go by. I'm my blood sugar's perfect. Like, it's it it took one guy to finally listen to me.
Yeah.
And so I just, like, stick up for yourselves. Do whatever you gotta do. Like, don't let them sit like, say no. Like, and I've I've taken this I've taken this in my life with just going to the doctor, telling them what I want a prescription written for or whatever it might be, helping my wife with different things, my kids. Like, this is you have to do this for yourselves.
Yeah. I don't tell you many times. When you're telling that story, thought I wouldn't have cared if it was COVID or not. I wouldn't have sent you in there by yourself. Like, I understand that everyone was scared and you follow the rules and whatnot, but, like, I would have been like, I don't care what any of you think.
He has type one diabetes. So that's the one thing you couldn't get out of your mouth. Right? Because it's so norm
it's so normable. Diabetic at
least the first time. Oh, jeez.
At least at least the first time. But, again, Lauren was also throwing up. Like
Yeah.
So, like, we're all we're all
sick too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Sick too. You know what I mean? So, like but but her blood sugar is not crashing at the same time.
Bad shrimp.
It was our our older daughter was at home, like, who was old enough to maybe stay at home, but not old enough to stay for a long time.
Right.
So, like, Lauren needed to get back to her. Like, there's a whole lot
of things guys are in trouble. Like, there's a lot yeah. There's a lot going wrong. There's a lot
going on. Yeah. Like, I I 100% think that if it wasn't for, like, some of that other stuff, she would've stayed with me.
Okay.
But you you would think you're going into a health care place. Should take care of
you. You might be alright once you get in there.
You might be alright when once you get through the door. Do you
think forty five minutes it took them to get you
to the sure? Pretty close to that.
Yeah. Jeez.
You know? And then and then just I've had I've had experiences in the hospital. Just I I I was asked to tell this story because I've I've typed it out. Mhmm. In when was it?
The motorcycle crash nobody checked40:13
2010. I think 2010. I used to drive a motorcycle. I had a Honda CBR 600 r r, pretty quick bike. I was stupid on it.
I rode all over the place. I it was it was my daily driver. It wasn't until I was driving the speed limit that I got in an accident. I made a left hand turn leaving work one day, and another lady made a left hand turn the opposite direction. But our turns were so close to each other that I think what happened was that she looked she looked to her right or she looked to her left, and I wasn't there.
She looked to her right to see if she could make the left hand turn, and by the time she started making the turn, I had pulled up.
Mhmm.
I saw this coming, and I thought, I'm gonna die. And I and then I quickly thought, I don't want to. I swerved, and she swerved at the same time at the same direction, so we still collided. And as I hit her car, I made direct eye contact with her through my helmet as I'm flying over her car. And I ended up rolling down the street, and and I land in the middle of the road.
Just dead in the middle of the road. And now she's freaking out coming up to me. I'm I'm the one who just about died, and I'm calming her down. I'm I'm handling the situation. The ambulance gets there, and they they told me later that we had the body bag pulled out.
They said, we saw your bike. We had the body bag pulled out. And then then we go we turn around the corner. You're sitting straight up. We got the stretcher.
Now you're fine.
Yeah.
So there was not one time throughout that whole process. I mean, I had my pump on. I told every everybody knew I was diabetic. There was not one time in that hospital that anybody checked my blood sugar Yeah. That anybody asked me about my blood sugar, that anybody did anything.
Like, it's just it's wild to me that that stuff still happens. Now this is 10 this is sixteen years ago.
Well, listen. Two and a half years ago, Arden went into a Savannah hospital at college around midnight, 01:00 in the morning. She and I talked before that. I sent her to the emergency room. And then I and then I sat at my computer, got myself a ticket, drove to the airport in the middle of the night.
I think I sat there for, you know, maybe waiting for, like, a 6AM flight. I was probably to her about twelve hours after she got to the hospital, and she didn't look good at all. She was there for stomach pain, like, you know, probably, like, Arden can get a cyst sometimes, you know, on her lady bits inside. It could be incredibly painful. And they and we've talked about it before.
They confuse it for a thousand different things. And she's there. She's maybe all of, like, 20 years old. She's got two girls with her who are not, like haven't grown up with health issues, so they're not as adept at all this. You know, the girls are helping her and crying.
You know? They're more upset than Arden is. You you know what I mean? I get there twelve, thirteen hours after she's there. I walk in.
I immediately, like, take her phone and look at her blood sugar. And she says to me, I told them I have type one diabetes. No one's checked on me once. I've been here for thirteen hours. No one's I'm managing my diabetes.
Like, no one's asked about it. They haven't checked my blood sugar. Nobody's asked me if I need food or like, she's like, nothing like that's happened the entire time I was here. Yeah. And I hugged her, then she broke down because she was holding it together for that whole time.
You you you know what I mean? I that's I mean, that's that's not ten years ago. That's two years ago.
No. It's I mean, it's crazy. And I don't wanna, you know
Yeah. Yeah. No. No. I'm sure there are some great doctors out there.
I'm I'm excited to run into them one day.
Same here. Right? Like, I I have a decent doctor now. The last the last thing I'll say in another hospital visit, I had my appendix taken out. And now they have to run your blood work for that.
So they, you know, they they knew what was going on at that point. My a one c at the time was at thirteen 0.4.
Okay.
The the endo specialist at the hospital came in and was like, we're keeping you here longer than we have to because your a one c is so high. My dad looked at this lady and goes, you're keep him here for three months? Like, what are we doing? You know? Like, you're not gonna fix this.
And it's just like, I don't like, I still look back and I'm like, what? Like, what was she planning on happening?
Yeah. I mean, she's gonna gonna get you one of those loaded those those diabetic meals they give you with the chocolate cake and get you all set off.
I know.
I after you eat it.
100%. I like, the doctor said I was cleared to go because of my my surgery. I should have been out of there. Mhmm. Now she's she's holding me back.
Well, she's worried about you.
She's worried
about me. Wasn't gonna it wasn't gonna
But it wasn't gonna fix it.
What was gonna happen. Yeah. Yeah.
You know?
13, Ryan. A 13A1C.
13.
Wow. How old are you at that point, you think?
Oh, I was I was in my twenties. I was twenty twenty one, 22.
Yeah. So diabetes for twenty two years with a thirteen a one c. I I I say all the time that I think that the podcast attracts a certain motivated group of people and that we don't often get to see the totality of what everyone walking around with type one is experiencing and their outcomes and their daily their daily lives. So yeah. I mean, did you can I ask you back then if I asked you if I found you when you were 22 and I said, how are you doing with your diabetes, how do you think you would have answered?
I probably I probably would have said not bad.
Not bad.
Not bad.
Yeah. And what does that mean? It means
I don't It means I'm alive.
Yeah. I'm alive.
It means Okay. Everything else is everything else about me is healthy. Was I I mean, at at that point, like, my vision hadn't gone out yet. At that point, I was good. Like, I was it was just I was fine.
Yeah. There was nothing I couldn't do. I did I felt I've I felt invincible
Right.
Other than I had a pump strapped to my body all
the time. I wonder if it doesn't even, like, give you a false sense of security because you're not even doing the things you're supposed to do. And look. I'm still fine. Still want
A 100%.
Yeah. I still went on a walk. I still do this. I still do that. Like, I might be the one who doesn't even need to pay attention to this.
Like, look how great I am. Like A 100%. And I take again, I take that from my father who smoked two or three packs of cigarettes a day, eventually dies of, you know you know, heart failure type two injury, like a a whole mix of things in his seventies. But point is is that I remember him in his forties going to the doctor and coming back and saying, doctor said he can't even tell that I smoke. He was so proud about that.
Yeah.
Yeah. And and I realize now in hindsight what he meant was that thing where smoking kills you, that's for you suckers.
Yeah.
I'm okay. Like, I I I don't I I my body loves it. My body loves to smoke. It's see, you you don't you guys are all doing it wrong maybe, but I got it together. I'd say, kill kill them eventually.
I was fine. Yeah. I was good.
Yeah. That's interesting, isn't it? The way your brain works and tells you, you're okay. Keep going. So after you've had this experience I mean, it's a long life with diabetes.
The cruise, from both sides47:37
You have this experience meeting Jordan, finding the podcast, etcetera. And then last year, you and your family were on I wanna make sure people understand this. You and your family were on the first cruise that we did in 2025. You came back this year and helped out a little bit. Like, you, you know, took care of some back end stuff, made sure I was where I was supposed to be.
You were actually part of one of the talks. Did a great job in in one of the talks. And you were helping people, like, talk chatting with people. It was a very p like, a peer led. We we really I think we fig the first one was good.
Like, don't get me wrong. People like the first one. The second one, we learned some things from the first one. I think it it it enhanced it. And one of the things we did was, like, kind of peer led sessions.
Like, while I was talking to kids, there were people like you talking in your age group, older people. I mean, it really is fantastic, isn't it? There's there were people on that ship who had diabetes who were I mean, there's an eight year old there. Right? Is he the youngest maybe?
Think I think was but that blonde boy was probably the Right?
I think so.
He was so smart too.
I don't
if you had a chance to talk to him. He's a really interesting little kid. And then, gosh, Maureen, 60 in her sixties, but she wasn't the oldest. There were people there older than that, right, in their seventies too?
Yeah.
And then last year, Terry was in her mid seventies.
Terry's in her mid seventies. Last year, Steven was there.
Yeah. Steven was there. Like yeah. So a a mixture of people. You don't in any other walk of life, I take a 77 year old, an eight year old, a 35 year old, a 40 year old, and I put them all together.
You stare at each other and go, I don't know what I'm doing here, but this is not this ain't my club. You know what I mean? Man, these people come together in two seconds. Really, really something yeah. The diabetes part in there, and everybody's just so quickly comfortable with each other.
Really fascinating. Anyway, so you were you were there. I just I wanna just say for people, like, your your room and board was taken care of, but you flew yourself there. Right?
Yep.
Yeah. And so it's not, you know, it's not it wasn't like a paid gig. You didn't you didn't get paid for it, but the the room was, you know, covered the Wi Fi, drink package, little stuff like that. I just want people to know that. Not for nothing.
Just so they understand how you got there while you're talking about it. You've now seen it once as a a participant. You saw it another time as maybe a little bit on the other side of it. How would you describe it to me? Because I don't know how to I don't completely understand it yet.
I know it's great. I know the people really have a wonderful time. But because I'm so busy doing stuff, I I don't I don't feel like I experience it the same way. So now you've seen it from both sides. Like, how would you describe it?
Amazing.
The first time so in 2025 when we went, Cassandra was there also. And so I got to I got to we got to hang out with her. I got to hang out with Steven. We got to hang out with some of the people that I had been talking to online.
For context, for people, Ryan and a a small group of people are group experts in in my private Facebook group. And they have what might be described as a beautiful, like, relationship. Like, you guys have your own support group inside of inside of a support group.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Right. Right. So I'm sorry. So some of those people are that?
Some of those people are are there, and we're able to to just get to just talk. And everybody's diabetic or or has somebody with them that's diabetic or is impacted by it in some way or another. Now the first time we were there, I spent the majority of my time just with my family.
Mhmm.
And I would see people out on the ship that were with the with the cruise, and we would talk for a little bit, and and and it was it was a great time. This time, I because I wasn't with my family, I was able to watch everybody else and what they were doing.
Yeah.
And to me, that was awesome because I could
see
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