I've Got This Mom
Henry was diagnosed at the end of his freshman year and went right back to college. His mom Stacey is learning how to support him from home.
Jump to a moment
- Henry was diagnosed March 31, 2025, at 19, at the end of his freshman year at the University of Michigan, right before finals. Looking back, Stacey thinks his symptoms started around Thanksgiving, but there was always another explanation until there wasn't. Her father, an internist, was the one who said Henry needed to get to the health clinic. His A1C was 12.6 at diagnosis.
- He spent the summer at home getting healthy, went on pens for about two months, then started Omnipod 5 and a Dexcom G7 so he would know them before going back to school. Since August he has managed everything himself. Stacey supports him from home, and because she isn't doing the day-to-day she gets details wrong, and he tells her so.
- His A1C dropped to 5.6 by December and was 5.8 when he came home at the start of summer. He eats very low carb, weighs his food and checks carbs, fiber and protein. He doesn't want to take a lot of insulin for a meal that won't fill him up. Eating out, pizza and college social life are where it falls apart. A night near 300, after a few weeks in the two hundreds, was what got him to agree to an appointment with Jenny Smith.
- Scott's read: low insulin needs, probably some honeymooning, and very low carb can make a new diagnosis feel easy, like playing on beginner. When his insulin needs change and the food gets harder, he'll need the tools. Stacey says Henry doesn't want to hear about a cure. Scott spends a few minutes on diabetes influencers who push cure news for clicks.
- Scott's suggestions for Stacey: use the word "disease" less, ask Henry how she can support him instead of telling him what he needs to know, and talk about a bad number as something to figure out next time, not a mistake. You can't make someone do something before they're ready. Show up, and make sure they know you'll help if it goes sideways.
- Small Sips — The Pro Tip series boiled down to short episodes
- Juicebox Podcast Pro Tip Series — Management fundamentals with Jenny Smith, episodes 1000–1025
- Juicebox Jukebox — Songs about life with type 1
- MiniMed Flex — Fully controlled from an app
- Contour Next Gen — Check the cash price against what you pay through insurance
Every word of the conversation
Welcome and Sponsors0:03
Friends, we're all back together for another episode of the Juicebox Podcast. Hey. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by MiniMed and the Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter.
MiniMed, of course, the innovators behind the MiniMed Flex system, a small, sleek, and discreet insulin automated delivery system controlled from an app. Nothing comes close to freedom you can feel. To learn more, visit minimed.com/juicebox. There is one blood glucose meter in this house, the Contour NextGen blood glucose meter. That meter is on my daughter's person right now and at all times.
It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at contournext.com/juicebox.
Meet Stacey1:37
My name is Stacey. My husband's name is Steven, and we have our son, Henry, who is our young man with diabetes and our daughter. And Henry was diagnosed on 03/31/2025. So this was right at the end of his freshman year in college, right before final exams. Perfect timing.
Hey, Stacey. I don't wanna stop you before you start. But in today's world, it's possible that you were slightly unclear. I wanna make sure you have a son and a daughter. Right?
Correct.
Because you said, I want you to... When when this comes out, please listen very closely to it. You said we have Henry who is our, type one young man and a daughter. And I was like, is is Henry a daughter and a son? Is he like...
And I thought... And I don't understand the world anymore, so I thought maybe that's a thing, and I'm I'm not following. So... Okay.
That... That's a whole another conversation.
I think you just were missing the word also in there. So... Okay. So you have a daughter and a son who has type one diabetes. Right back to your story.
I'm so sorry. Go
That's okay. That's okay. Yeah. Our daughter does not have diabetes, but our son does. So like I said, he was diagnosed.
So it's been about a year and a half now.
Mhmm.
And we're just going through this process of learning, educating him, managing his disease. And, you know, there's so many emotions and feelings and things to discuss, I feel like, when it comes to, to Henry.
Yeah. Are these conversations, Stacey, he's interested in having?
Who Henry Is3:27
He is, honestly. So a little bit of a backstory about Henry. He is an incredibly bright young man. He is very outs... Well spoken.
He... One thing we always say about our kids is they they they're so much more at home with adults. Like, you you put him with an adult and he just talks away. He he is open to the conversations. Sometimes, I feel like his bandwidth to discuss diabetes is not always high, and it just depends on when you catch him, you know, especially if he's if he's struggling on something
Sure.
In relation to the diabetes. And, you know, he was 19 when diagnosed. He's 20 now, turning 21 in January. And I think probably not unlike many other young adults. Sometimes he thinks he knows everything, and I keep trying to explain to him that when it comes to diabetes, you still have a lot to learn.
And that's okay. I mean, some people have had this since birth. Others have had it since their young years, and this is new for you. So you still have so much to learn. Mhmm.
And sometimes he thinks I don't know what I'm talking about, but, you know, that's across all topics, not just diabetes.
Well... But you
I'm a young adult as well.
So Yeah. No. No. She's telling me I'm wrong all the time. The last night I was speaking to her, she said, you'll have to leave the room now.
You're getting on my nerves. And I went, okay. And then I just left. Okay. I'm out.
Yeah. I... When... I mean, in fairness, though, you're still trying to learn too. Right?
Diagnosed at the End of Freshman Year5:23
Oh, absolutely. And that's... So that brings me to what I find to be the most interesting in this whole dynamic is I didn't have a two year old or a six year old Mhmm. Who was diagnosed, and then all of these years to learn and to manage his disease for him and then teach him how to manage his disease on his own. He was diagnosed at a point in his life where he really has to be the manager of his disease because, you know, that first summer when he...
When we got him through finals and home, it was all about rehabbing him back to health. You know, he was pretty sick. But then come August, he left back for college, and so he is truly the adult and the manager of his disease and the patient, you know, all in one. And I'm trying to support him from afar unless he's home for a weekend or the... A holiday or the summer.
And so it's a really interesting dynamic because I'm not doing all of the ins and outs of the management of his disease. He is. And so because I'm not doing all of the ins and outs, I get things wrong. I don't always know what I'm talking about. I'm trying to learn, but I'm not the one doing it.
I'm listening to all of the Juicebox Podcasts and everything else I can get my hands on to learn, But I have so much more to learn, and I don't always get it right. And because I'm not doing it day to day, I make mistakes. And he loves to tell me, you don't know what you're talking about. We just talked about this. Why are you asking me again?
Mhmm. So there's a lot of that Okay. Kind of back and forth.
I'm gonna make sure that I understand the time the timeline. So he's diagnosed. He's already in college when he's diagnosed?
Yes. End of his freshman year.
Oh, okay. End of his freshman year, he's diagnosed. He comes home for the summer. You guys kinda coach him back up, get him living right again, and, you know, he's standing back on his feet. He heads back off to school.
You guys spent most of that first time learning and probably trying to reorient yourself and preparing for him to go back to school. No one really knows what they're talking about, and he leaves. Now you're now you're stuck in the feeling that you're not there with him. You're still learning. He doesn't know, but he thinks he knows.
And he... You know, Listen. I wanna give him credit where credit is due. He is a very responsible young adult. He is making really good decisions.
Thank... Thankfully, he is a very responsible adult, so I don't know what I would do in this situation. Sure. But... Yeah.
You know? He he... He's doing really well. I really wanna give him that credit.
Oh, don't let me... Don't let me don't let me make you feel I'm trying to lead you on a rover. He's off, like, you know, with his head in a lampshade. I'm just saying that, like, before he really knows what's going on, before you really know what's going on, you guys are separated. And there's not a lot of...
He's probably just flying by the seat of his pants and taking whatever information he has and trying to apply it to a situation. It very well may be going fantastic. I'm not sure or not.
100%. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But you don't know. You're still trying to learn. You're scared about what may or may not be happening that needs to happen.
Is that right? The Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of the Juicebox Podcast, and it is entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you are paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link, contournext.com/juicebox, you're gonna find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Meijer. You could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips and meter than you would pay through my link for the Contour Next Gen and Contour Next Test strips in cash.
What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you are paying right now even with your insurance. And I don't know which meter you have on you right now. I can't say that. But what I can say for sure is that the Contour Next Gen meter is accurate.
It is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years. contournext.com/juicebox. And if you already have a contour meter and you're buying test strips, doing so through my link will help support the podcast. Let's be honest. Most of us would love to spend less time thinking about diabetes.
That's exactly what MiniMed had in mind with the new MiniMed Flex system. It's small and sleek. You can control it from an app, and it uses the trusted SmartGuard technology that automatically adjusts insulin every five minutes. Less juggling, less micromanaging, more freedom. That's the MiniMed Flex system available now at minimed.com/juicebox.
There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Contour, MiniMed, and to all of the sponsors. When you click on my links, you're supporting the podcast and helping to keep it free and plentiful.
100%.
And that fear lives with you, more than twenty four hours a day while you're sleeping even.
Yes.
Yeah. Okay. And you can't convey that to him because you don't want him to feel bad. And so you're trying to do these little things where you're trying to, like, slip in and say things, then you don't get it quite right. Then he knows enough to tell you you're wrong, and you think it's making a chasm between his belief in you and your understanding.
Yes.
Oh my god. I'm good at this. Okay. Alright. Are good at this.
Thank you.
An Appointment With Jenny11:14
But I will tell you, I convinced him to have an appointment with Jenny Smith.
Oh.
And we are scheduled to have an appointment with her in a couple weeks.
Oh, Jenny will set him right up.
Good. Yeah. You know what? I really enjoy listening to her as well and your banter back and forth. Awesome.
And I just thought, you know, even if he got five takeaways from Jenny that would make him... His life a little bit easier, then it's worth it to me. And he agreed. So we... He has an appointment with her in couple of weeks.
Well, I'll tell you what else it might do, and I'm glad you're excited. But I'll tell you what else it might do is it might give him an adult touch point with information that isn't you. So you you may have just done the most selfless mothering thing anyone's ever done. You set him up for success and took yourself out of the loop, which is still gonna be difficult for you. Is he your oldest?
No. He's my youngest.
Okay. So... Yeah. That's a... Good for you.
Way to go. Way to take way to take your way to take your ego out of it. Good job.
Well, yeah. I mean, listen. I hope that I can learn something from her as well, but I don't have all the answers, and we want to support him in any way that we can. Thankfully, financially, it's not an issue to to do this for him. Mhmm.
And why not? That's my feeling. Why not? And if he is willing to do it, which he is, then we will plow forward.
Well, you're caught in a really interesting situation because... I mean, I heard what you said. You didn't say it the way I'm gonna say it, but he wasn't diagnosed at a time where you could take your time, learn, pass that information to him in a point in his life where he didn't really have any opinions. Like... Right?
Like... Yeah. Because, I mean, you tell a six year old to do something. Like, oh, the lady says to do it. She must be right.
She's taller than me. She's here every day. You you know what I mean? Like, so I
Right.
Yeah. You don't... You you you lose out on that part of it. And he probably... I mean, man, can you imagine?
Like, you get off to college and, like, suddenly, you're on your own schedule and you don't... Like, you you live through the first week and you think, see, I didn't need those people. This is awesome. And and then you just believe. And it's good too.
You believe in yourself. You wanna get out and see the world and everything. It's just a bad time to be learning how to take care of type one at the same time.
Symptoms Since Thanksgiving13:43
Yes. Yeah. And, you know, when we look back, he probably was having symptoms of his diabetes as early as probably Thanksgiving, but we didn't know what we didn't know. Right? And so there was always...
We could always think of another reason why he was having the symptom that he was having. And then it'll go away, and then there would be something else. But there was always... We could always find an excuse for what was happening
Of course.
Until we couldn't anymore.
Any any other diabetes or autoimmune in the family?
Autoimmune on Her Side14:17
So, yes, I have multiple autoimmune conditions. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and I have a disease called anti phospholipid syndrome. And I also have thyroid disease, all of which are autoimmune in nature. My husband does not have any autoimmune conditions. My daughter is following down a similar path as I am.
She's got thyroid disease, or she's got markers to indicate that she's on the path to Hashimoto's, which is what I have. And Henry does not have any other autoimmune conditions at this point. We've had him tested for, you know, his thyroid and celiac disease. Mhmm. And thyroid disease runs in the family.
I was gonna say your mom has it? Everyone has
thyroid disease on my side. My mom had thyroid cancer, which is not hereditary, but everyone on my side of the family has thyroid disease.
Well, let me just say
Some people on my husband's side, but he does not.
Oh, there's some on your husband's side too? Yeah. Yeah. His last name is kinda Nordic, right, ish? Is that his background?
Where... Where's his background from? No. Where's his background?
No. Eastern European.
Okay. I hope Costco is is listening. Please, like, let's start carrying the the thyroid medication in big, like, you know, thousand pill jugs for for the family here. Really, Stacey. I mean, why aren't you allowed to buy in bulk?
You know what I mean?
Oh my gosh. If you saw my medication list and what I spend at CVS... But, you know, that's a whole another story.
They're like, here she comes. We're gonna be able to afford to get the landscaping redone this month. This is great. And kidding. Hey.
I was in Costco the other day, and I just want you to know Costco. If I move out of this area, it's gonna be partly because of the experience I had at Costco the other day. I'm starting... I'm making a grievance list against the town I live in until it's enough for me to leave.
Where... I... Well, I don't know if you wanna say this out loud. Where are you from? Where you live?
Well, I'm in New Jersey right now.
Oh, okay. My
experience in Costco just two days ago made me consider walking into traffic with my eyes closed. So I'm I'm thinking of moving. I want to... I... I'd like to, Stacey, wake up in the morning and walk out a door and see a tree and nothing else for a couple of years and see how that makes me feel.
And then
We have a lot of that here in Michigan.
I know, but I've heard stories. You're not too Northern, are you?
We are on the Eastern side, like, suburbs of Detroit.
Okay.
And then, we also enjoy spending time on the Western side of the state closer to Chicago on Lake Michigan.
Very nice.
And Northern Michigan is beautiful, but we tend to go west instead of north to spend our summers.
I've known a couple of people from up north in Michigan, and they don't tell great stories all the time. So Oh. I don't know what I don't know. I've never been there. And by the way, I'm not going.
It sounds cold, and I won't be going.
It's all Summers are beautiful. Summers are worth a trip. Whether you go north or whether you enjoy Lake Michigan on the Western Side, summers are really wonderful here. Alright. It feels like Winters winters can be rough.
Yeah. Yeah. When the people in Montana tell you about the six nice days they have in the summertime, they're like, oh, you should come between July 6 and the ninth. It's awesome.
No. We have really beautiful spring, summer, fall. Not gonna lie.
Yeah. Listen. I I... The winter's gonna
be rough.
I don't understand anybody whose life goal isn't to be wealthy enough to move from, like, good weather location to good weather location throughout the year. I know. I will never I will never have that kind of money, but it is my absolute life. Like, people say, what would you do if you won the lottery? I'd I'd I'd probably pick about four or five locations, and I would just move between them.
As soon as I felt the weather move, I'd be like, oh, we're off to the next house, and I would just leave.
Yeah. You sound like my husband.
Oh my goodness. It would be awesome. Alright. So this kid, he's, he's diagnosed. You guys have all the autoimmune issues.
Yeah. You have any, more rare ones? Is there vitiligo? No. No.
Everybody in the family have, like, eczema or bad allergies or anything like that?
My husband has allergies.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay.
My son... Actually, my son has a little bit of eczema.
A little bit of eczema.
Think of it.
Gotcha. Gotcha. Now this is an autoimmune, but I love this question in this situation. Any bipolar people in the extended family? No.
No. Good for you. Okay. Alright. I'm good.
So he's diagnosed. It's a little rough patch. You get him through it. Did they give him technology? If so, what kind?
Pens, Then Omnipod 5 and G719:14
Yes. So first, about two months, he was just using his insulin, pens, NovoLog, and Tresiba. Mhmm. And then we pushed pretty quickly, but I think it was a given given his age and, you know, going back to college that we get the pump going for him so that he had time to get familiar with it before he left. So he got the Omnipod 5 over that summer
Okay.
And the Dexcom G7 at that point, but it was the ten day.
Mhmm.
And he is now up to the fifteen day recently. Yeah. And that's what he continues to use.
Okay. And so he's Omnipod 5 in automation with G7 fifteen day?
Correct.
And how in... What's an interesting question? So he starts with an automated pump right away. What Mhmm. When...
Did Automation Change What He Needs to Know?20:10
But you're listening to the podcast. What does he know that what doesn't he know that he would have had to know if he was on a manual pump, but the idea of automation is taking care of it for him? Do you see what I'm saying? Like, it... Like, has it...
Has the pumping AID lessened his need for knowledge or just different knowledge?
I think maybe different knowledge.
Mhmm.
Or maybe both. You know, I I I know that a lot of people talk about using the pens for a longer period of time. You know, some people upwards of a year to really learn and educate and get to know their bodies. For us, I felt like we wanted to make it as easy for him as possible going back to college, and we felt like the pump could do that for him.
Mhmm.
And I think it has, for sure. I I think it's a game changer, the pump. But maybe it took some of what he would have learned otherwise out of the equation.
Okay. Do you think that's harmful to him at all, do you think he's fine?
Oh, I think he's fine.
Yeah. Listen. I find, Stacey, and this is important, that people will tell you the thing they did, and they will tell you that that's the right way. And I don't mean about pumping or MDI. I mean life.
Whatever the person did, if they didn't die at the end, they think it was awesome. So they tell her... That's... It it describes why people come on here and say, like, oh my god. My doctor's awesome.
And then you talk to him for thirty minutes. Like, your doctor sounds horrible. They go, well, yeah, but he's so nice. I go, okay.
Right. It's
pretty easy to impress people is what I'm saying. So I don't much... I I understand anybody who says to me, like, oh, you should use, you know, injections for a long time and really just a meter, and you'll really understand things, and they're not wrong. And people also aren't wrong. They say, like, I got right on AID system with the CGM, and you know what?
My a one c's... I mean, what's your kid's a one c? Six five?
From 12.6 to 5.622:14
So he... When he was diagnosed, it was twelve point six.
Sure. Yeah.
I knew you were gonna ask me these questions. So he was twelve point six when he was diagnosed. That was on the 03/31/2025. That December, he was down to five point six.
Oh my goodness. Like, is he... What's he eat? Crackers with dust on it, or does he have, like, what's his what's his meal?
He keeps pretty strict diet, which I definitely want to talk to you about. At his last appointment, his a one c was 5.8, and that was at the beginning of the summer when he came home from school.
Oh, okay.
Not Wanting Too Much Insulin22:57
So he... So it's this interesting thing. You know, he's a boy, and he's hungry. And he's really hungry. And he's got this thing in his head that it must be a number that he sort of has set for himself.
He doesn't... I think there's that fear of insulin a little bit. Like, he doesn't wanna take too much insulin for a meal. You know, like at Thanksgiving, I was like, it's Thanksgiving. Use your insulin.
That's what it's there for. But I think sometimes he doesn't wanna take too much insulin and not have enough food in him to keep him satisfied. So he's really... Does that make sense? So he's really...
So is he eating like a lower carb like a lower
carb diet?
And was that thing I'm sorry. Was that a thing he did before he was diagnosed?
No. No. No. No. Let me take Not at all.
Let me take a left turn here. It's gonna feel like a left turn. It's definitely not. Which one of the engineering and or math majors is he in?
He is is not in in any of that. He is... No. Yeah. He's not
What... What's his major?
Math major. So he's somewhat undecided right now. He's... He goes to the University of Michigan, and they have a program called BGS, bachelor of general studies, which is what my husband did there, and that's what he's doing. He's got interests that are sort of all over the board, and he hasn't narrowed it down to exactly what he's interested in.
But it is not engineering, and it is not mathematics.
He's not a
He's very into history. Very into history.
Athletic kid?
He's into the law. Law? I mean, average. But
Yeah. But not not like a big jockey kid or something like that.
No. Mhmm.
So he's not spectrum y. He's not jockey. And he went to the... Like, he went right to the, I'm gonna do low carb, try to use... Did he have any lows that scared him?
Where do you think he got the idea from? It's working for him, obviously. But, like, you know
He he really... We haven't had a single concerning lows situation. Not one. Where
did he get the idea from? That... Did it come up on his own?
I don't know. I think that he just almost like, he doesn't eat ice cream. He doesn't eat pizza. He doesn't eat regular pasta anymore. Mhmm.
I think he... To him, it's not worth it if it's not going to satisfy him.
So he wants
big full hunger.
Big full meals he wants.
He wants a... Right. He wants a big full meal, and he wants to feel satisfied, but he wants that big full meal to not be... You know, not require, you know, 70 of insulin. Like, he wants...
I might be saying that wrong. But do you know what I mean? Like, he
wants No. I understand. I'm wondering where you got the idea from, though. From a doctor?
It it may have come from the dietitian that he was initially paired with. I don't think anybody really ever said to him, you can't eat ice cream. You can't eat pizza. Use your insulin... Or don't use your insulin.
I don't think anybody ever said that to him. I just think he's hungry. He wants to feel satisfied. He he doesn't want... You know, he wants to take care of himself.
Like I said earlier, you know,
I think it sounds I think it sounds good. Exciting that a kid his age was like, hey. I'm just gonna... Like, he... So he's not eating super low carb.
He's just eating, like, very specifically? Like... Or or do you know how many
Weighing Everything26:51
He definitely is eating super super low carb. He he checks carb content, fiber content, protein content of everything he eats. Mhmm. We have found an absolutely amazing low carb pasta that you absolutely would not know the difference, and it's not chickpea pasta or inedible pasta. I've made it for other people.
They have absolutely no idea it's low carb. But he measures things. He's got a scale, and he takes it very seriously. Problem with that is...
Go ahead. Yeah. What's the problem?
Eating Out Is Hard27:30
Well, when you take it seriously at home and you're cooking for yourself and mom is doing a lot of food prep for you, and then you wanna go out and eat, it's hard. Eating out is hard. And he has not mastered that eating out part and bolusing correctly for eating out. And then we end up, you know. Okay.
So he doesn't...... Swing in the other direction.
Okay. So he he eats the way he eats when it's possible for him to eat that way. And when it's not possible for him to eat that way, he doesn't seem to know how to manage that meal. Is that right?
Correct. And to a certain degree, yeah. He has found, quote, unquote, fast food that he does well with, like eat a cafe or Chipotle, some of some of those that he does well with. Mhmm. And then, you know, the couple of times he's gone to have a slice of pizza just hasn't gone great, or he won't, you know, take into account a sauce, and then his Yeah.
Sugar goes up.
Right.
Right. Now he has done a really, really good job at... Even if there is a jump after a meal, he's done a really good job of, you know, managing that and not going too high. But since he's got back to school this year, I think he's hit a little bit of a rough patch, and that was what brought us to the conversation about him meeting with Jenny Smith because he has been going out a little bit more to eat. Yeah.
Almost 30029:12
It's social. It's college. He wants to be with his friends. And we had what I would consider scary. I know it really wasn't scary, but I just hate to see it.
A blood sugar that went to almost 300 a couple of weeks ago. And I don't think that that's happened since he was diagnosed. And that happened in the two hundreds a couple of times over a two, three week period of time, and I just said, you know, Henry, I think that we need to kinda recalibrate because what you're doing is not working. Yeah. And every time that happens, you know, you're impacting your long term health.
So we need to kind of recalibrate. And that's... Like I said, when we had the conversation about Jenny and he agreed and
Well, the the fact that he agrees means he under... He knows what's going on. I think that's
Yes.
Really great. Also, I wonder if... I mean, I don't know. Do you think he was honeymooning in the first year, or do you really... Or is it just this ultra low carb meat diet was keeping his blood sugars down and stable?
And
then Well
Go ahead.
Still Honeymooning?30:29
His doctor definitely thinks that he's still honeymooning or did at least through May when he came home from college and he had his appointment with him based on how, you know, great his numbers were doing, his doctor was like, oh, you're definitely still honeymooning. Is he still? I... You know, it's only a couple months later. I I know it can change.
So I I would venture to say there probably are some changes for sure. I think he just takes it seriously and as a result eats low carb.
And on...
So that...
Let me make sure I understand. On top of that then, now college is picking up. He's settling in more. He's doing more things that involve the foods that he's not very good at covering. And Correct.
Hammer and Hank31:14
Right. So what we need to do is we need to take O'Henry and transfer him into Hammer and Hank. That's what we need to do. We need to teach him how to, like, smack those carbs down a little bit. Right?
Also, we should probably call your episode Hammer and Hank. That's a completely different thing.
No, Hank. My husband always said he's Henry.
Oh, tell Hank. Tell Hank... Tell your husband to get his own damn podcast. Okay? That's...
No. No. No. So, mean, I think I see what's happening here, but I think I think very encouragingly, he sees it because he was immediately, like, open to, like, getting help. So it's
not What...
You know what I mean? It's not that he's ignoring it. I just... He probably just doesn't have the tools to deal with it.
Correct.
Yeah.
Correct.
Yeah. It's awesome.
Her Dad Spotted It32:02
Because, you know, he does sometimes think he knows enough, and I keep trying to say, you're doing great. I don't want you to think I don't think you're doing great. I just think you have so much more to learn. And when we had this evening of almost 300, my father is a doctor too, which is great, and he has been a great source for Henry. Henry goes to him a lot with questions.
And he was actually the one who said to my husband and I, I think Henry has diabetes, and he needs to get to the health clinic.
What kind of physician is your father?
Internal medicine. Mhmm.
Okay.
General practice. Yeah. And, you know, he's not an endocrinologist, but he knows enough to say this is what I think we're headed.
Playing on Beginner32:57
I can figure it out. I make a podcast, so it's not that hard to figure out. You know, I'm gonna say something that potentially could make low carb eaters upset. Please, low carb eaters, hear me. I am not trying to make you upset.
This is not a pejorative. But a young guy his age diagnosed maybe some honeymooning going on, eating very, very low carbs, it would be very easy to think, oh, I got this. This is easy. And and to not realize that you're, you know, you're playing the game on maybe beginner. And and then suddenly, like, his insulin needs go up and, you know, then they don't just go up, but now he's at...
You know, some of these schools, the cafeterias are terrible. You know? High fat meals, lot of sodium, like, you know, a lot of crappy food, a lot of pasta, like that. Anything cheap they can make to keep as much money as that you're... As much of your money as they can and and stop from having to pay it out to the kids for the food.
Astonishing number of kids come home from college having gained odd amounts of weight, I think, sometimes. You know, it's gotta be the the food's gotta be something to do with it. But anyway
A 100%.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, anyway, like, having low insulin needs, maybe honeymooning, keeping your carbs way down, I can see where an 18 or 19 year old person who's newly diagnosed could think, wow. I'm so good at this.
Like... And then you come along and you're like, well, what about this? Like, you don't know what you're talking about. I've been killing this for a year. You you know what I mean?
Yeah. But
I've got this. That's what he likes. I've got this, mom. I've got this.
I've got it. Okay. I've got it. Yep. Every parent, probably every spouse listening to this podcast right now has a phone full of texts that say, I'm fine or I got it or
Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
Meal Prep From Afar34:47
You know, he... We are a close family. Him and I are very close. We have a great relationship. He is so appreciative and thankful of all I do for him.
I mean, he really he really is. I do a ton of meal prep, a ton of shopping. Just... It's what I can do for him. Right?
Like, I... He's away, so I can't necessarily run to CVS for him in the morning if he needs something. But when he comes home, I can have stuff ready for him. I can send him back to school with meal prep. He's definitely doing a lot more cooking himself.
But he's a college student. Right? And they only have so many hours in the day. If I can stock his refrigerator, stock his freezer, I am more than happy to do it. And he's
Stacey, I feel bad. I have to tell you. I feel bad for you. How old is your daughter?
My daughter will be 22 in December.
So your daughter's finishing college right now?
My daughter graduated last year, and she lives and works in Vermont.
Oh, your daughter finished college, abandoned you, and then your son got diabetes, and he's at at Michigan.
Abandoned me five years ago when she when she went to college in Vermont.
Kid. Ungrateful. And you're... No. I'm I'm being I'm being joking, and I'm serious at the same time.
Like, your kids are... This is a transition time for you as well. And then Yeah. And then this happens in the middle of it. Like, you're you're thrilled to make these meal preps for him.
I know. I got a wife. Oh, I got a... There's a lady in my house. It it was like the kids.
The kids. I'm like, I know I see them. They're they're gonna go, and I'm like, I I know. I know. Yeah.
Yeah. Like, oh, no. She'll... She... That...
The girl downstairs would drive a sandwich halfway across the country if my son was like, I need a sandwich, and I'm not anywhere.
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Drop everything. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. But but it's cool that he appreciates it. I mean, listen. You're in a...
You're in an interesting situation right now because a lot of how you manage the next couple of years is gonna have a lot to do with the relationship you have with him moving forward and the relationship he has with his diabetes. It's a it's a pivotal moment for you. Yes. Yeah. And that...
But you know it.
No Control37:00
I can tell. Yeah. And in all of that, I'm just trying to support him, but also find my role in all of this because I definitely like to have control over things. And I feel such a lack of control, and it's really unnerving and scary because I I read, I'm trying to educate myself, I listen, and I and I hear the things that can happen, like, you know, with these severe lows and seizures. And I just think to myself, oh my gosh.
What if it... You know, it will probably happen at some point. What if I'm not there? I'm probably not going to be there. Like, I...
And his his roommates follow his... Or his roommates last year followed his numbers, and we always have one person, you know, that is in case of an emergency. But it's a lot, and I'm just sitting here nervous and scared
Of course.
For him and for us, and it's it's a lot.
You'd be nervous and scared if he didn't have diabetes. Correct. Yeah. And now this. I know.
It's not fair.
Yeah. It's it's dealing, you know, or caring for somebody with a chronic, you know, life threatening illness is Mhmm. A lot to to have.
I always say life would be so much easier without people that you care about, but then what would it be? So Right. And here we are stuck. Right? Because, I mean Yeah.
I mean, you know I'm gonna
walk out. Shoulder.
I am gonna walk outside and stare at that tree, then one day I'm gonna be like, oh, where are all the people?
Right. Exactly.
Why'd I buy a house in the middle of the woods? What am I doing? So... But Right.
Well So what's the answer?
Yo. Stacey, what's the answer? Like, I mean, you... It's obviously a long journey. You're just at the very beginning of it.
I think you took a nice step with trying to get him with somebody who could give him good information that's not you. I think that's a perfect idea. And... But, like, how do you see the next couple of years? Forget how do you see them going.
How how would you like them to go? What do you think sets him up for success?
Well, I think he needs to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life and get a job. That would help him with his personal success.
Oh, Stacey, you don't like that major. No.
Studying Abroad39:31
I do. He is going to figure it out, and he will be successful whatever he does. But, you know, for him to... Whether it's off to grad school or law school or whatever is in his future, which actually brings me to another point, which is traveling abroad. And he he had always talked about the possibility of traveling abroad and was slapped with this diagnosis, and I think got a little nervous about being gone for an entire semester with diabetes.
And I get it. And this is still so new that if he's not ready to go abroad for a couple of months, then I'm not gonna be the one to push him. But I started doing some research to see if there were any opportunities for, shorter periods away, and Michigan actually provides a spring and or summer program for either four or eight weeks abroad, which he is starting to look into. So my hope for him is that he will not let the diabetes, cause him to not have these special opportunities in his life. Like, I want him to know that there's nothing that he can't do just because he has diabetes, and there's a way to figure it out.
I gotta pivot back to something you said a second ago. So I asked, like, what makes a path forward? And you were like, well, he should get a job. He needs to get a job. And so I'm gonna ask you, have you ever considered mixing one of those little blue pills in with your other pills to calm your ass down a little bit.
And...
I already did that.
Oh, okay. Alright.
I already did that. So I was... Yeah. It's just part of what, you know, I see for him for his future.
No. No. No. No. I'm teasing you
a bit, but anxiety...... Out day one.
I... I'm also smelling anxiety on you. Yes?
Yeah. Probably a little bit.
Probably a little bit? I gotcha. Yeah. Is that is that, familial too? Mom, grandmom, everybody?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I gotcha. Okay. Not the husband, though?
No. No. No. Nothing fazes him.
Yeah. That's why we usually pick like this. You know what I mean? Like, you're always like, I need somebody to balance this out. Let me find a...
And then I'll complain to him for the rest of his life he's not taking any of this seriously enough. Exactly. I'm not speaking from personal experience at all. I just wanna say No. It's just a thing.
I'm just I'm just guessing. Yeah. When she talks to other people, she's like, oh, Scott's so calm. He just gets things done. Like, she just came back from a work trip.
She's like, oh, I talked about you a lot in a meeting and, like, how well you run your your business stuff and and how fluid you are. She's like, we brought this person in. They they brought a speaker in to explain to them. Kelly's like... She's like, they brought a speaker in to explain to us how to basically...
And as he was talking, I thought, oh my god. He's just explaining how Scott runs the podcast. And and, like, you know, just kind of going with it and being
Was she lifting you up?
She did there, but then she got right home and started telling me what was wrong with with me again. Was like,
I was job.
I said, you've been fixing me for thirty years. For... I must be fixed by now. No? Is it not over yet?
I feel I feel okay.
You sound just like my husband. Husband.
Leave Him Alone, or Pay Attention?42:59
My point is is that, like, I think I think that if I... I'm trying to put myself in the cars and the headphones of adults listening right who have type one diabetes who are probably screaming at you. Leave him alone. He's going to be okay. Because of how you've described him as a person and the steps that he's taken already.
And Yeah. I can also feel myself and other people in this conversation saying, like, yeah. Well, somebody's gotta pay attention to this. It's very serious. We don't even know what we're doing yet.
He could easily veer off onto a path he never comes back from. And and that's not... It's it's not beyond the realm of possibility, but I think in the situation you're describing, that's a much less likely scenario than that this is going to go fairly well. It's just gonna take time.
I would agree.
Okay. Good. Good. I hope that brings you some comfort.
Oh, it does. It does. And we just want to be here to support him in the best way that we can. And I think we are doing that. I think he thinks that we're doing that, and we have a great open line of communication, which is wonderful.
Is He Burned Out?44:14
Well, you're catching me on the right day. I just listened to a long interview with Rick Rubin yesterday. I'm feeling very hippy dippy today about the world. So I think that's good. I think look inside, you know, see how you feel, see how he feels.
Don't put too much of your thing onto him, but don't completely back away from him and let him just take it on his own because he will... I mean, he's a kid. At some point, he's just gonna be like, or he's gonna burn out or something like that. Did you hint a minute ago that he might be a little burned out right now or no? You did.
Yeah.
So the night that he had his almost 300 number, he called me from school, and he was he was quite upset. You know? And I think you start to spiral. Right? Like, one thing led to another thing that led to another thing, and he just was feeling very overwhelmed.
He had a lot to do at school, but his number, you know, was high. And he was little brain fog, and he couldn't concentrate. And he's tired of this, and he doesn't wanna do this anymore. And it's... I don't wanna cook for myself.
I just wanna go out, and I wanna eat, and I wanna be with my friends. And I hate this disease and, you know, all of it. And I I listened, and I I talked to him about the appointment with Jenny Smith, and I talked to him about sort of recalibrating. And, you know, by the time we got off the phone, he was definitely in a better place. He was calm.
He just wanted to get back to his apartment. And, you know, he texted me about an hour later. You know? Thanks, mom, so much for talking to me. I appreciate it.
I'm feeling a lot better now. And, you know, he called me in the morning, and, you you know, you just you have to... And I was... To him, like, Henry, don't be so hard on yourself. Like, give yourself some grace.
It's okay for these mistakes to happen or for these situations to happen, and then we figure out what we did wrong, and we restart. And just give yourself some grace. So you seem to, you know, through all of that, feel a little bit better.
Anybody who has kids at college or people move out, like, you're gonna have conversations like that about a number of different things. That's scary, though. Yeah. I mean, listen. Was he so spiraling?
Like, by the end of the conversation, he was like, I'm just... I'm very worried about this war in Iran. Like, did he, like, was he, like, really? No. He didn't get that far?
No. So he he kept it within his control, the things he was worried about? Yeah. Yeah. He did.
I... I've talked to kids who, like, at the end of those conversations, they start existentially speaking to you about, like, hunger, and I'm like, hey. Wait. Hold on. Let's focus on your thing because, that that might be too big for this conversation.
We we were only focused on him.
On him. It's a great... Listen. I'm... You must have been thrilled that he called you.
Right? And that he and that he Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No.
Seal Training for Life47:14
It's great. Absolutely. Listen. This is... Can I can I say?
This is not gonna be easy. Like like, for for any of you listening who are thinking like, oh, I wanna take the easy path through this. There's a... There's the path, and there's a slightly easier path. There's not like a none of this touches me, and it's like it doesn't exist path.
That's that's not gonna happen. You you know? So, like, you're going to have conversations and struggles and moments of real, like... I mean, I would say question of your ability to get through. Like, it...
It's not easy. You you know, like, this... Diabetes is, you know, it's it's seal training for life. You're you're gonna you're gonna... They're gonna put you in the freezing water and make you bob up and down for twenty four hours and see if you don't quit.
You you know? And then... And if if if if seal training tells you nothing, it should tell you this. It's horrible, but if you don't quit at the end, you're, you win. So you just gotta get...
You gotta just stay in it is the way I think of it. Like, right, like, it... Sometimes it's terrible. Sometimes it's comical. Sometimes it's sad, and you just gotta get up and go again.
Somebody just asked me online last night. They said, I have really terrible diabetes day. What would you do in this situation? I said, I'd get stable. I'd go to bed, and I'd wake up tomorrow and try again.
Yeah. It just start over. You know? There's a lot there's a lot of that that's gonna go on.
Remembering Life Without It48:43
Think for Henry too, being diagnosed at 19, he remembers what it was like not having diabetes. Yeah. Was last year.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was... That is really hard on him. I mean, he says all the time that sometimes he wishes that he just always had it so that he wouldn't know what it was like to not have it. And he understands intuitively there are a lot of positives to the fact that you didn't have it for the first nineteen years of your life, but I get it. I get where that feeling comes from.
And the same thing comes that feeling when people bring up a cure, And it... And, know, that there's a lot of hope out there, and things are really starting to move, and you'll likely see a cure in your lifetime. And he's like, that's all great. I don't wanna hear about it.
Stop Pushing Cure49:35
Yeah. Don't get me start... Don't please don't get me start
on don't
get me start on that, but do listen to listen to what what she just said, please, because I'm I'm gonna try really hard not to go down a rabbit hole in this, but I am just really beside myself upset with these diabetes influencers who are leaning so hard into pushing cure in all of their content right now. Like, stop saying this out loud every... I know you need your clicks and you wanna get your brand deals and everything, but just stop. I mean, like, this kid's at school. He's trying to live.
He doesn't need to open up his Instagram every five seconds, and here you're being like, oh, the Eledon trial. This is happening in Chicago. There's nine people that don't... He's trying to get through his life, and that trial is nowhere near helping that kid. Like, Lee...
Like, it... It's... Highlight it once in a while. It's okay. Do an update.
It doesn't have to be every third day because you see your clicks go down. That... That's enough. Okay. I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Well, we... We've been invited, my husband and I, now to hear a few different doctors and educators talk about, you know, where where the research is going and and where they are in terms of medication and drugs and cure and all of that. And, you know, and it's interesting to listen to, and we've learned a lot. But I absolutely respect where he's coming from and that when the cure is here and you can afford it, let me know. Otherwise, I don't wanna talk about it.
He doesn't wanna live every day thinking, I only have to do this one more day or I only have to do this for five more weeks or I only have to do this for five more years. Just let me know when it's here, and until then, I know what
to talk about. When to show up, and until then, don't... I don't wanna hear about it. Good. I'm...
Listen. In my hearty's Hank. I love this attitude. This is fantastic. Also, these things you've been invited to, do they try to get you to buy a condo at the end or just make a donation?
No. They do have Okay. Alright. Like that. Nothing like that.
How would you like a timeshare?
Right. Yeah. It's been really nice to be included in some of these things. Again, it's a way for my husband and I to learn. Yeah.
And it's been, you know, through the Breakthrough T1D organization locally, which I
I figured that out when you were talking. Yeah.
So Volunteering.
Yeah. That's awesome. Listen. I I I I genuinely mean this. This this...
Everything that's happening is very is very exciting. It... It's it's... I'm incredibly heartened by it going on. I wanna see it go fast forward a million miles an hour.
I'm just saying that in the interim, there's a lot of damage you do to people by giving them the idea that it's almost over when it is clearly not not almost over.
False hope.
Yeah. Yeah. That's not a... That's Rough. Just find your clicks a different way.
Like, it's it's really... It's disgusting. Stop is what I'm saying. You you know what I mean? No one's gonna listen to me because social media and the people who make a living from it are...
It's, you know... Trust me. Some of them are listening right now. You hear me. Like, just find a different way.
Give up. Like, stop doing this to Henry. Okay?
I need another conversation.
Yeah. And every... Well, they can't because nothing else sells like it does.
Right.
They just doesn't. Nothing else sells like it does. I saw this great video this girl made today. It's got nothing to do with diabetes, but she's clearly an influencer. She said top 10 things I do in my videos to make you enraged so that you'll listen.
And then she gives away all the secrets about what she does in the videos that piss people off and keep them watching or scare them or whatever. And trust me, there are people in the diabetes community using that playbook to keep you in their content. I'm watching it happen all over the place. And so I just... I mean, I'm not gonna stop it, but I'm also not gonna not say anything about it.
So I've been at this a long time. I think I bought... I think I I bought myself a little bit of
You've earned the right.
Ability to speak out for half a second. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Just Look at that.
Yeah. Try to help people. It might be a way to go.
Yeah.
Anyway, what else... What have you Two
Episodes She Loved53:40
of my two... Well, two of my favorite podcasts of yours that I've listened to were Bella, the MSU student. I think you did a podcast with her that was, like, two and a half hours.
Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. She and I are gonna start our own podcast together one day. It's gonna be called creepy old man and Bella, I think.
Yeah. Yeah. I... Seriously, I I listened to the whole thing, and I loved it because she reminded me so much of Henry.
Yes. Yeah. She was
She really real... I'm like, I want these two to me. And he doesn't have that, like, diabetes support system, really. I mean, he might know, you know, one or two people with diabetes, but he got it at a time where he didn't meet people throughout, you know, diabetes camp or whatever. And so he went off to college, and he just doesn't have that support system of other people going through what he's going through, and I wish that he did.
Diabetes link at U of M isn't super...
Hopping?
Hopping. Yep. Mhmm. So he hasn't been able to do it that way, and and he's busy. And and one thing he loves to tell me is that he doesn't want diabetes to define him.
His friends don't need to have diabetes. He doesn't want diabetes to define him. Yeah. And I just... Bella, I really enjoyed listening to.
And Addie Taylor.
Oh, wasn't Addie great?
Look. Was great. Yeah. Yeah. And I actually found her Instagram page, and I sent it to Henry.
I'm like, you should you should follow Adi. I think you get a lot of really great things from her. And he's like, okay. Great. And he's he's on Instagram.
That's how he... He doesn't really listen to podcasts. I've tried to get him to listen to your podcast, but, you know, I I don't have time for that. But he gets on to Instagram, and he follows reels, and he's always sending me recipes. And and that's how he gets his information.
Small Sips on the Walk to Class55:48
Well, listen. Tell him... I mean, hit him with a Small Sips series. They're, like, ten minutes long. He could listen to them while he's walking to class.
He's on that giant campus.
Yep. Yeah. I've tried. I've tried. He said if you listen to a podcast that you think is really, really, really great and I get something out of it, send it to me.
Otherwise, I'm not listening to podcasts.
Hank, no more. Now it's Henry again, just so you know. Fine. Now he's hurt my feelings.
Yeah. You know, sometimes he just needs the... It's like the pump placement. Sometimes he just needs... Or Dexcom placement.
He needs to let things marinate for a little while. You know what I mean? He's gotta warm up. He's gotta warm up to the idea before he, you know, is all in.
I hear it. Like, I'm not... Listen. He's young, and I'm old, and it's... And and they they watch stuff at six seconds at a time now.
Right. Exactly.
Yeah. But having said that, like, the Small Sips are really the Pro Tip series boiled down into tiny little bits. And it is it is incredibly consumable. I mean, it's very... It...
It's not long. He could throw it into a podcast app, put it into a playlist, and it might take him a week of walking around on campus to listen to these ten minute episodes. And he would he would derive a ton of information out of him about how to manage his insulin better.
Yes.
Yeah. Listen. If he wants to be hardheaded, that's fine. But I think... I mean, list...
I can't... You know, you heard me talk about it with Adi. I don't know how to make the content any shorter than that.
No. I think you're doing a great job. I've listened to them.
Yeah. I mean I mean, the only thing I can do is make a TikTok where a face comes up and screams pre bolus, and then it goes off. I I don't...
I
mean, maybe that's the thing to do.
No. Listen. He pre boluses. He's really, really good at that. You know?
He does a lot of what you say to do, 100%, and he's just still learning. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Hey. Listen. Very new diagnosis. I think... Honestly, if I can be clear, it sounds to me like you guys are doing fantastic.
I do think that we are doing, all things considered, really well. I think he's doing amazing. I just want more for him, more in the sense of anything that can help him, anything that can support him.
Of course,
he'll do.
Yeah. But he'll get
to it. And even if you only take a few... Get a few good takeaways, it's five more than you had when you started.
He'll get to it. I've... It sounds to me like he'll get to it. I mean, he really does.
I think he will. Yeah. I think he will. He's doing really well.
And you know not to be too, like, up his ass. Right? Because it sounds like you you didn't figure it out with your husband. So I was wondering if you figured that with him.
Oh, you know, they both tell me when, You know, stop, mom.
It's enough. It's enough. But...
The Juice Box Emoji58:42
Yeah. I started sending him, and I I heard this on a Breakthrough T1D podcast about instead of sending a text, if, you know, you see a down arrow or Or if you if you can't give yourself the time to, you know, let it cycle that four or five minutes and see where the arrow is going, you know, just send a little picture of a juice box. But what I will say about Henry is that he's always been really good about texting me right back. If, you know, if I text him and say, are you okay? Whether it's are you okay or is it a little juice box emoji, he always responds.
Yes. I'm finger pricking. I'm good. I feel good. And, you know, we talked about that before he left back for college that you're away.
You're not upstairs where I can just go upstairs and say, doing alright? So just give us that grace and that we just wanna know you're okay. And he's been great
Suggestions She Didn't Ask For59:42
with make a couple of small suggestions? Are you open to a couple of small suggestions that you didn't ask for?
Absolutely.
Okay. Top of my head, stop using the word disease so much.
Okay.
That's one. Ask him how you can be supportive of him instead of telling him what you think he needs to know. Because when he asks you in return, then you can tell him what you need to know. And then instead of it being a thing you're telling him, it's a thing he's asking you for.
Okay.
Simple psychology, really, right there on that one. Yeah. Right. Like, so language, you know you know, you made a mistake. It's okay.
No. The... It not... You made a mistake. It's...
This bolus didn't go the way we were hoping. You know what I mean? I think what we could do next time might be to look at this. Let's try that and see how that works out. Leave things a little open ended sometimes and not so definitive, like, they need to have an answer, and he needs to be the one to come up with it.
So you just look for ways to, like, take the pressure off of him, but to always show him without telling him that you're there. So you can show him you're there without telling him you're there. That's a big difference. Language around diabetes, big difference. You know?
Numbers high, low, stuff like that. It's more about, like, you know, just finding ways to talk around that where you're not saying, oh, your blood sugar got really high. Why is your blood sugar so high? Oh my god. We've never seen a 300 before.
You know, you could say, well, this is new. I wonder what happened. Do you have any... You know, I I don't have any idea. I bet you will figure it out next time.
You know? Like, what... You know, we should make a plan to have pizza again next week and see, you know, see what we could do differently. Like, it's probably not gonna go great every time, but I bet you slowly will figure it out. Like, always kinda be hopeful, forward thinking, not asking him to come up with answers because he doesn't have any answers.
He has no idea what's going on. He's 19. He he doesn't understand anything. Like like... So, I mean, you know, Henry, if you ever hear this, you're probably a fantastic 19 year old.
But when you're 40, you look back on you being 19 and go, oh my god. I can't believe I didn't get hit by a car. So, you know, like, I I really didn't know what I was doing. But you don't have to make him feel that way. He can feel empowered and still be learning at the same time.
Does all that make sense?
Yeah. Absolutely.
That's it. That's it. It's gonna be great. Yeah. And and I like you staying involved.
I mean, if you... The longer you listen to the podcast, the longer you're gonna hear people in their late twenties say, I wish my mom woulda asked me one more time when I was in college even though I told her to leave me alone.
Right.
So to me, when I hear a story of, like, my mom was... My dad was, and I said leave me alone, I just hear that the way their parents came at them was probably a way that made them defensive right away. So instead, find language that opens them up and invites them to be inquisitive instead of that you telling them something went wrong or I know better than you, which isn't what you mean, but it's what they hear.
Okay.
Does that all make sense?
It does. Yeah. It does. And it, you know, it's funny because I... Henry knew that I was coming on this podcast, and we talked about it.
And he even said to me, you know, the other night, he's like, if you have any questions, if you wanna sit down and talk before your podcast, you know, I'm happy to do that with you. Like, he... He's really great, and he is supportive of, you know, everything that I'm doing, and he's very appreciative of
Yeah. No. It sounds
like the ways that I help him. Yeah. And it's Yes. It... It's great.
But, yeah, of course, there are moments where he's like, okay, mom. I got this. You can back off now.
He'd be... I'd be happy to have him on if he'd like to talk about it from his perspective. And, of course, if he doesn't want to, it's a no concern to me. I'm not pressuring him. But I would I would like to leave a message for the people who, a couple of years ago, were like, well, I guess the Juicebox Podcast is over now that his daughter is going to college.
Turns out I learned more stuff. Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
It it... It's... It really is this, like, this transition part here away from child into, like, young adult into adult. There's as much to learn here as there isn't anywhere other part of this diabetes thing or life in general. So
Right. I mean, all of all of the things that they're learning about themselves during this period of time minus having t one d, and then you add this into the loop. It's gonna be a lot.
Yeah. It's a lot. How old are you, by the way? Are you older parents? You must be because your kids are more comfortable around adults.
57.
57? Oh, you're not older. You're about the right space. Okay. Alright.
I didn't know if you were... Like, I don't know how old you are. Like... So I had somebody on here recently. They were like...
You know, their kids were young, and they were in their sixties already. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. So... Alright. Well, you did it then.
You've come on the podcast. You've done a terrific job. That's the first thing. Let me make... You have a list.
I don't like to shortchange anybody with a list. Did we miss anything on your list?
When He's Not Ready1:05:00
I don't know. I just had a bunch of notes written down. I guess one suggestion from you for... What do you what do you say to your kid who might be resistant to trying new things? Like, we talked about how sometimes he needs to let things marinate
Yeah.
When it comes to managing t one d.
Oh, thank god. I thought you were gonna make a suggestion from me. I was like, I don't need this. I'm good.
Thanks. No. No. A suggestion from you too.
When you went when you went one suggestion for you, I went, went, uh-oh. I was like, uh-oh.
One suggestion from you.
I don't have that kind of energy today to hear about all the things I'm doing wrong. No. No. I'm I'm teasing you. A suggestion suggestion about how...
I mean, so when he's resistant to... Oh god. You're gonna hate my suggestion.
Todd, it's Throw it at me.
It's time. Yeah. You are not gonna... You are not... Forget your son.
Forget this situation. You are not gonna make any other human being do something that they are not ready to do. Not not unless you're gonna put them in chains and and and punch them. There's no other way to get people to do what you want them to do. And the more you try...
And, again, I don't know if you've learned this lesson with your husband yet, but the more you try, the more resistant they're going to become. And so nobody wants to be told what to do, but, moreover, I feel like nobody wants to feel like they don't know what to do when they need to be told. Now it doesn't make it untrue that sometimes we need help from other people, but that's where, you know, it's more about the messenger and the message than... You know what I mean? Like, you gotta you gotta deliver it well.
You have to... And you can't do that thing. Some parents try to be slick and, like, slip it into things and, like... And they're not good at it, and then you just look... You look manipulative then.
Yeah. It just makes it worse.
Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, the... Listen. If you're good at it, then you're good at it.
But, like, most people are not good at it. And even when you're good at it, people still say it. You you know, like, Arden had a friend over the other day who's having a problem. The friend left, and she goes, I saw what you did. And I was like, what's that?
And I I brought up a topic that seemed like it wasn't about what it was. She's like, you brought up a topic so you could tell a story so the story would help her. And I was like, yeah. And I said it helped her. And she goes, yeah.
But I saw it. And I was like, she didn't. She goes, I I said she didn't.
She's got your number.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I said she didn't, and she goes, no. She didn't.
You helped her, but you're not getting away with that with me. And I was like, yeah. So so my point is is that, like, if you can do it, it's great. And if you can't do it, it comes off as manipulative. And Right.
You can't make somebody do something they're not ready to do. You have to just... I think I'm gonna say something completely cliched, but I think a lot of parenting is showing up. Right? And try...
And just being there and having someone understand in their heart, in their core that if this gets upside down, that lady and that guy, they're gonna help me. And so then you let people try a thing, and if it goes well, then great. Then you let them try it, and they figured it out. And isn't that a great thing for them? And if you...
If they try it and it it doesn't go well and they feel comfortable coming back to you for support, that's just as good in a different way because eventually you'll get back to success. Anytime you try to manipulate people, it's generally speaking not gonna work. And the only thing that fixes that is time and maturity and everyone making good decisions along that path that support that kind of healthy relationship. And I told you, I listened to a long Rick Rubin interview yesterday. That guy is...
He's he's he's how I feel like everyone would be if they were high, he was like, I don't do drugs. And I was like, what's happening?
Where did you listen to him?
Rick Rubin1:09:08
I listened to Rick Rubin on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
Okay.
Yeah. I, I, that Worth
listening to?
The kid that runs that podcast is... He's... By the way, just called him a kid. He's probably 30. He's well intended and good at it and getting better at it.
And I enjoy watching him get better at interviewing people, and I think that he oftentimes gets people to talk in a way that I find helpful. Rick Rubin, in that, it doesn't need an interviewer, though. I saw... I'm not the takeaway from the interviewer that I watched, but I think you could point a camera at Rick Rubin and say to me... And say to him, hey.
What do you think about life? And three hours later, you'd hear a good conversation. So... Yeah. So...
Yeah. No. I I found it valuable. I I also... It reminded me that it reminded me that my podcast is is...
Could be about anything. Like, I... I've heard some people sniff out, and I don't think other people realize it while they're listening. But we are really just talking about navigating life, And the diabetes part is is the is is the focus because people come on who are living with diabetes. But I think I could I think I could stop calling you all tomorrow and start calling people who have another thing in common, and I don't think the podcast change that much.
So... And that made me happy to think of it that way.
What the Podcast Does for Her1:10:46
So Well, I can tell you that I... Somebody recommended the podcast to me at the early in this year. And I had never heard of it, and I said, okay. Well, I'll check it out. And I have been religiously listening to your podcast ever since, and I have recommended your podcast to numerous people.
And I just... It's just helped me so much in the conversations and the laughter and the education that I've taken away from it. It really makes me smile, and it makes me feel good, and it makes me feel like whatever I'm taking away from it and I can share with my family or other people, then it's been worth it. So I wanna thank you for what you're doing and all of the valuable information that I've received from you.
Thank you very much for saying that. I... You've made my whole day. It's early still, so this is a... This bodes this bodes well
for my Pump you up.
Well, you you were nice to say something kind to me. I will say something kind to Rick Rubin before I leave.
Okay. So
Suno and the Jukebox1:11:58
he was making the point... At some point in the conversation, he was talking about what art is, and they were talking about how, you know, AI is making art now in some places and is that art and back and forth. And he was just very thoughtful about it. And at one point, he said, you know, maybe it'll just end up being a tool to help a person who couldn't otherwise express themselves to express themselves. And it made me revisit a thing I did earlier in the year, which I don't think I've spent very much time telling people about.
But I started off by trying to use... There's a program called Suno that that, like, makes songs, and it's it's completely AI based. Like, the voices and the music, and I I will tell you, it's really hard to discern whether or not it's a real person or not. And what I thought was is that could I make little songs for kids that would help them understand their diabetes better because people ask all the time, is there content I could I could give to younger kids? And I don't really have content for younger kids.
And the the truth be told, I wouldn't know how to make it to begin with. And I thought, but I wonder if we couldn't turn, like, little sixty or ninety second, like, jingles, the kids might help them understand stuff about their diabetes. So I started doing that, and I felt like it was working out really well. And as I was doing that off to the side, I started thinking about what a song really is and how people will often tell me that I am a good storyteller or that my language is kind of maybe melodic the way I talk, and sometimes I talk in pictures and all that. And I thought, oh, I wonder if some of the things I've said in podcasts aren't songs, like, you know, or at the core a song.
And then I thought about it a little bit, and I went and pulled up a bunch of the conversations that I've had with Erika about more, like, social or mental health stuff. And I realized that a lot of those conversations are really the basis for what you would consider to be, like, a thoughtful song and not necessarily about diabetes. And I turned a lot of them into music, and I don't think anybody really listens to it. I've heard from some people who've enjoyed it, but, like, not overwhelmingly. And I was in the car yesterday, I and put on some of those songs.
And I realized that they're, like, they're mostly my story about, like, living... Like, growing up and living... You know, growing up as an adult with a child with type one. And a couple of times, they made me emotional. And I was like, oh, it felt like someone wrote a song about me.
And I realized I did. I just
They did. Yeah. You did.
I just... And and it's... It... Not for nothing, but the way you just described the podcast, I feel like you're saying that it's doing that for you. And Yeah.
It really is touching to hear. Because I, yesterday, thought, oh gosh. I made I made a thing that's just for me, and that felt... I mean, I felt good about it, but it was also... I felt wasteful not to share it with the people.
I'm not gonna lie to you. The rest of my car ride was like, these things are pretty good. I bet you people would like them. I don't know how to talk adults into listening to music that's AI generated. Like, I don't know that people are ready for But but, nevertheless, it's juke...
It's juiceboxpodcast.com/jukebox. And there's some adult Jukebox. Yeah. I think there's some adult songs there that'll... Might resonate with people.
But Check it out.
But one way or the other, Rick Rubin, who produced 99 Problems, so I trust him, he he told me it was okay that I used express myself. And I was like, oh, thanks, Rick. I appreciate it. Yeah. Okay.
So Well, with all of the great news coming out about AI, who knows where we'll be in ten years with that?
Hey. I like to say
That's another podcast.
It's either gonna be... It's all gonna be either incredibly amazing or we're all gonna be dead. But probably just... It'll probably be somewhere in the middle. You know what I mean?
To be perfectly honest, that's that's the way history has gone so far. I really appreciate you doing this with me. I can't thank you enough for spacing out your day so that this works for you and and for taking the time to record this. And, seriously, Henry is absolutely invited to come on the show. He sounds like an interesting person at an interesting point in his life, and I would be interested in hearing his story.
If he's not interested in sharing it, you know, please tell him. I just wish him well.
Well, thank you so much. I will certainly pass that along, and maybe he will consider doing it.
Thank you. I... Are we gonna call this episode Rick Rubin?
I'm gonna let you decide what you would like to call it.
Sponsors and Close1:16:35
Can I tell you a secret? I'll tell you a secret as soon as I hit stop here. Something new just arrived from MiniMed. It's the MiniMed Flex system. Think about everything people love about MiniMed technology, designed for great outcomes, helping keep you in range, and made to be easy to use.
Now in a pump that's the size of two stacked vials of insulin. MiniMed Flex is fully controlled from an app, designed to stay tucked away, empowered by the proven automation that helps over 600,000 people manage diabetes day and night. Order today, minimed.com/juicebox. Having an easy to use and accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away. Contournext.com/juicebox.
That's right. Today's episode was sponsored by the Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter. It's the meter my daughter uses. She has it on her right now, and you're one click away from having it too. And don't forget using Juicebox Podcast links helps support the show.
Friends, my diabetes Pro Tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward practical insights that truly make a difference. This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin, dosing adjustments, or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. I am joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal experience, and we break down the complex concepts into simple actionable tips. The diabetes Pro Tip series runs between episode one thousand and one thousand twenty five in your podcast player, where you can listen to it at juiceboxpodcast.com by going up in the menu. If this is your first time listening to the Juicebox Podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple podcast or Spotify, really any audio app at all.
Look for the Juicebox Podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Are you tired of scrolling past clips that last five seconds? Are you an adult? Would you like to have a long conversation?
Juicebox Podcast is the place to be. Follow and subscribe. I'll be here tomorrow with another episode. I hope to see you again.
Read the full disclaimer
© 2007–2026 Juicebox Podcast. All rights reserved.
