September 27, 2023 • 53 mins
On this episode co-host Stephanie Sanders joins Ray in studio as they hear from their daughter, Emily Rose Hill as she unpacks what its like to overcome the difficulties of type one diabetes. Listeners learn critical insights for overcoming the challenges of chronic disease as well as gain tips for navigating the highs and lows of diabetes.
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Episode Transcript
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Ray (00:08):
Hello, everyone. I'm Ray Sanders, and you're listening to
the Ray Sanders LeadershipPodcast. My favorite cohost is
in studio. Do you care to guesswho it is? Well, let me just
give you a hint.
It's my girlfriend of 36 yearsand wife of 33, none other than
the lovely, the beautiful, missStephanie Sanders. Stephanie,
(00:32):
thanks for being
Stephanie (00:32):
here today.
Ray (00:33):
Hi. You are my favorite cohost.
Stephanie (00:38):
I'm glad to be here.
Ray (00:39):
As if that weren't special enough, we have in studio all
the way from Ogden, Utah, hotoff the movie set, the beautiful
and enchanting, miss EmilyRosehill, otherwise known as my
5th child and third daughter.
Emily (00:53):
Hey, guys. How's it going?
Ray (00:55):
Emily, it's so fun having you back here with us. You and
your husband, who took you awayfrom the family, are here for a
visit, and we wanted to makesure we captured this
opportunity to let people kindahear your story. It's an
interesting story, one that,hasn't always been a bowl of
peaches.
Emily (01:14):
No. Not at all.
Ray (01:16):
But we're gonna unpack that in a minute, but there is
somebody else in studio. If youhappen to be watching through,
YouTube, there's a guy in thestudio that you need to know
about, and he's kind of ourmascot here on an inside look.
You can't seem if you're justlistening, but if you're
watching via YouTube, misterHoney Bear, mister Honey Bear is
here. He is our toy poodle, andhe just can't seem to be getting
(01:41):
enough of Stephanie. So he hadto be on the show today.
So, you know, when she's on,something tells me Honey Bear
will be too. But anyway, Emilyis here today to talk about what
it's like to live and navigatethe challenges of chronic
disease. Now if you're out therelistening and you're someone
that is like me who pretty muchhasn't struggled with anything
other than stupid things thatyou've done, one of which is,
(02:04):
believe it or not, break my armriding a bull or, you know,
falling off of ladders or hit mythumb with a hammer or something
like that. Pretty much selfinflicted stupid stuff. It's
sometimes it's hard to relate topeople that live a life that's
constantly a challenge.
And, you know, we're coming offof a time, when we just had the
(02:26):
Olympics, and it's you see allthese outstanding physically fit
amazing athletes, and then it'sfollowed by the the,
Paralympics. Yeah. And then yousee the people that really
inspire you. Mhmm. And yourealize, man, these people are
something else.
Well, Emily Rose, her storyinvolves type 1 diabetes. And we
(02:50):
kinda wanna unpack what that'slike. A lot of folks have some,
misconceptions about what type 1diabetes is. They mix it up with
type 2 diabetes.
Emily (02:59):
Oh my goodness.
Ray (03:00):
But I thought, you know, what might be kinda neat, Emily
and Stephanie, is if we kindajust told the story. And so,
Stephanie, if, you know, youkinda lean into the mic there,
why don't you just kinda tellfolks kinda when we started
realizing something was up withEmily, and it was when she was
very young and, what, 2a half, 3years old?
Stephanie (03:21):
3 years 3.
Ray (03:22):
3 years old.
Stephanie (03:23):
Mhmm.
Ray (03:23):
We started noticing some things about her that really
became real alarming.
Stephanie (03:29):
So she was 3 years old and 3, almost 4.
Emily (03:33):
We put that in there.
Stephanie (03:34):
Mhmm. And Sofia had just, had strep, and so I kept
thinking that, Emily wasprobably about to get strep.
Ray (03:45):
Sofia is her younger sister. Yes.
Stephanie (03:47):
Yeah. And so I kept my eye on her, but at the same
time, it was right aroundChristmas, and so we were really
busy. And, the older kids werehelping take care of Emily. But
I would make dinner, and Emilywould go say she needed to go to
(04:11):
the bathroom, and then I wouldrealize she's not at the table.
And I would go look for her, andshe would be on the couch or
somewhere asleep.
Ray (04:19):
Mhmm.
Stephanie (04:20):
And so, I would be I would be thinking, what is going
on? And so that caught myattention. And so that went on
for a couple of days, and thenshe started, getting just a
little more lethargic and notlooking exactly right. And so,
Emily (04:39):
the dark circles under my eyes, I remember seeing
pictures, looked very sick.
Ray (04:44):
One more thin. It's like we thought she was in a growth
spurt. We thought she wasgrowing, and maybe she was just
getting skinny. But she wasusually
Stephanie (04:52):
had a distended stomach. Mhmm. And so, one
evening when things startedgetting really bad, I gave her a
a bath, and I just took her inand gave her a bath. And I
thought that she had a reallybad headache. She had other
things that were going on andbut when I saw her in the
(05:12):
bathtub, I thought something isreally, really wrong with my
child.
Something is desperately wrong.And so and she fell asleep again
in the bathtub. And so And
Emily (05:26):
I was wetting the bed. I mean, there was
Stephanie (05:28):
things that
Emily (05:28):
I just don't normally I didn't normally do.
Stephanie (05:31):
Yeah. She she didn't wet the bed anymore, but she had
wet the bed, like, twice, andshe was and she slept through
that. And she also could get adrink by herself, and so she was
probably going to get a drink atthe refrigerator much more often
than what we even knew becauseshe would just go fill up her
(05:52):
cup.
Ray (05:54):
We didn't know at the time. These were kind of classic
signs.
Stephanie (05:57):
But we didn't know to
Ray (05:59):
Constant thirst, urination, loss of weight, and the eyes in
the dark spots, and reallygetting to the point of being
very lethargic. And we we got tothe point of they were like,
something is not right. Is itthe flu? Is it strep? Mhmm.
And I'll never forget whathappened next.
Stephanie (06:17):
Yeah. So the next morning, I immediately made her
an appointment to thepediatrician, and so we took
her. And Ray and I went togetherbecause we had used a Google
doctor the night before. And andthen and we knew that something
was probably really bad.
Ray (06:37):
When you say Google doctor, you mean, like, doctor Google?
Exactly. We we went online. Wedidn't really know. I didn't
really have a clue that this isthe news we were about to hear
was about to hit us in the face.
Stephanie (06:47):
Right.
Ray (06:47):
So we we take her into the office. The doctor gives her an
examination, takes blood test.
Stephanie (06:55):
No. He wants to he wants her to go urinate. Yeah.
And so, I take her in there, andshe does. And I am wanting him
to swab her throat because I'mthinking strap strap.
Please let this be strap. And hedoesn't even do that. When he
sees Emily, he immediately justwants her to he just wants to
(07:20):
catch her urine and test it. Andit was so off the chart, he
couldn't even, test it in hisoffice. So before he came in to
the room with us, he already hadher set up at Baptist Hospital.
Ray (07:38):
Right. And and was concerned I can't remember if it
was then that they did the bloodtest or later at the hospital.
Stephanie (07:43):
Was at the hospital. Okay.
Ray (07:43):
It was later at the hospital. That's when they did
the blood test. But what I doremember, the more you learn
about diabetes, they have waysof testing your blood sugar.
And, basically, Emily's bloodsugar was off of the chart.
Mhmm.
There was no there was noreading. It was just high. Mhmm.
Like, 525 or whatever would behigh.
Stephanie (08:05):
Well, in the office, the highest that it could be is
600. Okay.
Emily (08:09):
And
Stephanie (08:09):
so she was well above 600.
Emily (08:12):
So, like, keep in mind, folks, the average blood sugar
stays within 80 to 120. Yeah.
Ray (08:18):
So
Emily (08:18):
80 to 120.
Ray (08:19):
And so and what this means is and we didn't know it at the
time, bottom line is her bodyhad lost the ability to process
sugar. And your body has ahormone called insulin that
basically breaks down that bloodsugar and allows that blood
sugar to get into, your body's,your bloodstream. It's in your
(08:41):
bloodstream, but it allows yourcells to absorb the energy that
the glucose is.
Emily (08:46):
Right.
Ray (08:47):
But for whatever reason, we now have learned that the
pancreas, the, it's I I would Iwould say,
Emily (08:55):
oh, yeah.
Ray (08:55):
We're basically attacked, and their job is to tell the
body how to process thisinsulin. And I like to put it
this way, it's like trying toput a square peg into a round
hole.
Stephanie (09:06):
Mhmm.
Ray (09:06):
And the sugar literally is a square cube, and it's it's
kind of like trying to get intothe the body. And it can't get
in because it's not shapedproperly, and the insulin, for
lack of a better term, rounds itoff and lets it get in into the
body the way it's supposed tobe. And in Emily's case, the
sugar was building up into herbody, and so these this sugar
(09:28):
count was off the chart beyond600. Like you said, a lot of
times, it's anywhere from 80 to120. And, ultimately, what can
happen here is that you canbecome go into ketoacidosis,
which can cause coma, which shewas in.
It becomes an emergency, and youcan actually die from this
basically an overdose of sugar.
Stephanie (09:49):
Mhmm.
Ray (09:50):
And we had no idea at the time. We've since learned all of
this as well. And so the doctorwalks back into the office. I'm
thinking, okay. We're gonna youknow, he's gonna send us home.
We're gonna hydrate. We're gonnado whatever. And he says, I need
you to take Emily to theemergency room at Baptist to
have you, set up with thedoctors there. She has diabetes,
(10:11):
and it's an emergency. She needsto go now.
Stephanie (10:14):
He says you you have one of 2 choices. Either I'm
gonna call an ambulance oryou're or you're going to go
now. Yeah.
Ray (10:22):
Yeah.
Stephanie (10:22):
That was our choices.
Ray (10:24):
And I you know, it's kind of a blur at this point. And
here she is, your 3 year old,blonde hair, blue eyed little
girl, and your world just startsspinning out of control. And
you're thinking, no, not my mychild. And if you're out there
and you've you've ever had adiagnosis of cancer or leukemia,
you know what we're talkingabout. If you've had a loved one
that's had this diagnosis, youjust you don't wanna believe it.
(10:47):
And I really mean this, and I'vebeen through a lot of my life if
you've ever heard my story. Mymy my own father trying to take
my life and the life we grew upwith with kids. I will tell you
even to this day, and I hope itI hope it's never gets worse
because this was terrible. Idescribed this as the worst day
of my life. And so the doctorsays you've gotta get her to the
(11:08):
hospital immediately, so I takehim away my arms.
We get out to the car. She'sstarving to death because her
body can't get the energy sheneeds. She eats. Her body then
tries to get rid of it by,asking for more water. The water
is trying to flush out thesugar.
Stephanie (11:23):
Well,
Ray (11:24):
then your bladder's full, so you try to urinate, but
you're getting zero benefit ofwhat the food you're eating.
Right. So as much as you'reeating, you're not getting any
benefit from it. So you'reliterally diabetes is a disease
where you literally starve todeath. Mhmm.
You're starving yourself todeath. And until not until 1925
Yep. Was insulin invented. Andwhen you, were diagnosed with
(11:47):
diabetes before 1925, it was adeath sentence.
Emily (11:52):
Slow, terrible death. Terrible, terrible. And then
they would say that thetreatment back then was to not
give the patient any food. Sothink about that. That's crazy.
Ray (12:04):
Yeah. And so you literally are just starving to death, not
only from the disease, but thenin those days, they tried to cut
back. Well, what they're tryingto do is keep your blood sugar
from rising. So at the end ofthe day, diabetes is this this
constant 247 every minute, everysecond of the day of trying to
balance your blood sugar,finding somewhere between 80a150
(12:28):
if you're lucky Mhmm. Andsometimes going higher.
And then the other side of thatis going getting too much
insulin and going way, way lowand passing out from that kind
of a hypoglycemic moment. Mhmm.But but getting back to the
story, we we load up, and I'mshe's starving. Daddy, I'm
hungry. I'm hungry.
And so I, I do what any dadwould wanna do. I was totally
(12:50):
ignorant, didn't know. Well, Itake her to McDonald's and I get
her a a, vanilla ice cream. Theabsolute stupidest worst thing I
could have done, but in someways, I'm glad I did. But I'm
glad we're on our way to thehospital because I could have
killed her.
And I get there, and the thingthat is just horrible is they
take her in immediately. Theyrush her in. They this 3 year
(13:11):
old little girl, strap her intothis I don't know what you call
it. Not really a gurney, butbottom line is they they put one
arm one way. They put the otherarm another way, strap her arms
down, and literally just startstabbing her with IVs and and
needles and taking her bloodsugar.
And she's crying out to me,daddy, daddy, make them stop.
Make them stop. What are yougonna say?
Stephanie (13:32):
Yeah. But it is the only thing they can do because
she's so dehydrated at thatpoint, they can't they cannot
even find a vein. Right. So itis a a horrible, horrible thing
to watch, but at the same time,it's it's the only thing that's
gonna save her life. Yeah.
Right. It has to be.
Ray (13:49):
It has to happen, but it doesn't mean it's not any more
horrifying as if for a daddy towatch somebody basically torture
your daughter and then to haveher look over at you with her
eyes and make them stop. Mhmm.And it's just it just crushed
me. Yeah. I mean, it was beyondpitiful.
Emily (14:06):
Yeah.
Ray (14:07):
And they're using, you know, the lancets that you look
more like a dug on buoy knife,and they're they're, like,
draining her, and it's touch andgo. We don't know what's gonna
happen. And then walks in a guy,
Stephanie (14:20):
you
Ray (14:20):
know, we get emotional thinking about this doctor
that's been a big part of ourlife is doctor Domek. And so
many people have learned whodoctor Domek is, and he has made
life so much better for so many.The calming force that walks in
the room and says, we're gonnaget this. We're gonna be okay.
And he's become a lifelongfriend of our family and someone
(14:41):
that we cherish very dearly.
He and his wife, Sharon, aretruly angels here on earth. And
she started to get better.There's no cure for diabetes.
No. So when I say better, I meanbetter in that moment.
Meaning, she wasn't gonna die atthat moment, but we were gonna
fight for another day, anddoctor Domic had her under
(15:05):
control.
Stephanie (15:05):
Mhmm.
Ray (15:06):
And you wanna
Stephanie (15:07):
So immediately you're educated in what to do.
Ray (15:15):
It's not it's not easy. No. So I don't know if you guys
wanna talk about any more aboutthe hospital stay, but I wanna
talk about something after thehospital stay.
Stephanie (15:22):
Okay. Yeah. Go for it.
Emily (15:23):
Do you
Ray (15:23):
wanna say something about that? So, I mean, friends and
family and everything, we westart to see our little girl
coming back. She's starting toget nutrition. I can't remember
how many days we're in thehospital, but
Emily (15:34):
Just one.
Stephanie (15:34):
Because it's because doctor Domet, he does not want
you to have to his goal is thatyou only stay in the hospital
for one day if he can get youunder control, and then he has
everybody that is gonna betaking care of the child. You go
get educated the next day. Yeah.So we gotta care of him.
Ray (15:53):
We gotta crash, you know, crash course in how to deal with
diabetes. Our world is spinning.You if you think I'm foggy about
all this, you're absolutelyright because I'm still
traumatized by it. But, anyway,I remember, we're loading up and
we're in a and, we're headinghome, and I get a phone call. To
this day, I'll never forget.
I get a phone call. A friend ofmine calls me and says, hey. I
(16:15):
saw where you called. I wascalling you back. And I said,
hey, Gary.
I didn't I didn't call you. Hesays, no, man. I kinda right
here. You called me. He says, Ididn't call you.
He said, well, that's odd. Hesaid, hey. What's up? And I
said, well, if I told you, youwouldn't believe me. I said, I'm
leaving the hospital, and my 3year old little girl was just
diagnosed with diabetes.
And, man, I'm my world is out ofcontrol, and I'm just really sad
(16:37):
and upset. And the phone callwas quiet. And Gary said, hey,
man. I don't know if you knowthis, but my daughter was
diagnosed at 3 with diabetes.
Stephanie (16:49):
Mhmm. And He said, I know why why I'm calling you.
Ray (16:53):
Yeah. I know why I'm calling you, and, now I know why
I'm calling you. And my daughterwas diagnosed at 3 with
diabetes, and I just I just wantyou to know that you're gonna
get through this. Yeah. You'regonna get through this.
And that was the beginning of somany, I'm just going to call it
(17:13):
what it is, supernaturalencounters along the way. And as
terrible as this thing is,there's been amazing things that
have happened along the way, butyou did that was not an
accident. And there was a dadwho got the news about his
daughter. It sound like I'mmaking it all about me. I'm just
the one watching, but I'm justtrying to relate to the parents
(17:35):
out there.
Emily (17:35):
Yeah.
Ray (17:35):
For sure. It's it's it's terrible. It's just terrible.
And so we get home, and it's awhole new day, our our way we
cook, the way we live. And notonly were are we fighting sugar
highs Yeah.
Now we're fighting sugar lows.Yep. So that's the story.
Stephanie (17:55):
Yes. And the whole the whole way we eat, every
everything that we brought intothe house was different.
Emily (18:04):
Yeah.
Stephanie (18:05):
So We changed everything. And but I do wanna
bring this up. The other thingthat was really hard during that
time was that Emily was soyoung, she couldn't tell us how
she felt. Yeah. And I think thatparents that have young
children, when they're diagnosedyoung, that is one of the
really, really hard things isthat they they can't tell you
(18:25):
how they feel and a lot of timeswith diabetes they go off of how
they feel if they're high orlow.
Ray (18:32):
And that's that's a point that we need to make here. It
used to be type 1 diabetes wasreferred to as juvenile diabetes
because it was more likely thannot that you would, contract
this disease. And they don'tknow if it's most they mostly
think it's inherited. There'sthere's a lot of different ways
that they you can contract it,but pretty much, it can be
inherited. And we Stephanieparticipates in a study down in
(18:56):
Dallas, that they're trying todiscover the roots and the why
behind diabetes.
We have since learned that shecarries the antibodies that,
contributed to Emily's diabetes.I don't bring that up to be
ugly. That's just a fact. And,it used to be known as juvenile
diabetes, but truth of thematter is you don't have to be a
juvenile to get type 1 diabetesanymore. No.
(19:17):
Type 1 diabetes is more commonamong younger people, and type 2
diabetes is a different type ofof diabetes, and you don't have
to necessarily have injections.You can actually take a pill for
that. Type 1 diabetes, you haveto have injections. You are
dependent upon insulininjections for the rest of your
life and trying to figure outjust how much insulin to take at
(19:39):
the just right time based uponthe number of carbs you've had
and protein and exercise and howhot you are and whether or not
you're having your womanly cycleand whether or not you're mad at
your boyfriend or girlfriend oryour husband or your dog or
whoever. It's it's you basicallybecome your own pancreas.
Mhmm. And, there are a lot ofadvancements that have been made
since 1925. Thank god for themen that discovered diabetes.
(20:03):
They tested dogs. Honey bear,maybe you're here in honor of
those puppies.
Mhmm. They tested it on dogs,but, Emily, I think it'd be good
for everybody if you do kindadescribe to people what is type
1 diabetes and, fill people inon exactly what it's like to
have it.
Emily (20:20):
Goodness. So diabetes so I'm just so everybody knows, I'm
married. So, diabetes is mysecond spouse. It's the best way
I like to describe it now.
Ray (20:34):
Which one's worse? I'm curious.
Stephanie (20:35):
Oh my gosh. You're terrible.
Emily (20:37):
You're terrible. But diabetes in a lot of ways, it's
amazing because it's grown me inways that I think nothing else
could have. But then, I mean,the seasons that I've gone
through with it, Terrible. Like,at the end of the day, like,
(20:58):
that's that's the best word Ican describe is I mean, there I
I didn't even want to take careof myself because I thought,
what is the point if this is therest of my life?
Ray (21:07):
So describe what it means terrible. How does it affect
you? How does it affect yourbody? You've had it since you're
3.
Emily (21:13):
Yeah.
Ray (21:13):
You're pretty well used to being feeling bad, but what are
some of the symptoms that youdeal with?
Emily (21:20):
So symptoms as far as I mean, my blood sugar,
especially, through my hormonalchanges and puberty, I could
literally do everything right. Icould try my hardest, and my
blood sugar would still beeither too high, too low, just
never good enough. And so a lotof, I guess, my childhood was
(21:43):
figuring out how to be okay withthe highs and the lows and
understand that it's just it'sjust the day.
Stephanie (21:52):
It's just not an exact sign. Right. That's what I
would always say. This is not anexact sign.
Ray (21:57):
Tell people what it's like when your blood blood sugar is
high.
Emily (22:00):
So when my blood sugar is high, and this is very much just
dependent on the person. I knowa lot of different diabetics
have different symptoms, but forme personally, I am thirsty as
all get out. I get nauseous,headaches, body aches. Sometimes
I sweat for no reason. My heartis racing.
(22:22):
There's a lot of other things,but those are the main ones that
really affect me if I'm not, youknow
Ray (22:26):
And left unattended without insulin, you could go into a
coma and
Stephanie (22:30):
Yeah.
Ray (22:31):
That would be Easily. Yeah. And and it can spike and go
fast. Ketoacidosis, one of theways that you can test that, you
know, obviously, you can testyour sugar, but a lot of people
are aware of the keto diet
Stephanie (22:43):
And
Ray (22:43):
you can get keto, strips.
Stephanie (22:45):
Mhmm.
Ray (22:46):
And you can test
Stephanie (22:47):
the
Ray (22:47):
amount of, protein that you're spilling out of your,
urine with those strips. Andthen those, a lot of times, will
tell you if they're dark. It'slike, man, you are really,
really sick. Yeah.
Stephanie (23:01):
I could tell if Emily was in we just called it keto in
our house. We just shortened itMhmm. Just when she would come
into a room because she just hadthat smell on her. There's just
a lot of people call it a sweetsmell, but to me, it was
Ray (23:17):
Kinda fruity.
Stephanie (23:18):
Yeah. But for me, it was a sick smell. Mhmm. Emily
just would smell sick, and Iwould say you are in keto. Yeah.
So we gotta get you out fast.
Ray (23:27):
So then there's the other side, and that's the lows. But I
I wanna try to give people anidea. So let's just imagine that
you and I are healthy and ourblood sugar is running between
80 and a 100, a 120, somewherein there. We go and we have a
hamburger fries and a soda pop.
Stephanie (23:47):
With ketchup.
Ray (23:48):
With ketchup.
Stephanie (23:49):
Yeah.
Ray (23:49):
And your body recognizes this really pretty much as I'm
gonna simplify it with asproteins and carbohydrates. And
those carbohydrate heartcarbohydrates are, transferred
into glucose, and that glucosegets into your bloodstream and
is burnt as energy. Protein too,but
Stephanie (24:07):
And some fiber. And some fiber.
Ray (24:09):
So we're we're simplifying. Mhmm. And the bottom line is my
body my pancreas says, hey. Wegot a lot of blood, sugar in the
blood. We need to give it a shotof insulin, and so my my
pancreas shoots insulin into mybloodstream.
Mhmm. And it my it's a miracle.It's amazing. I don't know how
it works.
Emily (24:26):
God's designed.
Ray (24:27):
God's designed. Our pancreas knows how much insulin
to give us to neutralize orreshape the way I said it
earlier, reshape that sugar atthe just right level
Stephanie (24:37):
Mhmm.
Ray (24:37):
To get it into our body so that our body can absorb it. Now
if our body doesn't doesn't burnit,
Stephanie (24:43):
it
Ray (24:43):
turns it into fat. We know what happens there at all.
Right? Well, in Emily's case anda lot of other type 1 diabetics
and type 2 diabetics, their bodydoesn't do that and so they have
to have some outside source. Andin this case, it's an artificial
hormone that, that's nowproduced insulin.
It comes in different forms, andyou can get that through an
injection.
Emily (25:03):
Yep.
Ray (25:03):
And and it's a ratio of knowing. So, like, give an
example. If you eat so manycarbs, how many units of insulin
do you give yourself based oncarbohydrates?
Emily (25:12):
Right. So everyone's different and, you really I
mean, we have gone through yearsof trying to find the best, I
call it, algorithm for me,especially with my health care
team. And so, let's say I'mgonna eat 20 grams of carbs and
then give myself 2 units ofinsulin.
Ray (25:30):
So give an example of something that has 20 grams of
carbs.
Emily (25:34):
Let's do an apple.
Stephanie (25:35):
That's what I was gonna say.
Ray (25:36):
Okay. An apple. So you're eating really healthy.
Emily (25:38):
Yeah. So
Ray (25:38):
so you have an apple. We go and we eat an apple. No big
deal.
Stephanie (25:42):
Right.
Ray (25:42):
You eat an apple, you're going, okay. I had an apple.
What else have I been doingtoday? Right. I've gotta get out
either a needle and injectmyself or thank God we have now
an an insulin pump.
But you just can't eat an apple.
Emily (25:56):
No. I have to think about every lick, nibble, and bite
that goes into my mouth, andsometimes drink. You gotta think
about
Ray (26:04):
that too. If you have if you had a standard Coca Cola.
Emily (26:07):
Oh my word. Don't even. Yeah. Those are
Stephanie (26:09):
doesn't drink Coke.
Ray (26:10):
Well, I know. But if she did Yeah. I'm gonna
Stephanie (26:12):
I'm trying
Ray (26:13):
to, you know, people are out there listening. They're
like
Emily (26:15):
Yeah.
Ray (26:16):
I haven't I've stopped by the the convenience store. I had
to pick up a soda pop. And
Emily (26:20):
An average soda pop would raise my blood sugar about 200
points.
Stephanie (26:25):
200 points. At least at least. That was that is how
our life changed. Like, we neverwent to Sonic and just got a
Slush anymore. We never went andgot an Icee.
Ray (26:37):
We have 6 kids, and so everybody's like, no more Icee?
Thanks, Emily. And so there'sall of that. But so bottom line
is your your part your head isprobably spinning at this point,
and that's part of what we wantyou to experience because this
is what the diabetic the thediabetic lives every day, and
you can kinda get on top of it.But let's just say this, it is
(26:59):
exhausting.
Exhausting. Yeah. And you haveto kind of become your own
pancreas. You have to think likea pancreas.
Stephanie (27:06):
Mhmm.
Ray (27:06):
And so you're constantly battling that. And when she was
younger, it was injections, andwe'd have to draw insulin. We'd
have the sticker. We'd have topoke her. But now we have, the
the the technology.
There's a lot of insulin pumpsout there, and we have not only
that, but also devices thatmonitor our blood sugar.
Emily (27:25):
CGMs. Those are awesome.
Ray (27:26):
CGMs. I kinda call them a bionic pancreas. I don't know if
that's fair.
Emily (27:31):
Yeah.
Ray (27:31):
Now that's not exactly like, oh, you just install it,
and it's like getting a
Stephanie (27:37):
No.
Ray (27:37):
You know, something put into your car. You know, you
have a dual exhaust. No. That'snot what it is. This is ugly as
well.
You have to put it into yourbody. You have to push it in
with a needle that's very ugly.It's under the skin, not just
for the pump, but also for the,
Emily (27:55):
the
Ray (27:56):
the sensor. And so then you're wired up. You look like
you're carrying around a beeperor pagers as some people may
call.
Stephanie (28:03):
A lot
Ray (28:03):
of people may not even know what that is anymore. But you're
you're wired for sound. You gottubes hanging off of you.
Emily (28:08):
Yep. Yep. It's not
Ray (28:09):
like you're just gonna go jump rope or go run through the
woods, you know. Mm-mm. You gotall these wires hanging off of
you. Feeling is somewhat normal,but even that can get out of
whack.
Stephanie (28:19):
Oh, it does.
Emily (28:20):
I mean, the best way I can describe walking around with
an insulin pump is it's aportable IV. That's what you're
walking around with 247. Soimagine, you know, being a
little kid and your arm kindajust matches up with the door
handle just perfectly to yourroom. So you walk into your room
and your little tube gets caughton that door and that thing pops
(28:41):
out.
Ray (28:41):
Right out.
Emily (28:41):
Oh my goodness. I can't tell you how many times that
would happen as a kid.
Ray (28:45):
So I wanna come back to the difference in type 1 and type 2.
Yeah. But since we're talkingabout the insulin pump, you
know, it's it's interestingbeing out in public, and we
cheered it. We've seen some wehave athletes. We're big
University of Oklahoma footballfans.
There's been some players thathave diabetes. We we could tell
you all the movie stars. Yeah.The the Jonas Brothers.
Emily (29:08):
Yeah. Wow, dad.
Ray (29:09):
There's a lot
Emily (29:09):
of not
Ray (29:10):
all of the Jonas Brothers. Nick.
Emily (29:11):
Right? Yeah. Nick Jonas.
Ray (29:14):
But different people have diabetes, and they wear the
insulin pumps. They're becomingmore and more recognizable.
Mhmm. But it's not funny, butit's kinda aggravating. Tell
people some of the experiencesyou have.
It's not like it's not badenough to have diabetes all
Right. Anyway. But you've been,like, called out by people
thinking
Emily (29:31):
Singled out, put down. Oh, yeah.
Ray (29:33):
Tell them.
Emily (29:34):
So one incident is what I like to call them, was actually
not too long ago. I was atTarget. I was running around
actually grabbing some snacks.So I think I was about to go on
a road trip, and, you know, Ihad, like, apples and a ton of
different stuff in my cart, butanyhoo, so I get in line to
check out, and I run into aKaren Oh, gosh. As the
(29:56):
youngsters know.
And I am just standing thereminding my own business, and
this lady just blankly says, areyou recording? Excuse me? Are
you recording? And I I turnedaround and said, ma'am, what?
How how can I help you?
What's wrong? And she says,you're recording. You've been
walking around recording people.I've seen you. I've been
(30:17):
watching you.
Ray (30:18):
Like, you had an undercover mic with all your
Stephanie (30:20):
Yeah.
Emily (30:20):
And so I I said, ma'am, I really don't know what you're
talking about. And she said, Ican see it plain as day on your
back. I see the mic pack on yourback. And I I oh my goodness. So
many thoughts were runningthrough my mind in that moment.
But one, it was reallyinteresting. The lord was kinda
like, listen. When they pointthe finger at you, you point the
(30:44):
finger up to me. So I allowedthis to happen, and it's for a
reason. So, anyways, moving on.
But I I tell her, I was like,ma'am, this is an insulin pump.
I'm a type 1 diabetic. I'm notrecording you. Promise. And she
doesn't really say a word.
She just kinda looks at me witha blank face and then goes and
(31:06):
switches lines, actually, so shedidn't have to stand behind me
anymore.
Ray (31:09):
So am I.
Emily (31:11):
So that's just one story. There are plenty, plenty others,
which is really sad. I kindalike to use the term don't judge
a book by its cover. Oh mygoodness. Especially going
through the TSA, that has beenthe we've had some moments.
Brutal brutal stuff. But, yeah,that's just one story. I have I
have a lot in my pocket forsure.
Ray (31:32):
And that's just on top of everything else you deal with.
Now now you mentioned somethingthat I think it's worth pointing
out. You mentioned your faith.And you really have had a lot of
questions for God,
Stephanie (31:44):
but
Ray (31:45):
you also give God a lot of credit for getting you through.
Emily (31:47):
Yeah.
Ray (31:48):
Your mother and I certainly do. Let's touch on that, and
then I wanna come back to type1, type 2. But what role has
your faith played in managingdealing with diabetes?
Emily (32:02):
So, one, I just want all the listeners out there to
understand I'm not perfect, andI haven't always had this
mindset and heart towardsdiabetes. At one point, I
thought it literally was a curseover my life. I thought I was
getting punished for something.I didn't know what. But as I got
(32:23):
older, I started to realize,wow.
The lord allowed me to havethis, and I say I say allow to
have, not give. He didn't givethis to me. He allowed it. Mhmm.
He allowed it to happen becausehe knew with it, I would further
his kingdom more than I wouldwithout.
Stephanie (32:42):
Mhmm.
Emily (32:43):
It took me a while to get to that point in my life. I've
had this for almost 18 years.
Ray (32:49):
Mhmm.
Emily (32:49):
Almost 18 years. That is crazy to say out loud. And I
think to pain connects us toeach other, but then also the
lord. There were days where Iliterally would have to pray for
strength to put a needle in myarm or leg or like, lord, I just
don't wanna do this anymore.Like, I need you to come and
(33:11):
intercede on my behalf.
Give me the strength. I don'twant my strength. My strength is
weak compared to your strength.I want you. So, yeah, it it's
really strengthened myrelationship with the lord in
that way.
Something that could've easilymade me turn away from him has
really just turned me moretowards him. So
Ray (33:31):
You know, one of the things that I'll never forget, you
know, I'll re I remember where Iwas sitting, and I remember it
was years ago, and the Olympicswere on. And you came to me and
you said, dad, why did God giveme diabetes?
Stephanie (33:43):
Mhmm.
Ray (33:45):
Oh, man. If you're a parent out there and you have a child
that has a handicap or any kindof special challenge, you wanna
talk about a tough one? It'slike, well, let's just pick up
the phone and call God rightnow. I have a few questions
myself.
Emily (33:58):
Yeah.
Ray (33:59):
And I had a presence of mind that I told you. I said,
you know what? I said, thoselittle girls are watching in
gymnastics and they're on theOlympics. They're special, and
they have the strength to to dowhat they they do. And all I can
tell you is is that you'respecial and that god must have
known that you can handle this,and he's gonna give you the
strength
Stephanie (34:18):
to
Ray (34:18):
be the little girl that he wants you to be. One of the
things I that bothers me issometimes when I help you hear
people say this, they say, well,I think God's given you this so
you can just relate to otherpeople. How cynical to think
that God wants to give peoplestuff so they can help other
people that are stuck withstuff. That's I just don't see
(34:39):
how a loving God would do that.And I and I think that while he
allows it
Emily (34:44):
Mhmm.
Ray (34:45):
He guarantees and we live in a fallen world. Disease is a
part of what we recognize. We'reall gonna die somehow, someway,
some at some point.
Stephanie (34:52):
Mhmm.
Ray (34:52):
I'm not and we have trust me. We we know I've gone on a 40
day fast. Mhmm. You know, whenwe believe that God can heal.
Mhmm.
He had just chosen not to heal.We've now on a 40 day fast
expecting these types only comeout through prayer and fasting.
That's just our faithbackground. That's what we
believe. We believe in healing.
(35:12):
We've seen people be healed, butyou have not been.
Stephanie (35:15):
And
Ray (35:15):
I remember on the 40th day holding in my arms thinking,
Lord, are you gonna heal uswithin the next few hours?
Because we've been praying andasking for you to heal Emily,
and I lost £40 in 40 days. And Iwas believing, and and it didn't
happen. You wanna talk aboutbeing upset and frustrated, and
I'm shaking your hand at God.But what we've learned is and
(35:36):
your mom's been on a journeywith her health too.
Somewhere along the way, werecognize that god is with me.
And all I can say is this, thisis the best I've got and I'm not
speaking for you, is that it'sbetter within than without him.
Emily (35:49):
Absolutely.
Ray (35:50):
And whether you believe in him or you don't, I can just
tell you, I I don't know how weget through it. I know he can,
but he's chosen not to. Andwhether it's conversations or
how he's made you stronger, butthis I know, This I know. God
doesn't waste pain.
Emily (36:06):
No. Not at all.
Ray (36:08):
And with all the pain that you have been through and the
pain that people with, cancer gothrough, breast cancer, and
leukemia, and all the uglydiseases that are out there, I
just want people to know thatit's not wasted. You're an
inspiration. I I don'tunderstand always how you're an
inspiration. I don't know howit's not wasted, but the only
(36:29):
thing that gets me through it isis trusting that it's that it's
not it's not wasted. Mhmm.
And we've had specialencounters. I mean, we've had
times when Emily has been asleepat night. That's one of the
times, you know
Emily (36:45):
Before CGMs, I might wanna add to all those diabetics
out there. I mean, I grew up ina culture where CGMs weren't
really a thing. Pumps were evenpretty new, especially at my
age. I was, I I think, one ofthe first in Oklahoma, actually,
as a 5 year old to be put on aninsulin pump.
Ray (37:04):
It wasn't FDA approved. We got approval for you to be on
it.
Emily (37:07):
Right. So that's that was, I think, the game changer
for me personally. So forparents out there, I know it's
expensive. I know it's hard. Ifif you can somehow, someway, at
least get your child on a CGM.
Ray (37:21):
Tell them what a CGM is.
Emily (37:23):
So a CGM is a continuous glucose monitor. So instead of,
you know, pricking your finger10 to 15 times a day
Ray (37:30):
Terrible.
Emily (37:32):
You literally just have a little wearable device that
tracks your blood sugar and,gives you a reading every 5
minutes. And you can look atthat reading on your mobile
device. So it's really cool.Highly recommend it. Highly,
highly, highly recommend it.
Ray (37:49):
I I wanna say this now before I forget. If you're
listening today and you'rethinking, oh my goodness, my
child's been diagnosed withdiabetes. I've been diagnosed
with diabetes. We just wannagive you the opportunity. If you
go to our website, in insidelook dot com, in inside look dot
com, there's a there's a sectionthere to contact us.
And if you just wanna, send yourinformation to us, we'll get it
(38:10):
to Emily. And I promise you,she'll reach out to you. She'll
email you, and she'll talk toyou about the journey she's been
on. We're not saying that she'sgot it all figured out, but she
can certainly share share herstory with you. And we'll just
make that available to you ifyou wanna go to an inside
look.com and contact us, and wemay mention that a little later.
Stephanie (38:27):
If I wouldn't have had, some parents reach out to
me at the very beginning, Iwould not have had just those
little special things told to meof how to take care of Emily
better.
Ray (38:40):
Insanity.
Stephanie (38:41):
Well and they just gave me
Emily (38:43):
all those little special tips. Yeah. Tips and tricks,
really. Honey is now I say honeyis great. I absolutely cannot
stand to eat honey now.
I oh my goodness. I cannot doit. But so, like, as a kid, if
my blood sugar was just droppingreally fast, we could not get it
up. We've had the juice boxes.You know, we've had the cookies.
(39:03):
We've tried everything to bringit up. We've taken the pump off.
Mhmm. You know, we've unhooked.The only thing, typically, that
would bring my blood sugar upwas a spoonful of honey.
Sometimes 2, sometimes 3. Butonce you hit that, it was kind
of the last resort thing, and italways brought it up.
Ray (39:21):
And the thing about Honey is is that if she's somewhat
conscious or unconscious
Stephanie (39:25):
Mhmm.
Ray (39:26):
You can put that in their mouth, and they won't choke.
Yeah. And it'll it'll absorbpretty immediately. That's the
thing about honey. We learnedthat from an older diabetic who
who taught us that trick.
And so if you're out there andyou have diabetes, you may carry
hard candy or peppermint stuff.You may carry glucose tablets. A
little packet of honey can go along ways. I know you're sick of
(39:46):
it, but it's a god given specialthing.
Emily (39:48):
Yeah.
Ray (39:49):
That's a it's a it's a great tip. While we're at it, I
wanna come back to type 1, type2. But tell us other tips. What
are some other tips?
Emily (39:58):
Oh my goodness. I could write a book.
Stephanie (40:00):
The little 4 ounce juice boxes. Boxes that don't
have to be refrigerated.
Emily (40:05):
Yeah. Those are
Stephanie (40:06):
awesome. With you.
Emily (40:07):
Mhmm. I would say, like, I'm I have more advice than tips
in general, but, so heat, cold,and heat, of the outdoors really
does affect our blood sugar,even hours after you've been in
it. So there have been 2 timesin my life where I've been
outside in a 100 degree weatherfor, you know, all day, and I
(40:32):
would have a seizure, by the bythe end of the day, in the
evening while I was sleeping.So, there's that. And then also
I've been in the cold all daylong on a film set, actually.
And I had a seizure because Ididn't and this this wasn't even
that long ago. So keep that inmind. I mean, I'm constantly
constantly learning things aboutthis ever changing disease.
Ray (40:55):
Ever changing. Within the year, this happens. So we're we
get a phone call. They're up inthe mountains of Oregon shooting
a movie.
Stephanie (41:01):
Utah.
Ray (41:02):
Utah. I said Oregon, Ogden. This was Yeah. In Utah. And they
can't get her to respond, andthey're struggling with getting
her conscious and what do theydo.
And talk about try to maintainyour composure, be calm knowing
that your daughter may not comeout of it. But the team was
there. Heston was there.Everybody pulled it together.
(41:23):
The Lord was there.
Thank goodness.
Emily (41:25):
Yeah.
Ray (41:25):
And and it happens. It sucks, but it it happens. And
even your age, and you try toget everything right. And then
Emily (41:31):
sometimes everything correct. I had alarms, set to
wake up in the middle of thenight just to check. I had food
sitting right by me. I had my,blood sugar meter right next to
me. I mean, I I was doingeverything I possibly could, and
that's another thing that I Iwould want to instill in someone
who's newly diagnosed is therewill be times where you do
(41:53):
everything and it still doesn'tmatter, and that's okay.
There's always an antidote.There's always something to fix
the problem. If you're low,you'll be okay. If you're too
high, you'll be okay. There'salways an antidote.
Stephanie (42:06):
And, one thing I was gonna say is that you are, like,
one of the most responsiblediabetics that I know of. And so
Emily (42:15):
I tend to grow into that.
Stephanie (42:16):
But it but if these things happen to you, and you're
so responsible, then it itreally is gonna happen.
Ray (42:26):
The thing about diabetes, and this is probably a a good
way to compare type 1 and type2, People tend to if they have
type 2, they don't have they'renot insulin dependent. That's
the word I would say. They theycan they can take tablets that
will
Emily (42:42):
adjust their their needs. And it's reversible, I might
add. Type 2 diabetes isreversible. You can you can not
have it anymore.
Ray (42:50):
Lose weight. Yeah. Get in shape.
Stephanie (42:52):
A lot
Ray (42:52):
of times people get get in a in a position to where they're
just not taking care ofthemselves. But here's what they
do. They ignore. Oh, I rock itaround 230, 250, sometimes 300
blood sugar. And, you know, I'mI'm doing fine.
And what they're not realizing,that's like sending razors into
your bloodstream, and you'rediscarding the inside of your
your blood vessels, and you'rebuilding up scar tissue.
Stephanie (43:14):
Mhmm.
Ray (43:14):
And, ultimately, you know, those stories you hear about
people losing limbs, theirextremities, their toes, their
feet, their hands, theirkidneys, their eyes, It's
because people don't take careof and keep those blood sugars
down, and they're destroyingtheir body literally from the
inside out. And it's a slow,miserable death. And there's no
way to reverse it because yourbody's so jacked up. And that's
(43:34):
the thing I would actually saythat maybe a gift that Emily has
given all of us is that we'velearned to to eat better, and
some of the trashy stuff that weput in our bodies are doing just
that. They're trashing ourbodies.
And because of Emily, we arenow, you know, healthier, but if
you're a type 1 or a type 2diabetes diabetic, for heaven's
sake, you can do this.
Stephanie (43:56):
Mhmm.
Ray (43:57):
So what are what are tips? What are some of the, Instagram
websites? Where are some of theplaces you go for input?
Emily (44:04):
Oh, that's so interesting. Okay. So I have a
few, we call them Instagraminfluencers. You those young
kids again. You guys know whatI'm talking about, That I
follow, I it's kinda hard for meto name them off the top of my
head if I'm honest.
Beyond type 1 has been oneresource. I think I think they
started their nonprofit up. NickJonas actually started up this
(44:27):
nonprofit, I think back in 2016,2015. They just have a lot of
great insights, resources,especially for newly diagnosed,
diabetics. So that is onewebsite that I would check out.
I may at the end of the,podcast, I I'll have a little
link down below where everybodycan
Ray (44:46):
And what's the guy's name? The the Beatty's or whatever?
Emily (44:50):
Yeah. The the Beatty's guy. That's what that's his
Instagram handle. That's great.Beatty's.
Yeah. The Beatty's.
Ray (44:55):
I love him. He's a he he's fun. Okay. Well, anything else
you'd say about the differencein type 1 and type 2?
Stephanie (45:02):
No. I don't
Emily (45:03):
think so. I think you you nailed it.
Ray (45:04):
Okay. And then tips. We talked about honey. We we talked
about recognizing the impactthat weather, hot and cold plays
on you.
Stephanie (45:12):
We we let Exercise. Exercise. Water. Water. Yes.
Water.
Emily (45:17):
Please, for the love. I'm not even the best at this. I'm
trying to get better. But waterour organs, guys, need water
more than anything really asidefrom insulin. Our our body
really does need water more thanmost people do.
So staying hydrated.
Stephanie (45:36):
Yeah. That's one thing whenever you would go
high, I would say, oh, you'renot drinking enough. I'm
drinking enough water. You'renot drinking enough. We've gotta
get water into you.
Yeah. And that's one thing Idon't think that newly
diagnosed, people realize isthat they have to just up the
(45:56):
water intake hugely. Yeah.
Ray (45:58):
So while we're on tips, one of the things before we started
the show today that you said youwanted to be sure and bring up
is and this is I think thisqualifies as a tip, is the power
of a team.
Stephanie (46:11):
Yeah. Yeah.
Ray (46:12):
We call it team Emily. Yeah. And, we've been a part of
the team Emily, team for quite awhile.
Emily (46:18):
Yeah.
Ray (46:18):
We've added a new member to the team, mister Hesto. Mister
Hesto, he's he's the theresident team member for you
now. Oh, yeah. He does a lot foryou and takes care of you.
Stephanie (46:28):
She's the head team member now.
Ray (46:30):
And, he's
Stephanie (46:30):
taking her on.
Ray (46:31):
And he's we're we're blessed by having him in your
life and couldn't think ofanybody better to help, help you
along in that regard. But talkabout this dynamic of a a team.
Emily (46:44):
So growing up, so, like, keep in mind, I was, you know,
number 5 out of 6 kids. I wasthe only one to have diabetes.
So all my I mean, statistically,guys, that's insane. Typically,
there's at least 2 other, kidsin the family with diabetes at
the number of kids that we have.Mhmm.
And so my siblings did anawesome job, especially my older
(47:07):
brother, Joshua. Shout out toyou. Mhmm. Coming alongside me
as well as my parents, but I'mtalking about siblings. Joshua
would help me put in the pumpsites.
Ray (47:17):
Mhmm.
Emily (47:18):
If if my parents ever had to go out of town due to work,
Joshua or Lorna Lane really werethe 2 that would keep me alive
until my parents got back.
Ray (47:28):
Those 2. And then some of the others, they're just looking
at you, and they'd pass outbecause they can't handle it.
But, you know, Lorna Lane, youroldest oldest of our siblings,
and Josh, they've somehow theyjust could handle it.
Stephanie (47:38):
And I think that they all were so good about looking
at Emily, knowing Mhmm. If hereyes look funny. We all know the
signs to look for if she washigh or low. And, they they were
all very, very helpful inconstantly making sure if Emily
(48:00):
was good.
Ray (48:01):
I I wanna say this. We never let really anything slow
us down. You and I as a couple,we never let our kids slow us
down. We didn't let we don'twe've never let any of our life
challenges slow us down. We'refighters.
We really haven't let diabetesbe an excuse. We're like, you
know what? It's just part of whowe are. It's part of of us. It's
gonna it's a character builder,and and we're gonna we're gonna
(48:23):
do what we need to do with it.
And so, you know, diabetes isjust part of life, and we make
it happen Yeah. Regardless. Wedon't we don't we don't make an
excuse. We don't make it acrutch.
Emily (48:37):
Now but we are cautious. We're wise in the choices that
we make. So, if I'm gonna go ona hike or I'm gonna go do
something outdoors, I'm not justgoing, not thinking that
diabetes is gonna hold me back.I plan and I'm and I execute the
plan. Yeah.
So that's, you know, bringingextra snacks, making sure I'm
hydrated. I mean, it's planning.You become an expert at planning
(49:01):
your everyday life.
Ray (49:02):
Thinking ahead. Yeah. You know, one of those little
packets, goo?
Emily (49:05):
Yeah. Goo, energy, little packets. Those things are
Ray (49:07):
a good one.
Emily (49:08):
Awesome.
Ray (49:08):
And I'm famous for saying this to the family is that
diabetes is not mind overmatter. Yeah. You cannot and
Emily, she gets her daddy shehas her daddy's attitude about
you can do anything if you thinkyou can. Diabetes will win if
you think that you can justthink your way through it or
push your way through it. Yourbody cannot overcome diabetes by
(49:32):
I think I can.
I think I can. You need torespond. You need to have a
plan.
Emily (49:37):
Right.
Ray (49:37):
If you're high, you need to know what to do. If you're low,
you need to know need to knowwhat to do. But, you know, it's
a big deal. So having a team,this is this is if you have a
loved one who has diabetes,you're on the team. You're
you're you're part of the team.
You're not setting the bench.You're part of the team.
Emily (49:54):
Mhmm. Absolutely. And that's what I think really
pushed me forward and kept mefrom really a lot of bad
situations was knowing, evenwhen I don't wanna do it,
somebody's gonna come and helpme, and that's okay. And it's
okay to need help. It's okay towant help.
(50:15):
I think too, like, that mindsetof Ray Sanders of I think I'm
gonna do it, and I can do it bymyself. That's that's what
really I I got from my dad, soit's kinda funny. But I had to
overcome that mindset even ofhumbling myself and realizing,
no. I need help, and that'sokay, and I'll be healthier for
(50:36):
it. So
Ray (50:37):
Okay. Let's kinda wrap this thing up. I have Mhmm. A couple
of things I wanna say. What haveyou learned from diabetes?
Emily (50:48):
That's a hard it's such a hard question because man. I've
learned how resilient I can be.Mhmm. I've because there were
(51:08):
days where I thought, okay. I Ijust don't want I've told this
you guys this before.
I just don't I wanna break. Idon't wanna do this anymore.
That's how
Ray (51:16):
give up.
Emily (51:17):
Yeah. I wanna give up. I just wanna be done. I mean, the
lord you know, we only get oneone life here on earth. Why is
it that this had to be my life?
You know? Mhmm. But the lordreally, really has shown me
though that it's through thisthat and I know you said
earlier, you know, god wouldn't,use this to help people
(51:40):
necessarily. That's not the kindof god he is. But in my
experience, when I'm out andabout and I see somebody with a
CGM on their arm or, a pump siteor they're taking their blood
sugar, I feel connected to thatperson.
Ray (51:52):
Sure.
Emily (51:53):
And so it's always cool. If you're a diabetic out there,
definitely, if you see anotherone, go up and talk to him. It
it connects us in ways. Theother day, this is crazy, I ran
into a 65 year old man with thesame exact insulin pump on his
hip as me. And so I I ran up tohim with my mask on, of course,
(52:14):
and I said, well, look at us.
We're we're we're matching. Andit was a great conversation. And
so it it's learned me how to,it's taught me, excuse me, how
to connect with people and thatthat's a gift from the lord.
It's taught me how strong I canactually be. It's taught me to
be responsible, resilient, a lotof different things.
Ray (52:37):
Say it this way. It's a platform.
Stephanie (52:41):
Mhmm. Yeah.
Ray (52:41):
It's a way for you to connect.
Stephanie (52:43):
Yeah.
Ray (52:43):
I don't think I don't think that you're necessarily cursed.
Emily (52:46):
No. No. No.
Ray (52:47):
You're allowed to have it, but now that you've been allowed
to have it, it becomes aplatform for all kinds of
things, strength, resilience,empathy.
Emily (52:55):
Yeah.
Ray (52:55):
How to care for people no matter what they have.
Emily (52:58):
Right.
Ray (52:58):
It's changed my perspective on life. I tell you one thing.
It makes me appreciate the factthat I don't have it.
Stephanie (53:04):
Mhmm. Yeah.
Ray (53:05):
I don't know how you do it. You're an inspiration to all of
us. You're everyone in thefamily. We've always said that
you're the the youngest 30 yearold, and we know. But, you are
an inspiration.
And if you're out therelistening, don't ever think that
you're not an inspiration.You're a fighter. You can do
this. We believe in you. Othersbelieve in you.
(53:29):
You inspire us by by what you'redoing.
Hello, everyone. I'm Ray Sanders, and you're listening to
the Ray Sanders LeadershipPodcast. My favorite cohost is
in studio. Do you care to guesswho it is? Well, let me just
give you a hint.
It's my girlfriend of 36 yearsand wife of 33, none other than
the lovely, the beautiful, missStephanie Sanders. Stephanie,
(00:32):
thanks for being
Stephanie (00:32):
here today.
Ray (00:33):
Hi. You are my favorite cohost.
Stephanie (00:38):
I'm glad to be here.
Ray (00:39):
As if that weren't special enough, we have in studio all
the way from Ogden, Utah, hotoff the movie set, the beautiful
and enchanting, miss EmilyRosehill, otherwise known as my
5th child and third daughter.
Emily (00:53):
Hey, guys. How's it going?
Ray (00:55):
Emily, it's so fun having you back here with us. You and
your husband, who took you awayfrom the family, are here for a
visit, and we wanted to makesure we captured this
opportunity to let people kindahear your story. It's an
interesting story, one that,hasn't always been a bowl of
peaches.
Emily (01:14):
No. Not at all.
Ray (01:16):
But we're gonna unpack that in a minute, but there is
somebody else in studio. If youhappen to be watching through,
YouTube, there's a guy in thestudio that you need to know
about, and he's kind of ourmascot here on an inside look.
You can't seem if you're justlistening, but if you're
watching via YouTube, misterHoney Bear, mister Honey Bear is
here. He is our toy poodle, andhe just can't seem to be getting
(01:41):
enough of Stephanie. So he hadto be on the show today.
So, you know, when she's on,something tells me Honey Bear
will be too. But anyway, Emilyis here today to talk about what
it's like to live and navigatethe challenges of chronic
disease. Now if you're out therelistening and you're someone
that is like me who pretty muchhasn't struggled with anything
other than stupid things thatyou've done, one of which is,
(02:04):
believe it or not, break my armriding a bull or, you know,
falling off of ladders or hit mythumb with a hammer or something
like that. Pretty much selfinflicted stupid stuff. It's
sometimes it's hard to relate topeople that live a life that's
constantly a challenge.
And, you know, we're coming offof a time, when we just had the
(02:26):
Olympics, and it's you see allthese outstanding physically fit
amazing athletes, and then it'sfollowed by the the,
Paralympics. Yeah. And then yousee the people that really
inspire you. Mhmm. And yourealize, man, these people are
something else.
Well, Emily Rose, her storyinvolves type 1 diabetes. And we
(02:50):
kinda wanna unpack what that'slike. A lot of folks have some,
misconceptions about what type 1diabetes is. They mix it up with
type 2 diabetes.
Emily (02:59):
Oh my goodness.
Ray (03:00):
But I thought, you know, what might be kinda neat, Emily
and Stephanie, is if we kindajust told the story. And so,
Stephanie, if, you know, youkinda lean into the mic there,
why don't you just kinda tellfolks kinda when we started
realizing something was up withEmily, and it was when she was
very young and, what, 2a half, 3years old?
Stephanie (03:21):
3 years 3.
Ray (03:22):
3 years old.
Stephanie (03:23):
Mhmm.
Ray (03:23):
We started noticing some things about her that really
became real alarming.
Stephanie (03:29):
So she was 3 years old and 3, almost 4.
Emily (03:33):
We put that in there.
Stephanie (03:34):
Mhmm. And Sofia had just, had strep, and so I kept
thinking that, Emily wasprobably about to get strep.
Ray (03:45):
Sofia is her younger sister. Yes.
Stephanie (03:47):
Yeah. And so I kept my eye on her, but at the same
time, it was right aroundChristmas, and so we were really
busy. And, the older kids werehelping take care of Emily. But
I would make dinner, and Emilywould go say she needed to go to
(04:11):
the bathroom, and then I wouldrealize she's not at the table.
And I would go look for her, andshe would be on the couch or
somewhere asleep.
Ray (04:19):
Mhmm.
Stephanie (04:20):
And so, I would be I would be thinking, what is going
on? And so that caught myattention. And so that went on
for a couple of days, and thenshe started, getting just a
little more lethargic and notlooking exactly right. And so,
Emily (04:39):
the dark circles under my eyes, I remember seeing
pictures, looked very sick.
Ray (04:44):
One more thin. It's like we thought she was in a growth
spurt. We thought she wasgrowing, and maybe she was just
getting skinny. But she wasusually
Stephanie (04:52):
had a distended stomach. Mhmm. And so, one
evening when things startedgetting really bad, I gave her a
a bath, and I just took her inand gave her a bath. And I
thought that she had a reallybad headache. She had other
things that were going on andbut when I saw her in the
(05:12):
bathtub, I thought something isreally, really wrong with my
child.
Something is desperately wrong.And so and she fell asleep again
in the bathtub. And so And
Emily (05:26):
I was wetting the bed. I mean, there was
Stephanie (05:28):
things that
Emily (05:28):
I just don't normally I didn't normally do.
Stephanie (05:31):
Yeah. She she didn't wet the bed anymore, but she had
wet the bed, like, twice, andshe was and she slept through
that. And she also could get adrink by herself, and so she was
probably going to get a drink atthe refrigerator much more often
than what we even knew becauseshe would just go fill up her
(05:52):
cup.
Ray (05:54):
We didn't know at the time. These were kind of classic
signs.
Stephanie (05:57):
But we didn't know to
Ray (05:59):
Constant thirst, urination, loss of weight, and the eyes in
the dark spots, and reallygetting to the point of being
very lethargic. And we we got tothe point of they were like,
something is not right. Is itthe flu? Is it strep? Mhmm.
And I'll never forget whathappened next.
Stephanie (06:17):
Yeah. So the next morning, I immediately made her
an appointment to thepediatrician, and so we took
her. And Ray and I went togetherbecause we had used a Google
doctor the night before. And andthen and we knew that something
was probably really bad.
Ray (06:37):
When you say Google doctor, you mean, like, doctor Google?
Exactly. We we went online. Wedidn't really know. I didn't
really have a clue that this isthe news we were about to hear
was about to hit us in the face.
Stephanie (06:47):
Right.
Ray (06:47):
So we we take her into the office. The doctor gives her an
examination, takes blood test.
Stephanie (06:55):
No. He wants to he wants her to go urinate. Yeah.
And so, I take her in there, andshe does. And I am wanting him
to swab her throat because I'mthinking strap strap.
Please let this be strap. And hedoesn't even do that. When he
sees Emily, he immediately justwants her to he just wants to
(07:20):
catch her urine and test it. Andit was so off the chart, he
couldn't even, test it in hisoffice. So before he came in to
the room with us, he already hadher set up at Baptist Hospital.
Ray (07:38):
Right. And and was concerned I can't remember if it
was then that they did the bloodtest or later at the hospital.
Stephanie (07:43):
Was at the hospital. Okay.
Ray (07:43):
It was later at the hospital. That's when they did
the blood test. But what I doremember, the more you learn
about diabetes, they have waysof testing your blood sugar.
And, basically, Emily's bloodsugar was off of the chart.
Mhmm.
There was no there was noreading. It was just high. Mhmm.
Like, 525 or whatever would behigh.
Stephanie (08:05):
Well, in the office, the highest that it could be is
600. Okay.
Emily (08:09):
And
Stephanie (08:09):
so she was well above 600.
Emily (08:12):
So, like, keep in mind, folks, the average blood sugar
stays within 80 to 120. Yeah.
Ray (08:18):
So
Emily (08:18):
80 to 120.
Ray (08:19):
And so and what this means is and we didn't know it at the
time, bottom line is her bodyhad lost the ability to process
sugar. And your body has ahormone called insulin that
basically breaks down that bloodsugar and allows that blood
sugar to get into, your body's,your bloodstream. It's in your
(08:41):
bloodstream, but it allows yourcells to absorb the energy that
the glucose is.
Emily (08:46):
Right.
Ray (08:47):
But for whatever reason, we now have learned that the
pancreas, the, it's I I would Iwould say,
Emily (08:55):
oh, yeah.
Ray (08:55):
We're basically attacked, and their job is to tell the
body how to process thisinsulin. And I like to put it
this way, it's like trying toput a square peg into a round
hole.
Stephanie (09:06):
Mhmm.
Ray (09:06):
And the sugar literally is a square cube, and it's it's
kind of like trying to get intothe the body. And it can't get
in because it's not shapedproperly, and the insulin, for
lack of a better term, rounds itoff and lets it get in into the
body the way it's supposed tobe. And in Emily's case, the
sugar was building up into herbody, and so these this sugar
(09:28):
count was off the chart beyond600. Like you said, a lot of
times, it's anywhere from 80 to120. And, ultimately, what can
happen here is that you canbecome go into ketoacidosis,
which can cause coma, which shewas in.
It becomes an emergency, and youcan actually die from this
basically an overdose of sugar.
Stephanie (09:49):
Mhmm.
Ray (09:50):
And we had no idea at the time. We've since learned all of
this as well. And so the doctorwalks back into the office. I'm
thinking, okay. We're gonna youknow, he's gonna send us home.
We're gonna hydrate. We're gonnado whatever. And he says, I need
you to take Emily to theemergency room at Baptist to
have you, set up with thedoctors there. She has diabetes,
(10:11):
and it's an emergency. She needsto go now.
Stephanie (10:14):
He says you you have one of 2 choices. Either I'm
gonna call an ambulance oryou're or you're going to go
now. Yeah.
Ray (10:22):
Yeah.
Stephanie (10:22):
That was our choices.
Ray (10:24):
And I you know, it's kind of a blur at this point. And
here she is, your 3 year old,blonde hair, blue eyed little
girl, and your world just startsspinning out of control. And
you're thinking, no, not my mychild. And if you're out there
and you've you've ever had adiagnosis of cancer or leukemia,
you know what we're talkingabout. If you've had a loved one
that's had this diagnosis, youjust you don't wanna believe it.
(10:47):
And I really mean this, and I'vebeen through a lot of my life if
you've ever heard my story. Mymy my own father trying to take
my life and the life we grew upwith with kids. I will tell you
even to this day, and I hope itI hope it's never gets worse
because this was terrible. Idescribed this as the worst day
of my life. And so the doctorsays you've gotta get her to the
(11:08):
hospital immediately, so I takehim away my arms.
We get out to the car. She'sstarving to death because her
body can't get the energy sheneeds. She eats. Her body then
tries to get rid of it by,asking for more water. The water
is trying to flush out thesugar.
Stephanie (11:23):
Well,
Ray (11:24):
then your bladder's full, so you try to urinate, but
you're getting zero benefit ofwhat the food you're eating.
Right. So as much as you'reeating, you're not getting any
benefit from it. So you'reliterally diabetes is a disease
where you literally starve todeath. Mhmm.
You're starving yourself todeath. And until not until 1925
Yep. Was insulin invented. Andwhen you, were diagnosed with
(11:47):
diabetes before 1925, it was adeath sentence.
Emily (11:52):
Slow, terrible death. Terrible, terrible. And then
they would say that thetreatment back then was to not
give the patient any food. Sothink about that. That's crazy.
Ray (12:04):
Yeah. And so you literally are just starving to death, not
only from the disease, but thenin those days, they tried to cut
back. Well, what they're tryingto do is keep your blood sugar
from rising. So at the end ofthe day, diabetes is this this
constant 247 every minute, everysecond of the day of trying to
balance your blood sugar,finding somewhere between 80a150
(12:28):
if you're lucky Mhmm. Andsometimes going higher.
And then the other side of thatis going getting too much
insulin and going way, way lowand passing out from that kind
of a hypoglycemic moment. Mhmm.But but getting back to the
story, we we load up, and I'mshe's starving. Daddy, I'm
hungry. I'm hungry.
And so I, I do what any dadwould wanna do. I was totally
(12:50):
ignorant, didn't know. Well, Itake her to McDonald's and I get
her a a, vanilla ice cream. Theabsolute stupidest worst thing I
could have done, but in someways, I'm glad I did. But I'm
glad we're on our way to thehospital because I could have
killed her.
And I get there, and the thingthat is just horrible is they
take her in immediately. Theyrush her in. They this 3 year
(13:11):
old little girl, strap her intothis I don't know what you call
it. Not really a gurney, butbottom line is they they put one
arm one way. They put the otherarm another way, strap her arms
down, and literally just startstabbing her with IVs and and
needles and taking her bloodsugar.
And she's crying out to me,daddy, daddy, make them stop.
Make them stop. What are yougonna say?
Stephanie (13:32):
Yeah. But it is the only thing they can do because
she's so dehydrated at thatpoint, they can't they cannot
even find a vein. Right. So itis a a horrible, horrible thing
to watch, but at the same time,it's it's the only thing that's
gonna save her life. Yeah.
Right. It has to be.
Ray (13:49):
It has to happen, but it doesn't mean it's not any more
horrifying as if for a daddy towatch somebody basically torture
your daughter and then to haveher look over at you with her
eyes and make them stop. Mhmm.And it's just it just crushed
me. Yeah. I mean, it was beyondpitiful.
Emily (14:06):
Yeah.
Ray (14:07):
And they're using, you know, the lancets that you look
more like a dug on buoy knife,and they're they're, like,
draining her, and it's touch andgo. We don't know what's gonna
happen. And then walks in a guy,
Stephanie (14:20):
you
Ray (14:20):
know, we get emotional thinking about this doctor
that's been a big part of ourlife is doctor Domek. And so
many people have learned whodoctor Domek is, and he has made
life so much better for so many.The calming force that walks in
the room and says, we're gonnaget this. We're gonna be okay.
And he's become a lifelongfriend of our family and someone
(14:41):
that we cherish very dearly.
He and his wife, Sharon, aretruly angels here on earth. And
she started to get better.There's no cure for diabetes.
No. So when I say better, I meanbetter in that moment.
Meaning, she wasn't gonna die atthat moment, but we were gonna
fight for another day, anddoctor Domic had her under
(15:05):
control.
Stephanie (15:05):
Mhmm.
Ray (15:06):
And you wanna
Stephanie (15:07):
So immediately you're educated in what to do.
Ray (15:15):
It's not it's not easy. No. So I don't know if you guys
wanna talk about any more aboutthe hospital stay, but I wanna
talk about something after thehospital stay.
Stephanie (15:22):
Okay. Yeah. Go for it.
Emily (15:23):
Do you
Ray (15:23):
wanna say something about that? So, I mean, friends and
family and everything, we westart to see our little girl
coming back. She's starting toget nutrition. I can't remember
how many days we're in thehospital, but
Emily (15:34):
Just one.
Stephanie (15:34):
Because it's because doctor Domet, he does not want
you to have to his goal is thatyou only stay in the hospital
for one day if he can get youunder control, and then he has
everybody that is gonna betaking care of the child. You go
get educated the next day. Yeah.So we gotta care of him.
Ray (15:53):
We gotta crash, you know, crash course in how to deal with
diabetes. Our world is spinning.You if you think I'm foggy about
all this, you're absolutelyright because I'm still
traumatized by it. But, anyway,I remember, we're loading up and
we're in a and, we're headinghome, and I get a phone call. To
this day, I'll never forget.
I get a phone call. A friend ofmine calls me and says, hey. I
(16:15):
saw where you called. I wascalling you back. And I said,
hey, Gary.
I didn't I didn't call you. Hesays, no, man. I kinda right
here. You called me. He says, Ididn't call you.
He said, well, that's odd. Hesaid, hey. What's up? And I
said, well, if I told you, youwouldn't believe me. I said, I'm
leaving the hospital, and my 3year old little girl was just
diagnosed with diabetes.
And, man, I'm my world is out ofcontrol, and I'm just really sad
(16:37):
and upset. And the phone callwas quiet. And Gary said, hey,
man. I don't know if you knowthis, but my daughter was
diagnosed at 3 with diabetes.
Stephanie (16:49):
Mhmm. And He said, I know why why I'm calling you.
Ray (16:53):
Yeah. I know why I'm calling you, and, now I know why
I'm calling you. And my daughterwas diagnosed at 3 with
diabetes, and I just I just wantyou to know that you're gonna
get through this. Yeah. You'regonna get through this.
And that was the beginning of somany, I'm just going to call it
(17:13):
what it is, supernaturalencounters along the way. And as
terrible as this thing is,there's been amazing things that
have happened along the way, butyou did that was not an
accident. And there was a dadwho got the news about his
daughter. It sound like I'mmaking it all about me. I'm just
the one watching, but I'm justtrying to relate to the parents
(17:35):
out there.
Emily (17:35):
Yeah.
Ray (17:35):
For sure. It's it's it's terrible. It's just terrible.
And so we get home, and it's awhole new day, our our way we
cook, the way we live. And notonly were are we fighting sugar
highs Yeah.
Now we're fighting sugar lows.Yep. So that's the story.
Stephanie (17:55):
Yes. And the whole the whole way we eat, every
everything that we brought intothe house was different.
Emily (18:04):
Yeah.
Stephanie (18:05):
So We changed everything. And but I do wanna
bring this up. The other thingthat was really hard during that
time was that Emily was soyoung, she couldn't tell us how
she felt. Yeah. And I think thatparents that have young
children, when they're diagnosedyoung, that is one of the
really, really hard things isthat they they can't tell you
(18:25):
how they feel and a lot of timeswith diabetes they go off of how
they feel if they're high orlow.
Ray (18:32):
And that's that's a point that we need to make here. It
used to be type 1 diabetes wasreferred to as juvenile diabetes
because it was more likely thannot that you would, contract
this disease. And they don'tknow if it's most they mostly
think it's inherited. There'sthere's a lot of different ways
that they you can contract it,but pretty much, it can be
inherited. And we Stephanieparticipates in a study down in
(18:56):
Dallas, that they're trying todiscover the roots and the why
behind diabetes.
We have since learned that shecarries the antibodies that,
contributed to Emily's diabetes.I don't bring that up to be
ugly. That's just a fact. And,it used to be known as juvenile
diabetes, but truth of thematter is you don't have to be a
juvenile to get type 1 diabetesanymore. No.
(19:17):
Type 1 diabetes is more commonamong younger people, and type 2
diabetes is a different type ofof diabetes, and you don't have
to necessarily have injections.You can actually take a pill for
that. Type 1 diabetes, you haveto have injections. You are
dependent upon insulininjections for the rest of your
life and trying to figure outjust how much insulin to take at
(19:39):
the just right time based uponthe number of carbs you've had
and protein and exercise and howhot you are and whether or not
you're having your womanly cycleand whether or not you're mad at
your boyfriend or girlfriend oryour husband or your dog or
whoever. It's it's you basicallybecome your own pancreas.
Mhmm. And, there are a lot ofadvancements that have been made
since 1925. Thank god for themen that discovered diabetes.
(20:03):
They tested dogs. Honey bear,maybe you're here in honor of
those puppies.
Mhmm. They tested it on dogs,but, Emily, I think it'd be good
for everybody if you do kindadescribe to people what is type
1 diabetes and, fill people inon exactly what it's like to
have it.
Emily (20:20):
Goodness. So diabetes so I'm just so everybody knows, I'm
married. So, diabetes is mysecond spouse. It's the best way
I like to describe it now.
Ray (20:34):
Which one's worse? I'm curious.
Stephanie (20:35):
Oh my gosh. You're terrible.
Emily (20:37):
You're terrible. But diabetes in a lot of ways, it's
amazing because it's grown me inways that I think nothing else
could have. But then, I mean,the seasons that I've gone
through with it, Terrible. Like,at the end of the day, like,
(20:58):
that's that's the best word Ican describe is I mean, there I
I didn't even want to take careof myself because I thought,
what is the point if this is therest of my life?
Ray (21:07):
So describe what it means terrible. How does it affect
you? How does it affect yourbody? You've had it since you're
3.
Emily (21:13):
Yeah.
Ray (21:13):
You're pretty well used to being feeling bad, but what are
some of the symptoms that youdeal with?
Emily (21:20):
So symptoms as far as I mean, my blood sugar,
especially, through my hormonalchanges and puberty, I could
literally do everything right. Icould try my hardest, and my
blood sugar would still beeither too high, too low, just
never good enough. And so a lotof, I guess, my childhood was
(21:43):
figuring out how to be okay withthe highs and the lows and
understand that it's just it'sjust the day.
Stephanie (21:52):
It's just not an exact sign. Right. That's what I
would always say. This is not anexact sign.
Ray (21:57):
Tell people what it's like when your blood blood sugar is
high.
Emily (22:00):
So when my blood sugar is high, and this is very much just
dependent on the person. I knowa lot of different diabetics
have different symptoms, but forme personally, I am thirsty as
all get out. I get nauseous,headaches, body aches. Sometimes
I sweat for no reason. My heartis racing.
(22:22):
There's a lot of other things,but those are the main ones that
really affect me if I'm not, youknow
Ray (22:26):
And left unattended without insulin, you could go into a
coma and
Stephanie (22:30):
Yeah.
Ray (22:31):
That would be Easily. Yeah. And and it can spike and go
fast. Ketoacidosis, one of theways that you can test that, you
know, obviously, you can testyour sugar, but a lot of people
are aware of the keto diet
Stephanie (22:43):
And
Ray (22:43):
you can get keto, strips.
Stephanie (22:45):
Mhmm.
Ray (22:46):
And you can test
Stephanie (22:47):
the
Ray (22:47):
amount of, protein that you're spilling out of your,
urine with those strips. Andthen those, a lot of times, will
tell you if they're dark. It'slike, man, you are really,
really sick. Yeah.
Stephanie (23:01):
I could tell if Emily was in we just called it keto in
our house. We just shortened itMhmm. Just when she would come
into a room because she just hadthat smell on her. There's just
a lot of people call it a sweetsmell, but to me, it was
Ray (23:17):
Kinda fruity.
Stephanie (23:18):
Yeah. But for me, it was a sick smell. Mhmm. Emily
just would smell sick, and Iwould say you are in keto. Yeah.
So we gotta get you out fast.
Ray (23:27):
So then there's the other side, and that's the lows. But I
I wanna try to give people anidea. So let's just imagine that
you and I are healthy and ourblood sugar is running between
80 and a 100, a 120, somewherein there. We go and we have a
hamburger fries and a soda pop.
Stephanie (23:47):
With ketchup.
Ray (23:48):
With ketchup.
Stephanie (23:49):
Yeah.
Ray (23:49):
And your body recognizes this really pretty much as I'm
gonna simplify it with asproteins and carbohydrates. And
those carbohydrate heartcarbohydrates are, transferred
into glucose, and that glucosegets into your bloodstream and
is burnt as energy. Protein too,but
Stephanie (24:07):
And some fiber. And some fiber.
Ray (24:09):
So we're we're simplifying. Mhmm. And the bottom line is my
body my pancreas says, hey. Wegot a lot of blood, sugar in the
blood. We need to give it a shotof insulin, and so my my
pancreas shoots insulin into mybloodstream.
Mhmm. And it my it's a miracle.It's amazing. I don't know how
it works.
Emily (24:26):
God's designed.
Ray (24:27):
God's designed. Our pancreas knows how much insulin
to give us to neutralize orreshape the way I said it
earlier, reshape that sugar atthe just right level
Stephanie (24:37):
Mhmm.
Ray (24:37):
To get it into our body so that our body can absorb it. Now
if our body doesn't doesn't burnit,
Stephanie (24:43):
it
Ray (24:43):
turns it into fat. We know what happens there at all.
Right? Well, in Emily's case anda lot of other type 1 diabetics
and type 2 diabetics, their bodydoesn't do that and so they have
to have some outside source. Andin this case, it's an artificial
hormone that, that's nowproduced insulin.
It comes in different forms, andyou can get that through an
injection.
Emily (25:03):
Yep.
Ray (25:03):
And and it's a ratio of knowing. So, like, give an
example. If you eat so manycarbs, how many units of insulin
do you give yourself based oncarbohydrates?
Emily (25:12):
Right. So everyone's different and, you really I
mean, we have gone through yearsof trying to find the best, I
call it, algorithm for me,especially with my health care
team. And so, let's say I'mgonna eat 20 grams of carbs and
then give myself 2 units ofinsulin.
Ray (25:30):
So give an example of something that has 20 grams of
carbs.
Emily (25:34):
Let's do an apple.
Stephanie (25:35):
That's what I was gonna say.
Ray (25:36):
Okay. An apple. So you're eating really healthy.
Emily (25:38):
Yeah. So
Ray (25:38):
so you have an apple. We go and we eat an apple. No big
deal.
Stephanie (25:42):
Right.
Ray (25:42):
You eat an apple, you're going, okay. I had an apple.
What else have I been doingtoday? Right. I've gotta get out
either a needle and injectmyself or thank God we have now
an an insulin pump.
But you just can't eat an apple.
Emily (25:56):
No. I have to think about every lick, nibble, and bite
that goes into my mouth, andsometimes drink. You gotta think
about
Ray (26:04):
that too. If you have if you had a standard Coca Cola.
Emily (26:07):
Oh my word. Don't even. Yeah. Those are
Stephanie (26:09):
doesn't drink Coke.
Ray (26:10):
Well, I know. But if she did Yeah. I'm gonna
Stephanie (26:12):
I'm trying
Ray (26:13):
to, you know, people are out there listening. They're
like
Emily (26:15):
Yeah.
Ray (26:16):
I haven't I've stopped by the the convenience store. I had
to pick up a soda pop. And
Emily (26:20):
An average soda pop would raise my blood sugar about 200
points.
Stephanie (26:25):
200 points. At least at least. That was that is how
our life changed. Like, we neverwent to Sonic and just got a
Slush anymore. We never went andgot an Icee.
Ray (26:37):
We have 6 kids, and so everybody's like, no more Icee?
Thanks, Emily. And so there'sall of that. But so bottom line
is your your part your head isprobably spinning at this point,
and that's part of what we wantyou to experience because this
is what the diabetic the thediabetic lives every day, and
you can kinda get on top of it.But let's just say this, it is
(26:59):
exhausting.
Exhausting. Yeah. And you haveto kind of become your own
pancreas. You have to think likea pancreas.
Stephanie (27:06):
Mhmm.
Ray (27:06):
And so you're constantly battling that. And when she was
younger, it was injections, andwe'd have to draw insulin. We'd
have the sticker. We'd have topoke her. But now we have, the
the the technology.
There's a lot of insulin pumpsout there, and we have not only
that, but also devices thatmonitor our blood sugar.
Emily (27:25):
CGMs. Those are awesome.
Ray (27:26):
CGMs. I kinda call them a bionic pancreas. I don't know if
that's fair.
Emily (27:31):
Yeah.
Ray (27:31):
Now that's not exactly like, oh, you just install it,
and it's like getting a
Stephanie (27:37):
No.
Ray (27:37):
You know, something put into your car. You know, you
have a dual exhaust. No. That'snot what it is. This is ugly as
well.
You have to put it into yourbody. You have to push it in
with a needle that's very ugly.It's under the skin, not just
for the pump, but also for the,
Emily (27:55):
the
Ray (27:56):
the sensor. And so then you're wired up. You look like
you're carrying around a beeperor pagers as some people may
call.
Stephanie (28:03):
A lot
Ray (28:03):
of people may not even know what that is anymore. But you're
you're wired for sound. You gottubes hanging off of you.
Emily (28:08):
Yep. Yep. It's not
Ray (28:09):
like you're just gonna go jump rope or go run through the
woods, you know. Mm-mm. You gotall these wires hanging off of
you. Feeling is somewhat normal,but even that can get out of
whack.
Stephanie (28:19):
Oh, it does.
Emily (28:20):
I mean, the best way I can describe walking around with
an insulin pump is it's aportable IV. That's what you're
walking around with 247. Soimagine, you know, being a
little kid and your arm kindajust matches up with the door
handle just perfectly to yourroom. So you walk into your room
and your little tube gets caughton that door and that thing pops
(28:41):
out.
Ray (28:41):
Right out.
Emily (28:41):
Oh my goodness. I can't tell you how many times that
would happen as a kid.
Ray (28:45):
So I wanna come back to the difference in type 1 and type 2.
Yeah. But since we're talkingabout the insulin pump, you
know, it's it's interestingbeing out in public, and we
cheered it. We've seen some wehave athletes. We're big
University of Oklahoma footballfans.
There's been some players thathave diabetes. We we could tell
you all the movie stars. Yeah.The the Jonas Brothers.
Emily (29:08):
Yeah. Wow, dad.
Ray (29:09):
There's a lot
Emily (29:09):
of not
Ray (29:10):
all of the Jonas Brothers. Nick.
Emily (29:11):
Right? Yeah. Nick Jonas.
Ray (29:14):
But different people have diabetes, and they wear the
insulin pumps. They're becomingmore and more recognizable.
Mhmm. But it's not funny, butit's kinda aggravating. Tell
people some of the experiencesyou have.
It's not like it's not badenough to have diabetes all
Right. Anyway. But you've been,like, called out by people
thinking
Emily (29:31):
Singled out, put down. Oh, yeah.
Ray (29:33):
Tell them.
Emily (29:34):
So one incident is what I like to call them, was actually
not too long ago. I was atTarget. I was running around
actually grabbing some snacks.So I think I was about to go on
a road trip, and, you know, Ihad, like, apples and a ton of
different stuff in my cart, butanyhoo, so I get in line to
check out, and I run into aKaren Oh, gosh. As the
(29:56):
youngsters know.
And I am just standing thereminding my own business, and
this lady just blankly says, areyou recording? Excuse me? Are
you recording? And I I turnedaround and said, ma'am, what?
How how can I help you?
What's wrong? And she says,you're recording. You've been
walking around recording people.I've seen you. I've been
(30:17):
watching you.
Ray (30:18):
Like, you had an undercover mic with all your
Stephanie (30:20):
Yeah.
Emily (30:20):
And so I I said, ma'am, I really don't know what you're
talking about. And she said, Ican see it plain as day on your
back. I see the mic pack on yourback. And I I oh my goodness. So
many thoughts were runningthrough my mind in that moment.
But one, it was reallyinteresting. The lord was kinda
like, listen. When they pointthe finger at you, you point the
(30:44):
finger up to me. So I allowedthis to happen, and it's for a
reason. So, anyways, moving on.
But I I tell her, I was like,ma'am, this is an insulin pump.
I'm a type 1 diabetic. I'm notrecording you. Promise. And she
doesn't really say a word.
She just kinda looks at me witha blank face and then goes and
(31:06):
switches lines, actually, so shedidn't have to stand behind me
anymore.
Ray (31:09):
So am I.
Emily (31:11):
So that's just one story. There are plenty, plenty others,
which is really sad. I kindalike to use the term don't judge
a book by its cover. Oh mygoodness. Especially going
through the TSA, that has beenthe we've had some moments.
Brutal brutal stuff. But, yeah,that's just one story. I have I
have a lot in my pocket forsure.
Ray (31:32):
And that's just on top of everything else you deal with.
Now now you mentioned somethingthat I think it's worth pointing
out. You mentioned your faith.And you really have had a lot of
questions for God,
Stephanie (31:44):
but
Ray (31:45):
you also give God a lot of credit for getting you through.
Emily (31:47):
Yeah.
Ray (31:48):
Your mother and I certainly do. Let's touch on that, and
then I wanna come back to type1, type 2. But what role has
your faith played in managingdealing with diabetes?
Emily (32:02):
So, one, I just want all the listeners out there to
understand I'm not perfect, andI haven't always had this
mindset and heart towardsdiabetes. At one point, I
thought it literally was a curseover my life. I thought I was
getting punished for something.I didn't know what. But as I got
(32:23):
older, I started to realize,wow.
The lord allowed me to havethis, and I say I say allow to
have, not give. He didn't givethis to me. He allowed it. Mhmm.
He allowed it to happen becausehe knew with it, I would further
his kingdom more than I wouldwithout.
Stephanie (32:42):
Mhmm.
Emily (32:43):
It took me a while to get to that point in my life. I've
had this for almost 18 years.
Ray (32:49):
Mhmm.
Emily (32:49):
Almost 18 years. That is crazy to say out loud. And I
think to pain connects us toeach other, but then also the
lord. There were days where Iliterally would have to pray for
strength to put a needle in myarm or leg or like, lord, I just
don't wanna do this anymore.Like, I need you to come and
(33:11):
intercede on my behalf.
Give me the strength. I don'twant my strength. My strength is
weak compared to your strength.I want you. So, yeah, it it's
really strengthened myrelationship with the lord in
that way.
Something that could've easilymade me turn away from him has
really just turned me moretowards him. So
Ray (33:31):
You know, one of the things that I'll never forget, you
know, I'll re I remember where Iwas sitting, and I remember it
was years ago, and the Olympicswere on. And you came to me and
you said, dad, why did God giveme diabetes?
Stephanie (33:43):
Mhmm.
Ray (33:45):
Oh, man. If you're a parent out there and you have a child
that has a handicap or any kindof special challenge, you wanna
talk about a tough one? It'slike, well, let's just pick up
the phone and call God rightnow. I have a few questions
myself.
Emily (33:58):
Yeah.
Ray (33:59):
And I had a presence of mind that I told you. I said,
you know what? I said, thoselittle girls are watching in
gymnastics and they're on theOlympics. They're special, and
they have the strength to to dowhat they they do. And all I can
tell you is is that you'respecial and that god must have
known that you can handle this,and he's gonna give you the
strength
Stephanie (34:18):
to
Ray (34:18):
be the little girl that he wants you to be. One of the
things I that bothers me issometimes when I help you hear
people say this, they say, well,I think God's given you this so
you can just relate to otherpeople. How cynical to think
that God wants to give peoplestuff so they can help other
people that are stuck withstuff. That's I just don't see
(34:39):
how a loving God would do that.And I and I think that while he
allows it
Emily (34:44):
Mhmm.
Ray (34:45):
He guarantees and we live in a fallen world. Disease is a
part of what we recognize. We'reall gonna die somehow, someway,
some at some point.
Stephanie (34:52):
Mhmm.
Ray (34:52):
I'm not and we have trust me. We we know I've gone on a 40
day fast. Mhmm. You know, whenwe believe that God can heal.
Mhmm.
He had just chosen not to heal.We've now on a 40 day fast
expecting these types only comeout through prayer and fasting.
That's just our faithbackground. That's what we
believe. We believe in healing.
(35:12):
We've seen people be healed, butyou have not been.
Stephanie (35:15):
And
Ray (35:15):
I remember on the 40th day holding in my arms thinking,
Lord, are you gonna heal uswithin the next few hours?
Because we've been praying andasking for you to heal Emily,
and I lost £40 in 40 days. And Iwas believing, and and it didn't
happen. You wanna talk aboutbeing upset and frustrated, and
I'm shaking your hand at God.But what we've learned is and
(35:36):
your mom's been on a journeywith her health too.
Somewhere along the way, werecognize that god is with me.
And all I can say is this, thisis the best I've got and I'm not
speaking for you, is that it'sbetter within than without him.
Emily (35:49):
Absolutely.
Ray (35:50):
And whether you believe in him or you don't, I can just
tell you, I I don't know how weget through it. I know he can,
but he's chosen not to. Andwhether it's conversations or
how he's made you stronger, butthis I know, This I know. God
doesn't waste pain.
Emily (36:06):
No. Not at all.
Ray (36:08):
And with all the pain that you have been through and the
pain that people with, cancer gothrough, breast cancer, and
leukemia, and all the uglydiseases that are out there, I
just want people to know thatit's not wasted. You're an
inspiration. I I don'tunderstand always how you're an
inspiration. I don't know howit's not wasted, but the only
(36:29):
thing that gets me through it isis trusting that it's that it's
not it's not wasted. Mhmm.
And we've had specialencounters. I mean, we've had
times when Emily has been asleepat night. That's one of the
times, you know
Emily (36:45):
Before CGMs, I might wanna add to all those diabetics
out there. I mean, I grew up ina culture where CGMs weren't
really a thing. Pumps were evenpretty new, especially at my
age. I was, I I think, one ofthe first in Oklahoma, actually,
as a 5 year old to be put on aninsulin pump.
Ray (37:04):
It wasn't FDA approved. We got approval for you to be on
it.
Emily (37:07):
Right. So that's that was, I think, the game changer
for me personally. So forparents out there, I know it's
expensive. I know it's hard. Ifif you can somehow, someway, at
least get your child on a CGM.
Ray (37:21):
Tell them what a CGM is.
Emily (37:23):
So a CGM is a continuous glucose monitor. So instead of,
you know, pricking your finger10 to 15 times a day
Ray (37:30):
Terrible.
Emily (37:32):
You literally just have a little wearable device that
tracks your blood sugar and,gives you a reading every 5
minutes. And you can look atthat reading on your mobile
device. So it's really cool.Highly recommend it. Highly,
highly, highly recommend it.
Ray (37:49):
I I wanna say this now before I forget. If you're
listening today and you'rethinking, oh my goodness, my
child's been diagnosed withdiabetes. I've been diagnosed
with diabetes. We just wannagive you the opportunity. If you
go to our website, in insidelook dot com, in inside look dot
com, there's a there's a sectionthere to contact us.
And if you just wanna, send yourinformation to us, we'll get it
(38:10):
to Emily. And I promise you,she'll reach out to you. She'll
email you, and she'll talk toyou about the journey she's been
on. We're not saying that she'sgot it all figured out, but she
can certainly share share herstory with you. And we'll just
make that available to you ifyou wanna go to an inside
look.com and contact us, and wemay mention that a little later.
Stephanie (38:27):
If I wouldn't have had, some parents reach out to
me at the very beginning, Iwould not have had just those
little special things told to meof how to take care of Emily
better.
Ray (38:40):
Insanity.
Stephanie (38:41):
Well and they just gave me
Emily (38:43):
all those little special tips. Yeah. Tips and tricks,
really. Honey is now I say honeyis great. I absolutely cannot
stand to eat honey now.
I oh my goodness. I cannot doit. But so, like, as a kid, if
my blood sugar was just droppingreally fast, we could not get it
up. We've had the juice boxes.You know, we've had the cookies.
(39:03):
We've tried everything to bringit up. We've taken the pump off.
Mhmm. You know, we've unhooked.The only thing, typically, that
would bring my blood sugar upwas a spoonful of honey.
Sometimes 2, sometimes 3. Butonce you hit that, it was kind
of the last resort thing, and italways brought it up.
Ray (39:21):
And the thing about Honey is is that if she's somewhat
conscious or unconscious
Stephanie (39:25):
Mhmm.
Ray (39:26):
You can put that in their mouth, and they won't choke.
Yeah. And it'll it'll absorbpretty immediately. That's the
thing about honey. We learnedthat from an older diabetic who
who taught us that trick.
And so if you're out there andyou have diabetes, you may carry
hard candy or peppermint stuff.You may carry glucose tablets. A
little packet of honey can go along ways. I know you're sick of
(39:46):
it, but it's a god given specialthing.
Emily (39:48):
Yeah.
Ray (39:49):
That's a it's a it's a great tip. While we're at it, I
wanna come back to type 1, type2. But tell us other tips. What
are some other tips?
Emily (39:58):
Oh my goodness. I could write a book.
Stephanie (40:00):
The little 4 ounce juice boxes. Boxes that don't
have to be refrigerated.
Emily (40:05):
Yeah. Those are
Stephanie (40:06):
awesome. With you.
Emily (40:07):
Mhmm. I would say, like, I'm I have more advice than tips
in general, but, so heat, cold,and heat, of the outdoors really
does affect our blood sugar,even hours after you've been in
it. So there have been 2 timesin my life where I've been
outside in a 100 degree weatherfor, you know, all day, and I
(40:32):
would have a seizure, by the bythe end of the day, in the
evening while I was sleeping.So, there's that. And then also
I've been in the cold all daylong on a film set, actually.
And I had a seizure because Ididn't and this this wasn't even
that long ago. So keep that inmind. I mean, I'm constantly
constantly learning things aboutthis ever changing disease.
Ray (40:55):
Ever changing. Within the year, this happens. So we're we
get a phone call. They're up inthe mountains of Oregon shooting
a movie.
Stephanie (41:01):
Utah.
Ray (41:02):
Utah. I said Oregon, Ogden. This was Yeah. In Utah. And they
can't get her to respond, andthey're struggling with getting
her conscious and what do theydo.
And talk about try to maintainyour composure, be calm knowing
that your daughter may not comeout of it. But the team was
there. Heston was there.Everybody pulled it together.
(41:23):
The Lord was there.
Thank goodness.
Emily (41:25):
Yeah.
Ray (41:25):
And and it happens. It sucks, but it it happens. And
even your age, and you try toget everything right. And then
Emily (41:31):
sometimes everything correct. I had alarms, set to
wake up in the middle of thenight just to check. I had food
sitting right by me. I had my,blood sugar meter right next to
me. I mean, I I was doingeverything I possibly could, and
that's another thing that I Iwould want to instill in someone
who's newly diagnosed is therewill be times where you do
(41:53):
everything and it still doesn'tmatter, and that's okay.
There's always an antidote.There's always something to fix
the problem. If you're low,you'll be okay. If you're too
high, you'll be okay. There'salways an antidote.
Stephanie (42:06):
And, one thing I was gonna say is that you are, like,
one of the most responsiblediabetics that I know of. And so
Emily (42:15):
I tend to grow into that.
Stephanie (42:16):
But it but if these things happen to you, and you're
so responsible, then it itreally is gonna happen.
Ray (42:26):
The thing about diabetes, and this is probably a a good
way to compare type 1 and type2, People tend to if they have
type 2, they don't have they'renot insulin dependent. That's
the word I would say. They theycan they can take tablets that
will
Emily (42:42):
adjust their their needs. And it's reversible, I might
add. Type 2 diabetes isreversible. You can you can not
have it anymore.
Ray (42:50):
Lose weight. Yeah. Get in shape.
Stephanie (42:52):
A lot
Ray (42:52):
of times people get get in a in a position to where they're
just not taking care ofthemselves. But here's what they
do. They ignore. Oh, I rock itaround 230, 250, sometimes 300
blood sugar. And, you know, I'mI'm doing fine.
And what they're not realizing,that's like sending razors into
your bloodstream, and you'rediscarding the inside of your
your blood vessels, and you'rebuilding up scar tissue.
Stephanie (43:14):
Mhmm.
Ray (43:14):
And, ultimately, you know, those stories you hear about
people losing limbs, theirextremities, their toes, their
feet, their hands, theirkidneys, their eyes, It's
because people don't take careof and keep those blood sugars
down, and they're destroyingtheir body literally from the
inside out. And it's a slow,miserable death. And there's no
way to reverse it because yourbody's so jacked up. And that's
(43:34):
the thing I would actually saythat maybe a gift that Emily has
given all of us is that we'velearned to to eat better, and
some of the trashy stuff that weput in our bodies are doing just
that. They're trashing ourbodies.
And because of Emily, we arenow, you know, healthier, but if
you're a type 1 or a type 2diabetes diabetic, for heaven's
sake, you can do this.
Stephanie (43:56):
Mhmm.
Ray (43:57):
So what are what are tips? What are some of the, Instagram
websites? Where are some of theplaces you go for input?
Emily (44:04):
Oh, that's so interesting. Okay. So I have a
few, we call them Instagraminfluencers. You those young
kids again. You guys know whatI'm talking about, That I
follow, I it's kinda hard for meto name them off the top of my
head if I'm honest.
Beyond type 1 has been oneresource. I think I think they
started their nonprofit up. NickJonas actually started up this
(44:27):
nonprofit, I think back in 2016,2015. They just have a lot of
great insights, resources,especially for newly diagnosed,
diabetics. So that is onewebsite that I would check out.
I may at the end of the,podcast, I I'll have a little
link down below where everybodycan
Ray (44:46):
And what's the guy's name? The the Beatty's or whatever?
Emily (44:50):
Yeah. The the Beatty's guy. That's what that's his
Instagram handle. That's great.Beatty's.
Yeah. The Beatty's.
Ray (44:55):
I love him. He's a he he's fun. Okay. Well, anything else
you'd say about the differencein type 1 and type 2?
Stephanie (45:02):
No. I don't
Emily (45:03):
think so. I think you you nailed it.
Ray (45:04):
Okay. And then tips. We talked about honey. We we talked
about recognizing the impactthat weather, hot and cold plays
on you.
Stephanie (45:12):
We we let Exercise. Exercise. Water. Water. Yes.
Water.
Emily (45:17):
Please, for the love. I'm not even the best at this. I'm
trying to get better. But waterour organs, guys, need water
more than anything really asidefrom insulin. Our our body
really does need water more thanmost people do.
So staying hydrated.
Stephanie (45:36):
Yeah. That's one thing whenever you would go
high, I would say, oh, you'renot drinking enough. I'm
drinking enough water. You'renot drinking enough. We've gotta
get water into you.
Yeah. And that's one thing Idon't think that newly
diagnosed, people realize isthat they have to just up the
(45:56):
water intake hugely. Yeah.
Ray (45:58):
So while we're on tips, one of the things before we started
the show today that you said youwanted to be sure and bring up
is and this is I think thisqualifies as a tip, is the power
of a team.
Stephanie (46:11):
Yeah. Yeah.
Ray (46:12):
We call it team Emily. Yeah. And, we've been a part of
the team Emily, team for quite awhile.
Emily (46:18):
Yeah.
Ray (46:18):
We've added a new member to the team, mister Hesto. Mister
Hesto, he's he's the theresident team member for you
now. Oh, yeah. He does a lot foryou and takes care of you.
Stephanie (46:28):
She's the head team member now.
Ray (46:30):
And, he's
Stephanie (46:30):
taking her on.
Ray (46:31):
And he's we're we're blessed by having him in your
life and couldn't think ofanybody better to help, help you
along in that regard. But talkabout this dynamic of a a team.
Emily (46:44):
So growing up, so, like, keep in mind, I was, you know,
number 5 out of 6 kids. I wasthe only one to have diabetes.
So all my I mean, statistically,guys, that's insane. Typically,
there's at least 2 other, kidsin the family with diabetes at
the number of kids that we have.Mhmm.
And so my siblings did anawesome job, especially my older
(47:07):
brother, Joshua. Shout out toyou. Mhmm. Coming alongside me
as well as my parents, but I'mtalking about siblings. Joshua
would help me put in the pumpsites.
Ray (47:17):
Mhmm.
Emily (47:18):
If if my parents ever had to go out of town due to work,
Joshua or Lorna Lane really werethe 2 that would keep me alive
until my parents got back.
Ray (47:28):
Those 2. And then some of the others, they're just looking
at you, and they'd pass outbecause they can't handle it.
But, you know, Lorna Lane, youroldest oldest of our siblings,
and Josh, they've somehow theyjust could handle it.
Stephanie (47:38):
And I think that they all were so good about looking
at Emily, knowing Mhmm. If hereyes look funny. We all know the
signs to look for if she washigh or low. And, they they were
all very, very helpful inconstantly making sure if Emily
(48:00):
was good.
Ray (48:01):
I I wanna say this. We never let really anything slow
us down. You and I as a couple,we never let our kids slow us
down. We didn't let we don'twe've never let any of our life
challenges slow us down. We'refighters.
We really haven't let diabetesbe an excuse. We're like, you
know what? It's just part of whowe are. It's part of of us. It's
gonna it's a character builder,and and we're gonna we're gonna
(48:23):
do what we need to do with it.
And so, you know, diabetes isjust part of life, and we make
it happen Yeah. Regardless. Wedon't we don't we don't make an
excuse. We don't make it acrutch.
Emily (48:37):
Now but we are cautious. We're wise in the choices that
we make. So, if I'm gonna go ona hike or I'm gonna go do
something outdoors, I'm not justgoing, not thinking that
diabetes is gonna hold me back.I plan and I'm and I execute the
plan. Yeah.
So that's, you know, bringingextra snacks, making sure I'm
hydrated. I mean, it's planning.You become an expert at planning
(49:01):
your everyday life.
Ray (49:02):
Thinking ahead. Yeah. You know, one of those little
packets, goo?
Emily (49:05):
Yeah. Goo, energy, little packets. Those things are
Ray (49:07):
a good one.
Emily (49:08):
Awesome.
Ray (49:08):
And I'm famous for saying this to the family is that
diabetes is not mind overmatter. Yeah. You cannot and
Emily, she gets her daddy shehas her daddy's attitude about
you can do anything if you thinkyou can. Diabetes will win if
you think that you can justthink your way through it or
push your way through it. Yourbody cannot overcome diabetes by
(49:32):
I think I can.
I think I can. You need torespond. You need to have a
plan.
Emily (49:37):
Right.
Ray (49:37):
If you're high, you need to know what to do. If you're low,
you need to know need to knowwhat to do. But, you know, it's
a big deal. So having a team,this is this is if you have a
loved one who has diabetes,you're on the team. You're
you're you're part of the team.
You're not setting the bench.You're part of the team.
Emily (49:54):
Mhmm. Absolutely. And that's what I think really
pushed me forward and kept mefrom really a lot of bad
situations was knowing, evenwhen I don't wanna do it,
somebody's gonna come and helpme, and that's okay. And it's
okay to need help. It's okay towant help.
(50:15):
I think too, like, that mindsetof Ray Sanders of I think I'm
gonna do it, and I can do it bymyself. That's that's what
really I I got from my dad, soit's kinda funny. But I had to
overcome that mindset even ofhumbling myself and realizing,
no. I need help, and that'sokay, and I'll be healthier for
(50:36):
it. So
Ray (50:37):
Okay. Let's kinda wrap this thing up. I have Mhmm. A couple
of things I wanna say. What haveyou learned from diabetes?
Emily (50:48):
That's a hard it's such a hard question because man. I've
learned how resilient I can be.Mhmm. I've because there were
(51:08):
days where I thought, okay. I Ijust don't want I've told this
you guys this before.
I just don't I wanna break. Idon't wanna do this anymore.
That's how
Ray (51:16):
give up.
Emily (51:17):
Yeah. I wanna give up. I just wanna be done. I mean, the
lord you know, we only get oneone life here on earth. Why is
it that this had to be my life?
You know? Mhmm. But the lordreally, really has shown me
though that it's through thisthat and I know you said
earlier, you know, god wouldn't,use this to help people
(51:40):
necessarily. That's not the kindof god he is. But in my
experience, when I'm out andabout and I see somebody with a
CGM on their arm or, a pump siteor they're taking their blood
sugar, I feel connected to thatperson.
Ray (51:52):
Sure.
Emily (51:53):
And so it's always cool. If you're a diabetic out there,
definitely, if you see anotherone, go up and talk to him. It
it connects us in ways. Theother day, this is crazy, I ran
into a 65 year old man with thesame exact insulin pump on his
hip as me. And so I I ran up tohim with my mask on, of course,
(52:14):
and I said, well, look at us.
We're we're we're matching. Andit was a great conversation. And
so it it's learned me how to,it's taught me, excuse me, how
to connect with people and thatthat's a gift from the lord.
It's taught me how strong I canactually be. It's taught me to
be responsible, resilient, a lotof different things.
Ray (52:37):
Say it this way. It's a platform.
Stephanie (52:41):
Mhmm. Yeah.
Ray (52:41):
It's a way for you to connect.
Stephanie (52:43):
Yeah.
Ray (52:43):
I don't think I don't think that you're necessarily cursed.
Emily (52:46):
No. No. No.
Ray (52:47):
You're allowed to have it, but now that you've been allowed
to have it, it becomes aplatform for all kinds of
things, strength, resilience,empathy.
Emily (52:55):
Yeah.
Ray (52:55):
How to care for people no matter what they have.
Emily (52:58):
Right.
Ray (52:58):
It's changed my perspective on life. I tell you one thing.
It makes me appreciate the factthat I don't have it.
Stephanie (53:04):
Mhmm. Yeah.
Ray (53:05):
I don't know how you do it. You're an inspiration to all of
us. You're everyone in thefamily. We've always said that
you're the the youngest 30 yearold, and we know. But, you are
an inspiration.
And if you're out therelistening, don't ever think that
you're not an inspiration.You're a fighter. You can do
this. We believe in you. Othersbelieve in you.
(53:29):
You inspire us by by what you'redoing.
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