October 6, 2021 • 63 mins
In this episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Tori, a soon-to-be mother of three whose first child, Jax, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes right before his first birthday. We get to hear Jax's diagnosis story and you'll get to listen in as Tori and I discuss making diabetes and insulin work for you instead of the other way around! We also dive a little into the childcare dilemma and getting over that scary hurdle of leaving your T1D in the hands of someone else. This episode is encouraging and empowering! Enjoy!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie (00:00):
Lawdy, Lawdy, lokk who's forty it's this episode, that's
who?
This is episode 40 of the sugarmamas podcast.
And today I'm talking with Tori.
Tori is a fellow T one D mom,whose son Jax was diagnosed with
type one right before.
He turned a year old today.
We'll get to hear Tory story andyou'll also get to hear Tory and
(00:20):
I discuss how important it is tomake diabetes and your insulin
work for you and your child.
Instead of the other way around,we also spend a little bit of
time talking about childcare ingeneral and mustering up the
courage to leave your T one Dwith someone else other than.
That's not always easy to do.
I think Tori would be a fabulousmom to follow on social media.
(00:42):
If you need some encouragementand help, especially if you're
the mom of a T one D toddler,you can find her on Instagram.
Her handle is at Tori tacklestoo.
I will link to that in the shownotes.
This is definitely anencouraging and empowering
episode, and I hope you enjoyit.
(01:03):
You're listening to the sugarmamas podcast, a show designed
for moms and caregivers of typeone diabetics here.
You'll find a community oflike-minded people who are
striving daily to keep theirkids safe, happy, and healthy in
the ever-changing world of typeone.
I'm your host and fellow T one Dmom, Katie Roseboro.
(01:33):
Before we get started.
I need you to know that nothingyou hear on the sugar mamas
podcast should be consideredmedical advice.
Please be safe, be smart, andalways consult your physician
before making changes to the wayyou manage type one diabetes.
Thanks.
Hey everybody.
I am here with Tori today andTori, I didn't say this before.
(01:54):
Cause we were chatting a littlebit just a second ago, but this
is my first recording that I'vedone in like two months, because
I just kind of made the decisionover the summer, not to record
anything while my kids were homefrom school, which made life a
lot easier.
But so if I'm a little rusty, Iapologize, but I'm excited to
have you on I'm like, oh, I gotto get back into the swing of
things with my recording.
(02:15):
I will have already told peoplea little bit about who you are,
but I always like for people tointroduce themselves.
Cause you can do it better thanI can.
So introduce yourself and tellus your connection to type one
diabetes.
Tori (02:25):
Yeah, my name is Tori and I have a three-year-old type one
diabetic, and I also have a oneand a half year old as well as
being pregnant with my thirdbaby.
Katie (02:36):
Oh, you.
are okay.
Congratulations.
Wow.
That's great.
I have three and three's great.
It's not always easy, but it's,it's a lot of, it's A good
Tori (02:45):
A little nervous,
Katie (02:46):
Yeah.
When's that one do.
Tori (02:48):
March.
So I'm newly, newly
Katie (02:50):
I was going to say, yeah, you got a ways to go.
Okay.
Well, why don't you tell us alittle bit about your it's your
son, right?
That has type one.
Okay.
Tell us a little bit about hisdiagnosis story.
Tori (03:02):
Yeah.
So he was 11 months old and Inoticed that he was a lot more
tired.
He was taking a lot of longernaps, but I just assumed that he
was going through gross birth asbabies do.
So and that probably startedaround 10 months old and he was
also wearing a lot of diapersand drinking a lot of water.
(03:25):
I had recently weaned him off ofbreastfeeding because I was
pregnant with my second child.
And so I just kind of wanted thebreak and my supply was kind of
dwindling.
And so I had gotten him on donormilk and he was just going
through so many bottles.
And so I was like, okay, you candrink water bottles of milk.
And he was just constantlyeating and all of those things,
(03:48):
you just think, oh, he's agrowing baby.
And I thought he was just thehealthiest little thing.
And he started to look a littleleaner, but kind of a backstory.
He had been in the 100 over atthe 100th percentile since he
was four months old.
I mean, at his four month oldappointment, he was 15, 15
(04:11):
pounds or 16 pounds.
And by six months he was 25pounds.
He was huge.
He was huge.
And so I remember at his ninemonth appointment, he had kind
of like let's vote.
And he was around 28 pounds andI was like, oh my gosh, he only
gained a couple pounds.
(04:31):
Great.
We're staying under 30.
And so I remember at 11 monthsold, I had taken him into the
pediatrician because he had beenconstipated for a little while.
And so for a good two to threeweeks, I remember thinking, oh,
like maybe it's just all the newfoods I'm introducing.
(04:52):
I've kind of started tointroduce whole mill.
Maybe the dairy is not sittingwith him.
And just little things that werekind of excused for awhile for
being hot baby.
And I remember taking him in andthe doctor was like, well, just
give him some juice andhopefully it'll pass.
(05:17):
So I did.
And I remember the next day hehad this, these horrible dark
circles under his eyes.
And he looked sick and I hadnever seen this baby sick.
So that day I was like, youknow, well, he doesn't have a
(05:38):
fever.
Maybe he's teething crying alot.
We'll take him out five.
And it was like a 90 degree day.
And I remember taking it to thesplash pad, the local splash
pad.
And I was like, oh, maybe hejust pulled down and, you know,
play in the water and perk rightup.
And he just stood there crying.
(05:58):
And so I took him to read asItalian, nice, so much sugar.
Right.
And I was like, you know, maybeI'll just treat him to an early
birthday because he was turningone in about a week
Katie (06:10):
a half.
Tori (06:11):
Right.
So,
Katie (06:13):
So
Tori (06:13):
so we take him to read his, and that night he froze up.
I was like, oh, maybe I didsomething wrong like a couple
days ago.
Maybe that's why he looks sick.
That he's getting foodpoisoning.
And then that Nike threw up inthe bed the next day.
He just couldn't hold anythingdown.
So this was on a Tuesday that Itook the slash.
(06:35):
So now Wednesday I call hispediatrician again, I go, he's
getting worse.
And so I, she hasn't come in onThursday.
And at this point he is justlooking so much leaner and she
didn't even take him back.
She just said, you know what?
I don't want to charge you.
Like, you know check-in fee.
(06:55):
I'm just gonna have you guys goto a gastroenterologist at the
children's hospital tomorrowmorning, which would have been
Friday because she was like, youknow, he's not going to the
bathroom and he's throwing up.
Maybe it's like a bowelobstruction, but no one ever
thought type one diabetes.
Right?
So we take him to the doctor orthe gastro on Friday morning.
(07:20):
And at this point he's breathingextremely happy.
And he wouldn't wake up and hewas just looking very, very
Melanie malnourished and and itwas just a period from like
Monday through Friday, you know?
And so we take him in and helooks at him and puts them on a
(07:41):
scale of his 21 pounds.
And that's why I wanted to letyou all know that he was 28
pounds, you know, that thatmonth.
So he had lost and they actuallyweighed him on that Monday when
I take them into thepediatrician for the
constipation.
And he was just 28 pounds.
So in between Monday throughFriday, he had lost that much
(08:02):
weight went from 28 to 21.
And
Katie (08:06):
of weight in a kid that small, well,
Tori (08:09):
yes.
And so the doctor didn't thinkanything of it because it's an
11 month old weighing 21 pounds,I guess.
and she looked at me and she waslike, what's wrong?
And I was like, he weighed 28 onMonday.
And so she weighed him again.
He was 21 pounds and she waslike, okay, that's a big weight
difference.
And the gastro checks hisstomach out and he says, you
(08:30):
know, he looks fine there, buthas he always looked so so
muddled his fin, you know, and Ididn't know what that word
meant.
And he goes, look at all hisveins, you can see every vein in
his body.
And and I was like, wait, you'resaying he's dehydrated.
And she was like, yeah, he'svery dehydrated.
You need to take him over to thehospital, like right now, right
(08:54):
now and get IBS.
And at this point I was like, Iwent from the PD efficient twice
to the gastro, and now you'retelling me I need to take my
kids to the hospital.
Like, is he that sick?
And I, I just still, wasn'tthinking of.
Because I had never, I had nevermet a type one diabetic.
I had, I had no knowledge ofthis disease.
And so we take them in there andthey get a bed right away.
(09:17):
There was no waiting in theemergency room.
They called them in and said,you know, this there's a baby
coming over there right now.
So we go into the emergency roomand they get them into triaged
and they're taking, they'redoing everything they can to get
to me.
And he was so dehydrated thatthey called it in the, you know
ultrasound team and trying toget an IV going.
(09:39):
They finally get one and they goand run the blood.
And now it's been about threehours in the emergency room and
I'm still going, it's thisconstant, like, this is because
it's constipated.
Right.
And they're like, no somethingdifferent.
Something's going on.
And I'm like, is he going to beokay?
And they're like, we're doingthe best we can.
And he is just fighting them,but then passing out and
(10:01):
fighting them and holding this11 month old baby down.
And it's just like breaking.
And and he was very like hungryand he wanted to eat.
And so he was crying and likelooking for like pouches in my
bag.
And I was just like, no, just,just chill.
And and so then finally they getthe Ivy going and someone runs
(10:22):
in and they go are either of youtype one, diabetics, My husband
and I look at each other andwe're like, no, what does that
mean?
And they were like, well, hisblood sugar is well over 300 and
you guys are going to thepediatric ICU right now.
And that's, that's how theyapproached it.
And all this looks like is hegoing to die?
(10:42):
Like wanting to know a lot ofhow to how to respond.
And so finally they had acounselor come in and they
transferred us over there.
And finally, once he was all setup with the IB insulin going,
they explained everything.
And we were in there for a good24 hours.
And then we got transferred to.
Regular floor and we learnedeverything there was about type
(11:04):
one diabetes.
Katie (11:06):
Yeah, so it took doctors to twice to the pediatrician
once to the gastroenterologistand then even a little bit being
in the ER, before somebodyactually checked his blood
sugar, like kind of put thepieces together and, and check
that.
And I don't know a few things Ifind so interesting about that
(11:29):
story is that he, I feel likethat not that I've heard a
million diagnosis stories, butthat is like the quickest
decline in weight that I've everheard of.
I mean, that, that a week, likeseven pounds or eight pounds in
a week.
And I feel like, I feel likeI've heard so many stories where
doctors miss the diagnosis andwhich, you know, I think, I
(11:53):
think people assume that doctorsjust know everything about every
single diagnosis, which reallyjust is not.
The case.
I mean, you kind of specializein one thing and if you don't
see a lot of type one diabetics,and it's not really on your
radar, but I guess the reasonwhy I'm saying it is I had a
guest on not too long ago, samething, like doctor missed it.
(12:13):
And I feel like we all need tobe advocating at our
pediatrician's office for thatto become like, just a part of a
regular well visit every year,or, you know, if there's any
behavioral changes, you know,Hey, let's just do it.
How easy is a finger stick?
I mean, I know kids hate it ifthey're not used to it, but it's
just such an easy thing.
Anyway, it's just so interestingto me that it went missed by, by
(12:36):
that many people.
I also find it interesting thatthey came in and asked you if
you or your husband were typeone diabetic because you know, I
don't know, it just doesn'tnecessarily run in families.
Do you guys have any history ofauto-immune diseases in your
families
Tori (12:49):
we don't.
My dad did one of those, youknow, DNA tests.
They is where you can find yourfamily tree edit.
Did tell him with like, cause 23weeks, that celiac runs in his
family though.
So, which was very interestingbecause we don't know anyone in
our family that has celiac, butyeah, it's it said that it was
(13:10):
in my dad's student mind, soyeah, so maybe, maybe it skipped
a few generations, but you know,there was interesting things
going on with my grandfather whocould never control his
diabetes.
And so we wonder sometimes ifshe had, you know, some late
onset diabetes, he never had anunhealthy diet.
(13:31):
Never really.
Looked like he'd get type twodiabetes, but
Katie (13:37):
yeah,
Tori (13:38):
maybe, maybe was him.
Katie (13:39):
maybe, it may be misdiagnosed.
I mean, who knows?
We could speculate all day long,but I was just
Tori (13:44):
absolutely.
And that would just, you know,kill me to try and pinpoint it.
And it took me a good few monthsto stop trying to, because, you
know, I hear if kids like yourdaughter older diagnosis which
is not even helpful.
But I hear of adults gettingtype one, but it's a very few
handful of people being typeones before even hitting their
(14:06):
first birthday.
And it's just, it, it was veryheartbreaking for me to, for
that to happen so young.
And I felt like my first take onmotherhood.
and I'm now, you know, handedthis huge, huge group, huge
responsibility.
And I was also at 20 weekspregnant when he was diagnosed.
(14:28):
And so I had a lot of questionsand.
Is this something that, youknow, my, my children will get
like all of them and like, howdoes this happen?
But my, my one-year-old findright now.
Katie (14:40):
that's good.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat.
About.
Well, okay.
So my pers me personally, I didnot enjoy being pregnant ever.
I have three kids and I didn'tenjoy the pregnancy for any of
them.
Love the kids.
Obviously I loved them enough todo it, you know, three times
total, but I just didn't likebeing pregnant.
(15:00):
So when you say you're 20 weekspregnant and you've just been
landed, this T1 D diagnosis inyour 11 month old, like, what
was that like for you?
Were you having a goodpregnancy?
Was it just, what were you
Tori (15:13):
Um, I was, but it definitely was what spiraled
things out of control.
And my grandmother who hadAlzheimer's was living with us
and I had a dog that had sometemperament issues and was kind
of getting old.
And so that was.
Well, the, one of the very firstthings that happened in my
friend, Nancy, that was kind oflike you know, hit, hit me hard.
(15:39):
So that happens at 20 weekspregnant.
And then my grandmother passesaway at 30 weeks pregnant.
And then at 37 weeks pregnant, Ihad to put my dog down.
And so there were a lot ofthings that happened throughout
that pregnancy, where I had justso much emotional turmoil and
(16:01):
definitely dealing with the typeone diagnosis on top of those
things was pretty overwhelming.
Katie (16:08):
Yeah.
What it, what does it even liketo have a child that young with
type one diabetes?
Tori (16:13):
So He was kind of learning how to eat still.
So that was difficult.
I mean, I remember they weregiving us, you know, okay, well,
he's gonna be beyond, you know,one unit for 30 carbs.
And then you call us in and letus know how things are going.
And we'll change things as wego.
And I'm looking at them likehalf the sues lands in their
(16:35):
lap, how am I going to depthsthis?
And there was a lot ofspoonfeeding.
I like 13 months old because Iwas so afraid of not knowing how
much, you know, how much foodwas going in his stomach and not
landing on the floor.
(16:56):
And so I was becoming a littlebit of a control freak and being
like, okay, this is 30 times.
Like none of it can land on thefloor.
Like I'm gonna feed you, givinghim like chicken nuggets and
like anything processed and.
after a certain point andactually listening to juice box
podcast.
I really, I really tried to pullback a little bit on my
(17:17):
controlness and trying to tryingto remember that this is going
to be forever.
And if I let this drive meinsane, I'm, I'm going to go
crazy.
And so I learned how to manageinsulin and And try and just
(17:38):
look at the food and know, okay.
Some of it's not gonna get inhis mouth, so I'm going to do a
shot here and then watch hisDexcom and then do a shot there.
And we were actually NTI for agood year Because they were just
concerned with a big old armyhogging on him.
Or if I chose something else,just him being so young.
(18:02):
And, and I was comfortable withMVI.
He was diagnosed with a 12% A1Cand at his first appointment,
three months in, he got down to6.7 and after a year he was down
to 6%.
So we're so so they werecomfortable with getting them on
(18:24):
an Omni pod after a year.
And we'd been on, it saidsporadic for'em it's been two
years now with, with diabetes.
So,
Katie (18:33):
for a year in Omni.
You've been Omnipod for a year.
Tori (18:35):
yes.
Yeah.
So, I mean, he's now at 6.5 A1C.
It definitely went up becausehe's a three-year-old
Katie (18:43):
yeah.
Yeah.
Ours went up to after we got onthe pump and I think that's
something that people need toknow, because I think
everybody's under thisimpression that you're just
going to put a pump on and yournumbers are just going to
automatically just fall intothis nice, perfect line.
And It is.
it is a steep learning curvewhen you get on the pump.
And I mean, it, it was, that washard for us.
(19:04):
And then summer hit and Ithought summer was going to be
great cause she was going to behome with me and we could manage
it even tighter.
And Ooh, summer was hard.
Summer was So, hard.
Just the lack of routine and,you know, anyway.
Okay.
so do you.
Which do you prefer?
I mean, you've kind of beendoing both for equal amount of
(19:24):
time.
Which one do you like better?
Tori (19:27):
so I do like being on big for him beating, being on the
Omni pod because after he turnedtwo he was getting a lot more
vocal about hating shots.
He was running away when hewould see me pull out the pen
and he be afraid of getting inthe high chair because that's
where I would give him the shotso that he was kinda like
strapped down.
(19:48):
And it was just getting verydifficult to even like pre bolus
because I pull it out and thenhe was.
I get upset at getting a shotand then he'd immediately think
like, well, I'm going to getfood.
Right.
And I'd want to wait about 15minutes.
And I explained all this to thedoctor that I just want to be
(20:11):
able to like dose him before Ieven mentioned food because he's
a two year old.
Right.
And so They finally feltcomfortable getting him on the
Omnipod and, and it's been sogreat just to remotely, you
know, go see them without himeven knowing I'm doing it.
And then say like your numberslook good.
(20:31):
You're ready to eat.
And so that's been really great.
And he takes it like a champ.
I mean, he gets a little scaredwhen he, when I pull everything
out and goes, no, no, no mommy.
But otherwise, I mean, it's, youjust distract him and he deals
with it.
So it's, it's been really great.
But like you were saying, peopleget very.
(20:54):
Confused on the fact that thepump isn't magic and learning
how to do things.
I mean, we've looked into thething because he's on arrows,
not, not dash.
And so looping just, it, itlooks like a great thing, but
with him being three years old,he still is on such a little
(21:16):
amount of insulin that I justget scared of letting it kind of
pull him down if he was to gethigh and then dealing with a low
and it's stopping.
And I feel like it would bestopping and starting and only
attacks.
Katie (21:28):
Hmm.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know a ton aboutlooping.
I'm actually going to talk tohave a recording with someone in
a little bit that's whose
Tori (21:37):
It's interesting.
think, yeah, I think it'ssomething that we might look
into, but he, I feel like wouldbe out of honeymoon now, but
even being out of honeymoon, Imean, you don't use for.
Six or seven units a day total.
Katie (21:53):
oh girl, we can blow through that and
Tori (21:55):
tiny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's a teenyamount of insulin.
Otherwise he just falls and Idon't mean to, he's always
constantly running with activeinsulin and stuff.
And so it's interesting howlittle insulin is used with
children that
Katie (22:12):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I take it.
He's on a CGM.
Tori (22:16):
Yes.
That's
Katie (22:17):
Yeah.
I think you maybe said thatbefore.
Well, what do you feel likeyou've, w let's talk about your
biggest challenges first, justwith, I mean,
Tori (22:27):
Yeah.
Katie (22:28):
I don't know, as a mom, that's done it three times now.
I feel like having a toddler ishard enough.
So you throw on T one D on topof it, and I just can't even
imagine.
But what do you feel like yourbiggest T one D challenges have
been far?
Tori (22:42):
I think I have a lot of fear of the unknown as he grows
up, honestly.
He won't know a life without it.
And I sometimes think that's agood thing, but I also wonder, I
mean, how he'll take it and howhe'll manage it.
And that just kind of scares methat he'll be on insulin since
(23:05):
he was barely one years old.
And, you know, if he doesn'tmanage it properly after 12, 13,
14 years old, and he startsgetting rebellious, he can have
complications as early as in histwenties.
And so that fear was in my mindimmediately.
I mean, that's why it was soimportant to me that he managed
insulin properly.
(23:25):
I manage insulin properly,properly from the beginning.
So that was one of my biggestemotional hurdles getting
through that and being like,okay, I need to stop thinking
about the negatives and thinkabout the positives, but and the
positives are there.
I mean, sometimes I, I actuallyam grateful for type one
because.
(23:46):
You see a lot of kids parentsgiving their kids whatever, to
whatever they want and to smellcandy, just, you know, don't
cry.
And I, I look at him and I'mlike, he loves his playing water
and he likes to eat this bananafor, you know, low snack.
(24:07):
And I'm very grateful that it'smade him A, not so picky kid
because, you know, he couldn'tget certain things.
I didn't want to give us things.
That's a positive that I'vefound, but as far as things that
have been really challenging Ithink I think there's like
jealousy and people getting to,you know, have a normal chance
(24:30):
at raising their toddlers andnot having to deal with, you
know, the, the, the thinking.
The wondering what his sugarsare and letting anyone watch
their kids.
Katie (24:46):
yeah,
Tori (24:47):
So that's just,
Katie (24:49):
yeah, yeah, That is.
That is hard.
I, I catch myself in thatnegative thinking to just, or
not negative thinking, but justthe, the worrying, you know,
just about like same, same exactthing.
I mean, my daughter is, is olderthan your son.
She's nine, but I still thinkabout like, oh gosh, what if she
turns into a rebellious teenagerand, and and you know what, she
(25:12):
wouldn't be the first and shecertainly won't be the last and
there's been many T1 DS thathave come through that and, and
gotten their act togetherafterwards.
But I don't know.
I just have to remind myselfthat worrying about that.
Now isn't going to changeanything about how you think
about my day or my future or herfuture.
So I just try to live it one dayat a
Tori (25:35):
And I think that's important.
I think.
In this day and age right now,there are a lot of people like
yourself.
Like like a lot of, a lot ofpeople are coming out with
letting people know of how toproperly manage insulin and how
to get along with, you know,parenting a type one diabetic.
And it's important to have thiscommunity of people listening to
(25:58):
other people's stories so thatthey can be a better T and D
parent.
And to, to acknowledge thatdoctors sometimes don't give the
best advice.
I remember when he wasdiagnosed, they were saying that
200 is totally fine.
Right.
And it's not, it's not.
(26:19):
And I think it's important forpeople to talk about that and be
on podcasts and talk about howyou want to strive for the best
sugar as possible.
And that's how we're going toraise our kids to, to, you know,
survive this.
Katie (26:33):
Yeah.
To hopefully have a futurewithout complications.
Totally.
Tori (26:38):
Absolutely.
Katie (26:39):
I definitely would not be comfortable with Sarah being at
200 all the time.
I mean, we hit 200
Tori (26:45):
And it happens.
Yeah, absolutely.
Katie (26:48):
I'm looking at you breakfast cereal, my arch, my
arch nemesis.
But we hit it and, but I'm, wecan get it back down and we can,
we can get it back down prettyquickly and then get into much,
much better numbers.
So Yeah, I definitely agree withthat.
Like 200 is not the place youwant to be forever, but
Tori (27:07):
no.
They were, they were saying myrange for him at, at a year old
was 150 to 215
Katie (27:16):
is that just,
Tori (27:17):
they didn't want it anywhere close to a hundred
because of lows.
And it was, you know, when Irealized.
that one 50 was actually highconsidered high.
And if you stayed at one 50forever, like you will have
complications.
If that's, you're like, oh,that's an amazing number.
(27:37):
And you just live there andhigher.
I was baffled and, and Iremember thinking to myself
like, okay, like doctors arethere to make sure that your,
your child does not die and thatyou can leave the hospital
safely.
And it's up to you as a parentto make sure that you strive for
(27:59):
better.
And you strive to have normalA1C is and normal sugars that a
type, a non type one diabeticwould have.
And there are a lot of peopleout there that, that don't,
don't take that seriously.
And I think it's important to tostrive for that and make sure
(28:21):
that, you know, you're making,you're making your best effort
to Have lower, lower numbers andnot be afraid.
Katie (28:29):
So I'm curious to know, have you kind of gone back to
your, the endocrinologist andlike just kind of advocated for
better numbers and tried toeducate them, I guess is a good
way to say it.
I mean, have you tell me howthat conversation
Tori (28:48):
it was very, yeah.
So I remember looking, theylooked at his graphs immediately
when they saw that I had gottenit down to 6% and they were
like, you're having a lot oflike amazing grass, but we're
concerned about lows and thedesktop clarity to saying it was
3% under 70.
(29:10):
And like between 50 to 70, under3% in three months, I was like,
that's, that's not a lot.
And And they were, you know,concerned that I wasn't feeding
him what he wanted.
So that was their biggestconcern.
He's living a normal life.
Right.
And I was like, he eats pizza,he eats birthday cake, he eats
(29:30):
goldfish, whatever he wants, hegets it.
So, I mean, please don't worryabout that.
And so they were very pleasedwith that, but one of their big
concerns, honesty was just thathe was on a diet and I was like,
no, like he's had on a diet, Ijust use common sense.
And he doesn't drink juice andmilk all day long.
(29:54):
But yeah.
So I think, I think sometimesthey're afraid of not letting
your kid be a kid first andthat's that's, that is
important.
But if you know how to manage itsome well, like you can let your
kid be a kid.
So but I remembered letting themknow that.
I was not comfortable with 150being his low alarm.
(30:19):
And that I was definitely okaywith him being a hundred because
he has to text calm.
Like I am not afraid I'm goingto miss a low it's going to be
okay.
And so they kind of backed offat that point.
And I actually have met a fewmoms now that have a T1 de chil
child and one that I wasactually working out with.
(30:40):
So her daughter was actuallydiagnosed the same exact weekend
as jacks.
So that was really cool to see.
So we were talking about, youknow, oh, she's still in
honeymoon.
No Jackson isn't anymore.
Oh, you got the pump.
You did too.
So a lot of the timelines werearound the same time.
So she was actually letting meknow how she was so afraid of
(31:04):
doing things against.
the endo.
and it wasn't necessarilyagainst, but she'd say, oh, hit,
she, you know, I feel like sheneeds a A higher basal rate and
I I'm waiting for the doctor tolet me know what it needs to be.
you know, she was two years inas well.
So I remember I told her, like,you know, you can change that on
(31:28):
your own.
Right.
And she was like, well, they'regoing to get me, like, they're
going to be mad at me.
Okay.
Thanks.
So like, you don't have to waitfor the doctor's approval.
Like it's your child, youadvocate for them.
And you, you, you know, that sheneeds a higher basal rate.
So just change it, just bring itup like a couple points and see
(31:50):
what happens.
And if she goes low, change itback down a little bit, a little
bit less than what you added.
You'll be.
Okay.
And so that's kind of.
Why I want it to be on podcastsand why I want to talk to other
T one D parents letting themknow that you're there, you're
your child's best advocate andyou know what?
Your child needs more so than adoctor, because they're your,
(32:12):
child's just a name to them.
And you see that kid every day,you does that kid every day, you
know what
Katie (32:18):
Yeah.
Tori (32:19):
and to have confidence in
Katie (32:20):
Yeah.
And I would encourage anybodythat kind of has that mindset
about like, oh, I don't, they'regoing to be mad at me.
You know, talk to your, talk tothe endocrinologist about that
and tell them, you know, I don'twant to wait, you know, even a
couple of days or a week forsomebody to call me back and
tell me how to adjust hisratios.
And in Bazell like, give me someguidelines that I'm comfortable
(32:45):
with and you're comfortablewith, on how I can make small
decisions to make changes, tosee if it will help, because
Yeah.
that's, that's what I do too.
I mean, I mean, I really respectour endocrinologist.
We have a great team that we seeand I feel like they're very
encouraging, which I appreciate.
They've never like beaten us upover anything.
(33:06):
They're always willing to listento me and let us try new things.
But at the same time I do, I amnot calling them.
Tori (33:13):
no, I would be calling them daily.
Katie (33:17):
I would be
Tori (33:17):
I would be calling them daily if that was the case,
because, because that wassomething that I think a lot of
people don't realize aboutdiabetes either is that diabetes
changes by the day.
I feel, especially when yourchild's going through grocers,
having different activitylevels, going through an
illness, you have to makechanges on the fly.
(33:37):
And if you're waiting for thatdoctor to tell you what to do,
and they get back to you threedays later, that that advice
that they doesn't mean anythingthan it did three days ago.
It's totally different
Katie (33:50):
Well, and I know everybody's different, but I
mean, when I make a change, Imake a, I make a really small
change.
Like I'm not, I'm not haphazardor reckless about like we're
taking the ratio from one to 15to one five, like, no, I'm, if I
change a ratio, it's by onepoint and then I see the next
day, how that goes.
If it's still was a hot mess,we'll do it.
(34:11):
Another point.
If I change a basil rate, youknow, the smallest, I change it
by 0.05.
Like, you know, you units anhour, like that's how small of a
change I will make at a time tosee.
And you know what that 0.05, Idid that a couple of weeks ago
with Sarah's numbers.
Cause they were crazy at school.
(34:32):
They were crazy high and Iincreased it by just that that's
the smallest amount you canincrease it by on the Omnipod is
0.05.
And I just did that across theboard and it made a humongous
difference.
So even just that small changemade a really big difference.
But Yeah.
I mean, obviously people need toprobably, if they really have
(34:53):
that much fear about makingdecisions for their kids ratios
and rates and Bazell and allthat stuff, then talk to the
endocrinologist about it becauseI'm sure they would love, they
are swamped.
They would love for you to bemore independent with your
decision-making.
Like they, they would love it.
I'm sure.
Tori (35:11):
Absolutely.
And I remember when he got thearmy pod and she told me, you
know, call me back.
And two days the trainer tell meback in two days and we'll make
any adjustments.
And I said, do I have to callback and do dates?
And she looked at me and shesaid, based on his A1C, I'm sure
you'll figure it out.
And, and so it's little thingslike that where I, I encourage
(35:34):
people to really, you know, justutilize Facebook groups and
utilize these podcasts likeyours and listening to other
people's stories.
'cause I think that right theregave me confidence when I saw
someone talking about like, oh,I should change something.
And I said to myself, wait,people are changing things on
(35:55):
their own.
And, and I thought, wow, like ifthey can do this, I can, I can
do this.
And, and the fact that there arebooks out there, like How to be
a
Katie (36:09):
I think like a pancreas.
Tori (36:11):
think like a pancreas.
Yes.
And I, yes.
And, and so all of these toolsout there are there to help you
really take control.
And if, if it was such a taboothing to do it yourself, there
wouldn't be, will be thesetools.
There wouldn't be pumps.
(36:32):
I mean,
Katie (36:33):
Yeah.
You're you're exactly right.
Yeah.
I love that book.
That's I feel I call it the Tone D Bible because that's like
my that's like my reference bookwhen I needed an actual physical
object to go look at it.
And then I loved the juice boxpodcasts too.
I mean that you will learn a lotin a short amount of time by
listening to that podcast.
And Yeah.
that's one of our favorites inour household too.
(36:55):
So check it out.
Tori (36:57):
And, and I was actually on his podcast and I loved, I loved
talking to him about everything,but I definitely wanted to reach
out to you because Moms moms,need to talk to each other and
moms need to hear other people'sstories.
And I think it's important tokind of relate to other moms
(37:18):
thoughts and stories andlistening to other people's
children's diagnosis.
It's, it's a tight community andI wouldn't be able to do this
without the support of.
Katie (37:31):
Oh, I a hundred percent agree.
You're going to have to tell mewhat episode number you were on
his podcasts.
Cause I, I may have alreadylistened to it actually, but
we'll see.
I don't know.
He there's like hundreds andhundreds, so
Tori (37:45):
It's a million.
Katie (37:46):
haven't listened to it just cause I don't think I've
listened to every single oneyet, but that's fine.
That's great.
Okay.
Let's see.
So you told us about yourbiggest challenges.
I just, before we move on, Ifind it interesting that your
biggest challenges were all likemore mental and emotional, which
I feel like really resonateswith just moms in general
(38:06):
because you know, we, I feellike whether you want to
stereotype moms or not, we areusually the more emotional of.
the half of a pair.
Right.
So I just find that interestingthat it wasn't like.
You know, anything to donecessarily with type one
management.
It was just about the mental andemotional burden.
(38:28):
Cause it is so much, some
Tori (38:29):
Yes, because I knew, I knew that I could handle it.
It was a challenge that Iaccepted immediately and I knew,
okay, well, I'm going to strivefor the best.
And I'm very all or nothing.
And this was something with mytype, a personality that I could
go, okay.
Like this is perfect for me.
(38:50):
And, and so I, I was alwaystrying to perfect it and it
helped me on both ends.
I mean, being a perfectionist toget that A1C down, but also to
teach myself not to be aperfectionist and to say, look,
he's going to have crazynumbers.
Like I need to let myself beokay with that sometimes.
And, you know, work on gettingit down.
(39:13):
And the fact that I CA that he'snever been higher than 300 since
diagnosed.
This is something, you know,that I have to keep my reminding
myself that that's a good thing.
And I listened to a podcast fromspot today, even, and the guy
was telling us, you know, abouthow she lived for 15 years with
(39:36):
probably between 200 and 500,his, his entire youth.
And that was, you know, back inthe seventies.
And so I think the, themanagement style, especially
with all today's technology, Imean, it was, it was fine, but
definitely what you were saying.
It's more emotional for themothers and technicalities.
(40:00):
My husband was like, okay, Ihave to give a shot.
Okay.
fine.
Katie (40:08):
and management in the house.
I
Tori (40:11):
I do.
He was definitely nervous abouta pump because of, you know, new
technology and, oh my gosh, likea needle was way easier.
But I was like, not really pumpis amazingly easier.
You don't have to chase yourchild down.
Like, I think it's great.
But yeah, just like the processis confusing sometimes to my
(40:33):
husband.
Like I just, you know, settingup the different numbers and
being like, okay, set a 10 phaseof this and do this.
He's like, no, I just want to beable to give a shot.
but I mean, he does great.
And there's been times that Ihave to go and do stuff and he's
with him and he won't text meand just we'll manage it on his
(40:55):
own.
And I'll look at the graphsometimes be like, oh, oh, he's
throwing high.
Like give him, give him anotherunit.
But other than that, I mean, he
Katie (41:05):
Yeah, well, that's good.
That's good.
I know my husband usually does areally, I feel like my daughter
always has great numbers whenshe's with my husband and I do
like 98% of the T one Dmanagement.
And I'm like, what is.
going on, man?
Like anyway, story for anotherday.
Right.
But yeah.
I'm grateful.
I have a, somebody who's willingto partner with me in this
(41:27):
cause, man, it's a tough, toughburden to bear on your own.
So I'm curious about childcaresince your kids are so young, do
you work outside of the home?
Tori (41:39):
I don't, I'm actually a realtor, so it actually worked
out great because I willtypically schedule my home
showings for times that are onweekends.
Husband.
Can we be with them or afterbedtime or I'll be able to drop
the kids off with my parents andthen go and show a house.
(42:00):
So I typically work it around myschedule or just even take them
with me.
That's been great, but I'vechose to be a stay at home mom.
And I was actually very veryrelieved after this diagnosis
that I was a stay at
Katie (42:14):
Yeah.
You're a Work from home.
mom, you
Tori (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Katie (42:19):
two jobs, realtor.
And it's an interesting time tobe a realtor speaking of, oh my
gosh.
Is It crazy?
And where you are?
It's insane in Florida.
Everybody wants to move here,which I don't understand because
Florida is a hot mess right nowwith the pandemic, so,
Tori (42:34):
Yeah.
Some of this Georgia,
Katie (42:36):
Okay.
Tori (42:37):
this word, But yeah.
I mean yeah, childcare isdefinitely something that I have
been nervous about letting otherpeople watch.
I have never even let I let onefriend watch him and he refused
to eat and he was going low andBless her.
She kept calling me and say, Idon't know how you do this.
(42:58):
I feel like he's going to have aseizure any minute.
And I was like, oh my gosh, youwon't eat anything.
And she was like, no, he keepssaying he wants to play.
And it's been very difficult inthat sense with type one.
With him just being so young andnot understanding like, Hey,
like, I don't understand why youdon't even want candy.
Like please eat.
Katie (43:19):
well.
What did it, what happened?
What did he eat?
What happened?
Tori (43:23):
She eventually got him to eat like some fruit.
But he had some active insulinin his system and he was running
around like a chicken with hishead cut off because he was so
excited playing with his friendsand all that playing was just
making him low, low, low, low.
And so he did, he like ended upstaying for the whole two hours
(43:45):
around 55.
And, and he would eat, he wouldcome up like to 70 and then keep
falling.
And then she would like try andforce like a pouch down his
mouth and he would take a sipand then like throw it away.
She was like, no, please eat.
And eventually I finally gotthere.
(44:06):
I was like, drink this Coca-Colanow.
He was like, oh, I'll drinkthat.
And I was like, oh my God
Katie (44:13):
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
He probably shaved a few yearsoff your friend's life.
It's like, never
Tori (44:18):
Yeah.
Oh, she was like, I don't knowhow you do this.
And I just, I told myself like,don't put her through
Katie (44:24):
yeah, but don't you feel seen a little bit.
You're like, see, it's
Tori (44:28):
Yeah,
Katie (44:29):
it's so hard.
Tori (44:31):
it is.
It's, it's very hard.
And I think one of the biggestchallenges I've had with letting
people watch him and, and wrote,like, I have a lot of friends
that say, please teach me aboutdiabetes so that I can help.
And while I do trust that theywould understand it.
And I have a very large group ofamazing mom friends.
(44:52):
I feel this weight that it's nottheir responsibility.
and it's very hard for me to letgo and let people try, because I
don't want them to feel likethat friend that I had watched
them that one day she felt soresponsible for his life, more
(45:13):
so than any other child, youknow, just randomly coming over
their, to their friend's house.
And I felt bad.
I felt not shameful, but, justalmost, almost like.
I felt bad for her, not even mychild, but I felt bad that she
(45:36):
had to go through that mentally,because I don't want anyone else
to go through that mentally.
and So I just have a lot of dayswhere friends go, Hey, I know
you have a show.
I play like, I'll help you watchJackson.
And I think to myself, like, Idon't want to put you
Katie (45:52):
Hmm.
Yeah, I hear ya.
I feel like you kind of have tothough, I mean, you know, to
give yourself a break,especially with the, you got a
third one on the way, like youshould take, you should make a
little PowerPoint.
I've actually thought aboutdoing this.
I should, I really shouldbecause I still we're.
We've we've had diabetes now fora year and the grandparents are
(46:14):
always so willing to help us,which I'm so grateful for.
But I feel like I still need tokind of like sit down and like
give them like a little crashcourse.
So I do want to like make aPowerPoint presentation to kind
of have for them.
Or if we, I feel like we rarelyhave to actually hire childcare
just because.
Well, like my oldest is in fifthgrade, so I feel like they're
(46:35):
getting a little older anyway,but also we just have so much
family in town, which is a hugeblessing, but anyway, if we ever
did need, or even teachers likea crash course for teachers at
the beginning of the school yearthe show I just published today
that I put on the Raquel fromtype one together, she was
telling me that the collegediabetes network, whatever
(46:58):
university or college is closeto your city, like to look into
that, to try to find a collegestudent with type one who would
feel comfortable babysitting.
Anyway.
Yeah.
just because I feel like, Imean, I think, I think caregiver
burnout is just as real of athing as T1 D burnout.
So we got to take care of
Tori (47:18):
And I will say that.
Something interesting thathappened right after I gave
birth to my second, it, it wasthrown into my lap that I had to
let my parents take over for aweek because not only did I have
a newborn, but Jack's came downwith hand foot and mouth the day
that my newborn was born And Iwas so nervous that he would
(47:43):
give it to the baby.
Right.
And it's a very contagiousdisease.
So I was living actually in myparents' basement at the time we
just moved and bought our firsthouse this past spring.
but, so anyhow, they had thisgreat idea that they were going
(48:05):
to take jacks for a week down tomy uncle's farm.
He has 30 acres of land.
And they were going to go thereanyway.
The weekend that Rowan was born.
That was in Gainesville,Florida.
And so at first, when theyapproached me with, you know,
(48:27):
taking him for a week so that hecould, you know, have the hand
foot and mouth down there and usjust get time with the baby.
Yeah.
They don't have any animals.
It's like a wedding venue.
So yeah, so he has a wholewedding venue for anyone that's
looking to get married inGainesville, Florida.
And it's called little, littlehouse farm.
(48:49):
I'm horrible.
But but that farm is mostly justfor marriages wedding
ceremonies.
And so they run a whole businessthere.
But you know, I was like, well,just take tax down there.
And if we'll run around andplay, they don't have any
weddings this weekend.
And so I approached it to myhusband and he said, absolutely
(49:12):
not.
And then I'm holding the babyJackson's upstairs where like
sanitizing everything in thehouse.
And finally my husband was like,okay, I really don't want the
baby to get this.
It's like, yeah, I don't either.
He was like, I, I don't know howwe're going to separate them in
(49:33):
a house.
Maybe he could stay upstairswith your parents, but if
they're leaving, then I guess,you know, we have two kids down
here.
And so we finally packed him abag and I had my parents, you
know, I went upstairs and whilethe baby was sleeping and gave
them an entire crash course.
And thankfully they did know alittle because we lived there,
(49:55):
but I still had done everything.
I mean, it was a whole basementapartment downstairs.
And so I sometimes went weekswithout even seeing them.
but I gave them an entire crashbefore, as I had them.
Like they had not even so muchas given him a shot before
really.
Maybe once or twice at thehospital.
And they were learning as wellsince we have them come over,
(50:17):
but have, is like having themgive insulin shots to an orange
and just did doing all thedifferent techniques that they
taught me in the hospital andtold them how to change a
Dexcom, how to, you know, changethings on his Dexcom.
If they needed to like set thealarm higher.
(50:37):
And I let them go with him andhe was gone for a good, you
know, six days.
And that was so hard not beingable to like see every meal that
you had and not doing themanagement and concentrating on
the baby and, and you know what,he came back alive and he, he
(50:59):
never had any issues down there.
He might've gone down to like 50at one point.
They handled it and they did anamazing job.
He never went high.
And so I think that wasimportant for me to, to be
pushed into that position ofletting, letting, my parents
Katie (51:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, we, in what you justdescribed though, the crash
course you gave them is thecrash course that we got.
When we, before we left thehospital with our type one
diabetics.
So, and we kept them alive forthe first six days and beyond.
So
Tori (51:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Katie (51:35):
Grandparents can do it, childcare can do it.
It's super intimidating.
I mean, I, I w I was sointimidated when we first
brought Sarah home.
It really was like having anewborn child and again, all
over again, like having to learnit all and the fear of like, not
knowing what you're doing andeverything.
Yeah.
But they made it yay.
Grandparents.
Tori (51:57):
Yes.
Katie (51:58):
That's great.
Well, okay.
Tell me about what do you thinkyour.
Biggest successes have been withT one D management.
I mean, you do not have an easyjob with a three-year-old and a
one-year-old and a baby on theway.
So what have your, what have youbeen some of your greatest
successes you already mentioned,mentioned your awesome A1C is
Tori (52:18):
yeah, I think some of the successes have just been
learning, learning how man, how,how insulin works has been the
biggest, the biggest thing.
And I think that being a toddlerand having a 6.5 A1C is great
(52:38):
without any type of dietnecessarily.
I mean, he had pizza tonight fordinner and he's hanging out at
75 right now.
So I think that that has beenone of the things that.
I've been very proud of myselffor letting him have a normal
(53:02):
toddler life while havingnormal.
much.
Katie (53:08):
Yeah.
That is no easy task.
So well done.
Tori (53:12):
Yeah.
Katie (53:14):
Well done.
Is there anything else you.
want to add?
I, what, what do you ha, likewhat kind of advice, what would
be your best, you.
know, one or two tips forparents that are managing type
one and a toddler?
Tori (53:28):
I think the biggest thing is remembering that every day is
going to be different and, and Ithink it is, I mean, everyone
has different management stylesand everyone is going to do what
works best for their family.
But if you typically ate acertain way before that was.
(53:53):
The average normal Americanlife.
And it scares you that now yourchild has type one diabetes, and
you're trying to find the nextbest thing to, to, you know,
manage your child's bloodsugars.
I think it's important too, tolearn how to manage insulin
first and foremost, so that yourchild can eat dinner with you
(54:18):
and your child.
10 doesn't have to have so manynew changes in their life,
because that was one of mybiggest fears, how I would
approach birthday parties, howit approached just typical daily
life.
I mean, I wanted my child tohave birthday cake when we kind
of a perfect, and I didn't wantto be that parent bringing our
(54:42):
own food and homemade cake thathas, you know, no sugar.
And so I think one of my best.
One of my best tips would be todo your research and to read
everything you can aboutinsulin, because when it comes
down to it, type one, diabetesis about managing insulin.
(55:04):
And if you can do that, yourchild will have a very normal,
healthy.
Katie (55:12):
I mean, I think that you really can continue to live life
just the way you were living atbefore.
You know, if you can, and it'snot easy.
I like, you know, you say thatand I say that, but it's not
like I just magically knew howto do all these things.
I mean, I've had to, like you,like, we've already talked
about, I've read, think like apancreas I'm on my third, go
(55:33):
round on that book.
And I have listened to podcastsand you know, you, you kind of
have to be a student of yourchild, but if that's what you
want to do, you can figure itout.
And for the families that don'twant to do that by all means,
don't do that.
Your life is probably easierthan my life.
Tori (55:50):
Yes.
And I think that's superimportant too, to do what makes
you the most comfortable ifeating keto makes you more
comfortable because you don'twant to have to look at birthday
cake and go, oh my gosh, how doI dose for that?
Don't don't make yourselfstressed out.
But if it's breaking your heart,there are ways around it and you
can, you can
Katie (56:09):
Uh, absolutely.
I'm such a what's the word?
Stubborn.
Maybe I'm a pretty stubbornperson, which people might not
gather that from my posts, but,or my podcasts, but I feel like
when I like, like for instance,birthday cake, like I look at
birthday cake and it doesn'tscare me I'm like, I will
dominate you birthday cake.
Like we will conquer you andmaybe not this time, but we will
(56:33):
eventually conquer you birthdaycake.
So it's, it's doable you just toit's trial and error and it's
not gonna be perfect the firsttime for sure.
But if you want to, if you wantto be able to do those things,
you can learn how to do them.
For sure.
Tori (56:47):
Well, my big awakening was definitely when he was diagnosed
a week before his firstbirthday.
I remember.
So I was planning his smash cakeand then I was like, oh my God,
my child can't have a smashcake.
And so I immediately like hitthe Facebook groups and was
like, oh my God, we've beendiagnosed a week.
And I want my kid to havebirthday cake for his first
(57:10):
birthday.
Like, I don't want to bedifferent.
I don't want my child to bedifferent.
And that was like one of my bigaha moments right away, right
away.
And so, so many people sent meto different podcasts and
different Facebook groups.
And we're like, you can do this.
Like you can just, just dose,just give influence score.
(57:31):
And I think because he wasdiagnosed at such a pivotal time
and it sounds so silly.
To say that, but it was, youknow, important to me for my
child to get as much.
And so I did like a cupcakeinstead, but I, I learned how to
pre-bill us immediately forthat, that cupcake.
(57:53):
And, and guess what, he neverwent high or low or anything.
And, and that that, right there,I was like, oh, he can't eat
that.
I just have to know what to do.
And so I, like I said, it's,it's important if it's important
to you make it your goal tolearn what to do.
Katie (58:10):
That's great advice.
Perfect.
Wonderful.
Anything else?
Tori (58:16):
I think we've
Katie (58:17):
Yeah, I think we have to I always love chatting with
moms.
You know, I have, like, I feellike lately I've had a lot.
of healthcare professionals onand which they're awesome too,
but sometimes it's nice just tolike chat with another mom.
That's living the T one D lifealongside me.
So
Tori (58:32):
Yeah.
And I think your podcast hasbeen helpful and just listening
to other, you know, healthprofessionals and listening to
your diet, your daughter'sdiabetic story.
Diagnosis story was made me cryand, and I was, I, I remember
reading, listening to it andthinking, oh my gosh, like I
(58:53):
want to tell Jackson storybecause someone else out there
will listen to that, listen toyour podcasts and have a baby
that's diagnosed.
And I want them to know thatthey're not alone.
And it's a, it's a young lifeyoung diagnosis, but
Katie (59:10):
normal.
Tori (59:10):
live a normal,
Katie (59:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, that is a hard age toget diagnosed.
I would have to imagine.
But I feel like there's pros andcons too, to each age.
You know what I mean?
Like with.
It's sad that he'll never know alife.
without diabetes, but at thesame time, he'll never know a
life without diabetes.
So he doesn't really know whathe's missing.
(59:33):
My daughter does know her lifebefore diabetes and she grieved
the loss of that.
But at the same time, she'svery, she's so much older.
She's so independent with it.
I'm already, I mean, you know, wwith my help, of course, but
she's, she's taken so muchownership ownership of it.
And I have a lot of, you know,parents say like, oh, I can't
wait till my kid gets to thatage.
(59:54):
So anyway, I just feel there'spros and cons to every, to every
Tori (59:57):
Yeah.
And I do think about yourdaughter's age.
And one of the things that anurse told me when he was
diagnosed with, you know, youdon't feel lucky right now, but
you're, you're one of the luckyones.
Now I looked at them sobbingwith my, they will, you know, 20
weeks pregnant belly.
Like, how am I lucky?
(01:00:18):
And, and to.
He's Not going to grieve hislife.
You're going to grieve itbecause, you know, you know
what, it was like being able tofeed them whatever's on the
plate, but you're going to stillbe able to feed them on your
plate, just give insulin.
And I was like, true.
And they were like, you know, wehave kids coming in here at 13,
14 years old getting diagnosed.
(01:00:39):
And it is so sad and, andlistening to that kind of gave
me perspective.
And and I thought to myself,wow, like if I was diagnosed at
14, 15 years old, I wouldn'tknow what I would do with
myself.
And, and so I definitely feelfor those mothers and I feel for
those kids I feel for yourdaughter and I, I think to
(01:01:01):
myself, okay.
Like he was a baby, like he'sgoing to live a totally normal
life in his eyes.
Katie (01:01:07):
I agree.
I think the teen.
Maybe be the hardest I wouldhave to imagine, but I don't
teen moms, I have not forgottenabout you.
I have a I'm I'm working up aseries for teens in my head.
I think that would be veryhelpful.
yeah.
And it would be helpful for mebecause I'm not, I'm not too far
away from that.
I need to do it for my sake.
I need to do a teen series.
So if you're listening and youhave some interesting insight
(01:01:31):
into the life of a teen T one, Dyou go ahead and email me and
let me know.
All right.
Sorry.
Well, let's, let's wrap it uphere again.
I've loved having you on Thankyou.
so much for, for being on theshow and sharing your story.
And I look forward to keeping upwith you from here on out.
Tori (01:01:48):
Yeah, definitely.
Katie (01:01:50):
Bye.
Tori (01:01:50):
Hi.
Katie (01:01:56):
That's it for our show today.
Again, if you want to find Torion social media, head on over to
Instagram and search for at Torytackles too.
I hope you guys enjoyed thatepisode.
I just want to thank you guys somuch again for spreading the
word about the podcast.
I can tell by the downloadnumbers that it's growing and
people are learning about it andthey're tuning in and the
feedback I've gotten seems to beall positive.
(01:02:19):
So I just want to thank youagain.
If you haven't already, you cansubscribe to the show wherever
you listen to podcast.
Apple podcast, Google podcast,Spotify, Pandora, Castbox it's
in all of those places.
And once you pull up the show,you click subscribe or follow,
or sometimes I think it'sconnect depending on where
(01:02:39):
you're listening to the podcast,but Wala you'll be subscribed.
And then every week it will beautomatically downloaded.
So you can take it on the go.
I hope you guys have a fabulousweek.
We are heading into holidayseason.
Aren't we?
Halloween, Thanksgiving,Christmas, they're all right
around the corner.
And I just cannot believe thatwe're almost done with 2021.
(01:03:00):
I saw a really funny reel theother day that said something to
the effect of, I cannot believewe're only four months away from
2022.
I'm still trying to process2020.
And I just feel like thatcouldn't be further from the
truth.
Great.
Time is flying.
Alright, have a great week chatwith you soon.
Lawdy, Lawdy, lokk who's forty it's this episode, that's
who?
This is episode 40 of the sugarmamas podcast.
And today I'm talking with Tori.
Tori is a fellow T one D mom,whose son Jax was diagnosed with
type one right before.
He turned a year old today.
We'll get to hear Tory story andyou'll also get to hear Tory and
(00:20):
I discuss how important it is tomake diabetes and your insulin
work for you and your child.
Instead of the other way around,we also spend a little bit of
time talking about childcare ingeneral and mustering up the
courage to leave your T one Dwith someone else other than.
That's not always easy to do.
I think Tori would be a fabulousmom to follow on social media.
(00:42):
If you need some encouragementand help, especially if you're
the mom of a T one D toddler,you can find her on Instagram.
Her handle is at Tori tacklestoo.
I will link to that in the shownotes.
This is definitely anencouraging and empowering
episode, and I hope you enjoyit.
(01:03):
You're listening to the sugarmamas podcast, a show designed
for moms and caregivers of typeone diabetics here.
You'll find a community oflike-minded people who are
striving daily to keep theirkids safe, happy, and healthy in
the ever-changing world of typeone.
I'm your host and fellow T one Dmom, Katie Roseboro.
(01:33):
Before we get started.
I need you to know that nothingyou hear on the sugar mamas
podcast should be consideredmedical advice.
Please be safe, be smart, andalways consult your physician
before making changes to the wayyou manage type one diabetes.
Thanks.
Hey everybody.
I am here with Tori today andTori, I didn't say this before.
(01:54):
Cause we were chatting a littlebit just a second ago, but this
is my first recording that I'vedone in like two months, because
I just kind of made the decisionover the summer, not to record
anything while my kids were homefrom school, which made life a
lot easier.
But so if I'm a little rusty, Iapologize, but I'm excited to
have you on I'm like, oh, I gotto get back into the swing of
things with my recording.
(02:15):
I will have already told peoplea little bit about who you are,
but I always like for people tointroduce themselves.
Cause you can do it better thanI can.
So introduce yourself and tellus your connection to type one
diabetes.
Tori (02:25):
Yeah, my name is Tori and I have a three-year-old type one
diabetic, and I also have a oneand a half year old as well as
being pregnant with my thirdbaby.
Katie (02:36):
Oh, you.
are okay.
Congratulations.
Wow.
That's great.
I have three and three's great.
It's not always easy, but it's,it's a lot of, it's A good
Tori (02:45):
A little nervous,
Katie (02:46):
Yeah.
When's that one do.
Tori (02:48):
March.
So I'm newly, newly
Katie (02:50):
I was going to say, yeah, you got a ways to go.
Okay.
Well, why don't you tell us alittle bit about your it's your
son, right?
That has type one.
Okay.
Tell us a little bit about hisdiagnosis story.
Tori (03:02):
Yeah.
So he was 11 months old and Inoticed that he was a lot more
tired.
He was taking a lot of longernaps, but I just assumed that he
was going through gross birth asbabies do.
So and that probably startedaround 10 months old and he was
also wearing a lot of diapersand drinking a lot of water.
(03:25):
I had recently weaned him off ofbreastfeeding because I was
pregnant with my second child.
And so I just kind of wanted thebreak and my supply was kind of
dwindling.
And so I had gotten him on donormilk and he was just going
through so many bottles.
And so I was like, okay, you candrink water bottles of milk.
And he was just constantlyeating and all of those things,
(03:48):
you just think, oh, he's agrowing baby.
And I thought he was just thehealthiest little thing.
And he started to look a littleleaner, but kind of a backstory.
He had been in the 100 over atthe 100th percentile since he
was four months old.
I mean, at his four month oldappointment, he was 15, 15
(04:11):
pounds or 16 pounds.
And by six months he was 25pounds.
He was huge.
He was huge.
And so I remember at his ninemonth appointment, he had kind
of like let's vote.
And he was around 28 pounds andI was like, oh my gosh, he only
gained a couple pounds.
(04:31):
Great.
We're staying under 30.
And so I remember at 11 monthsold, I had taken him into the
pediatrician because he had beenconstipated for a little while.
And so for a good two to threeweeks, I remember thinking, oh,
like maybe it's just all the newfoods I'm introducing.
(04:52):
I've kind of started tointroduce whole mill.
Maybe the dairy is not sittingwith him.
And just little things that werekind of excused for awhile for
being hot baby.
And I remember taking him in andthe doctor was like, well, just
give him some juice andhopefully it'll pass.
(05:17):
So I did.
And I remember the next day hehad this, these horrible dark
circles under his eyes.
And he looked sick and I hadnever seen this baby sick.
So that day I was like, youknow, well, he doesn't have a
(05:38):
fever.
Maybe he's teething crying alot.
We'll take him out five.
And it was like a 90 degree day.
And I remember taking it to thesplash pad, the local splash
pad.
And I was like, oh, maybe hejust pulled down and, you know,
play in the water and perk rightup.
And he just stood there crying.
(05:58):
And so I took him to read asItalian, nice, so much sugar.
Right.
And I was like, you know, maybeI'll just treat him to an early
birthday because he was turningone in about a week
Katie (06:10):
a half.
Tori (06:11):
Right.
So,
Katie (06:13):
So
Tori (06:13):
so we take him to read his, and that night he froze up.
I was like, oh, maybe I didsomething wrong like a couple
days ago.
Maybe that's why he looks sick.
That he's getting foodpoisoning.
And then that Nike threw up inthe bed the next day.
He just couldn't hold anythingdown.
So this was on a Tuesday that Itook the slash.
(06:35):
So now Wednesday I call hispediatrician again, I go, he's
getting worse.
And so I, she hasn't come in onThursday.
And at this point he is justlooking so much leaner and she
didn't even take him back.
She just said, you know what?
I don't want to charge you.
Like, you know check-in fee.
(06:55):
I'm just gonna have you guys goto a gastroenterologist at the
children's hospital tomorrowmorning, which would have been
Friday because she was like, youknow, he's not going to the
bathroom and he's throwing up.
Maybe it's like a bowelobstruction, but no one ever
thought type one diabetes.
Right?
So we take him to the doctor orthe gastro on Friday morning.
(07:20):
And at this point he's breathingextremely happy.
And he wouldn't wake up and hewas just looking very, very
Melanie malnourished and and itwas just a period from like
Monday through Friday, you know?
And so we take him in and helooks at him and puts them on a
(07:41):
scale of his 21 pounds.
And that's why I wanted to letyou all know that he was 28
pounds, you know, that thatmonth.
So he had lost and they actuallyweighed him on that Monday when
I take them into thepediatrician for the
constipation.
And he was just 28 pounds.
So in between Monday throughFriday, he had lost that much
(08:02):
weight went from 28 to 21.
And
Katie (08:06):
of weight in a kid that small, well,
Tori (08:09):
yes.
And so the doctor didn't thinkanything of it because it's an
11 month old weighing 21 pounds,I guess.
and she looked at me and she waslike, what's wrong?
And I was like, he weighed 28 onMonday.
And so she weighed him again.
He was 21 pounds and she waslike, okay, that's a big weight
difference.
And the gastro checks hisstomach out and he says, you
(08:30):
know, he looks fine there, buthas he always looked so so
muddled his fin, you know, and Ididn't know what that word
meant.
And he goes, look at all hisveins, you can see every vein in
his body.
And and I was like, wait, you'resaying he's dehydrated.
And she was like, yeah, he'svery dehydrated.
You need to take him over to thehospital, like right now, right
(08:54):
now and get IBS.
And at this point I was like, Iwent from the PD efficient twice
to the gastro, and now you'retelling me I need to take my
kids to the hospital.
Like, is he that sick?
And I, I just still, wasn'tthinking of.
Because I had never, I had nevermet a type one diabetic.
I had, I had no knowledge ofthis disease.
And so we take them in there andthey get a bed right away.
(09:17):
There was no waiting in theemergency room.
They called them in and said,you know, this there's a baby
coming over there right now.
So we go into the emergency roomand they get them into triaged
and they're taking, they'redoing everything they can to get
to me.
And he was so dehydrated thatthey called it in the, you know
ultrasound team and trying toget an IV going.
(09:39):
They finally get one and they goand run the blood.
And now it's been about threehours in the emergency room and
I'm still going, it's thisconstant, like, this is because
it's constipated.
Right.
And they're like, no somethingdifferent.
Something's going on.
And I'm like, is he going to beokay?
And they're like, we're doingthe best we can.
And he is just fighting them,but then passing out and
(10:01):
fighting them and holding this11 month old baby down.
And it's just like breaking.
And and he was very like hungryand he wanted to eat.
And so he was crying and likelooking for like pouches in my
bag.
And I was just like, no, just,just chill.
And and so then finally they getthe Ivy going and someone runs
(10:22):
in and they go are either of youtype one, diabetics, My husband
and I look at each other andwe're like, no, what does that
mean?
And they were like, well, hisblood sugar is well over 300 and
you guys are going to thepediatric ICU right now.
And that's, that's how theyapproached it.
And all this looks like is hegoing to die?
(10:42):
Like wanting to know a lot ofhow to how to respond.
And so finally they had acounselor come in and they
transferred us over there.
And finally, once he was all setup with the IB insulin going,
they explained everything.
And we were in there for a good24 hours.
And then we got transferred to.
Regular floor and we learnedeverything there was about type
(11:04):
one diabetes.
Katie (11:06):
Yeah, so it took doctors to twice to the pediatrician
once to the gastroenterologistand then even a little bit being
in the ER, before somebodyactually checked his blood
sugar, like kind of put thepieces together and, and check
that.
And I don't know a few things Ifind so interesting about that
(11:29):
story is that he, I feel likethat not that I've heard a
million diagnosis stories, butthat is like the quickest
decline in weight that I've everheard of.
I mean, that, that a week, likeseven pounds or eight pounds in
a week.
And I feel like, I feel likeI've heard so many stories where
doctors miss the diagnosis andwhich, you know, I think, I
(11:53):
think people assume that doctorsjust know everything about every
single diagnosis, which reallyjust is not.
The case.
I mean, you kind of specializein one thing and if you don't
see a lot of type one diabetics,and it's not really on your
radar, but I guess the reasonwhy I'm saying it is I had a
guest on not too long ago, samething, like doctor missed it.
(12:13):
And I feel like we all need tobe advocating at our
pediatrician's office for thatto become like, just a part of a
regular well visit every year,or, you know, if there's any
behavioral changes, you know,Hey, let's just do it.
How easy is a finger stick?
I mean, I know kids hate it ifthey're not used to it, but it's
just such an easy thing.
Anyway, it's just so interestingto me that it went missed by, by
(12:36):
that many people.
I also find it interesting thatthey came in and asked you if
you or your husband were typeone diabetic because you know, I
don't know, it just doesn'tnecessarily run in families.
Do you guys have any history ofauto-immune diseases in your
families
Tori (12:49):
we don't.
My dad did one of those, youknow, DNA tests.
They is where you can find yourfamily tree edit.
Did tell him with like, cause 23weeks, that celiac runs in his
family though.
So, which was very interestingbecause we don't know anyone in
our family that has celiac, butyeah, it's it said that it was
(13:10):
in my dad's student mind, soyeah, so maybe, maybe it skipped
a few generations, but you know,there was interesting things
going on with my grandfather whocould never control his
diabetes.
And so we wonder sometimes ifshe had, you know, some late
onset diabetes, he never had anunhealthy diet.
(13:31):
Never really.
Looked like he'd get type twodiabetes, but
Katie (13:37):
yeah,
Tori (13:38):
maybe, maybe was him.
Katie (13:39):
maybe, it may be misdiagnosed.
I mean, who knows?
We could speculate all day long,but I was just
Tori (13:44):
absolutely.
And that would just, you know,kill me to try and pinpoint it.
And it took me a good few monthsto stop trying to, because, you
know, I hear if kids like yourdaughter older diagnosis which
is not even helpful.
But I hear of adults gettingtype one, but it's a very few
handful of people being typeones before even hitting their
(14:06):
first birthday.
And it's just, it, it was veryheartbreaking for me to, for
that to happen so young.
And I felt like my first take onmotherhood.
and I'm now, you know, handedthis huge, huge group, huge
responsibility.
And I was also at 20 weekspregnant when he was diagnosed.
(14:28):
And so I had a lot of questionsand.
Is this something that, youknow, my, my children will get
like all of them and like, howdoes this happen?
But my, my one-year-old findright now.
Katie (14:40):
that's good.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat.
About.
Well, okay.
So my pers me personally, I didnot enjoy being pregnant ever.
I have three kids and I didn'tenjoy the pregnancy for any of
them.
Love the kids.
Obviously I loved them enough todo it, you know, three times
total, but I just didn't likebeing pregnant.
(15:00):
So when you say you're 20 weekspregnant and you've just been
landed, this T1 D diagnosis inyour 11 month old, like, what
was that like for you?
Were you having a goodpregnancy?
Was it just, what were you
Tori (15:13):
Um, I was, but it definitely was what spiraled
things out of control.
And my grandmother who hadAlzheimer's was living with us
and I had a dog that had sometemperament issues and was kind
of getting old.
And so that was.
Well, the, one of the very firstthings that happened in my
friend, Nancy, that was kind oflike you know, hit, hit me hard.
(15:39):
So that happens at 20 weekspregnant.
And then my grandmother passesaway at 30 weeks pregnant.
And then at 37 weeks pregnant, Ihad to put my dog down.
And so there were a lot ofthings that happened throughout
that pregnancy, where I had justso much emotional turmoil and
(16:01):
definitely dealing with the typeone diagnosis on top of those
things was pretty overwhelming.
Katie (16:08):
Yeah.
What it, what does it even liketo have a child that young with
type one diabetes?
Tori (16:13):
So He was kind of learning how to eat still.
So that was difficult.
I mean, I remember they weregiving us, you know, okay, well,
he's gonna be beyond, you know,one unit for 30 carbs.
And then you call us in and letus know how things are going.
And we'll change things as wego.
And I'm looking at them likehalf the sues lands in their
(16:35):
lap, how am I going to depthsthis?
And there was a lot ofspoonfeeding.
I like 13 months old because Iwas so afraid of not knowing how
much, you know, how much foodwas going in his stomach and not
landing on the floor.
(16:56):
And so I was becoming a littlebit of a control freak and being
like, okay, this is 30 times.
Like none of it can land on thefloor.
Like I'm gonna feed you, givinghim like chicken nuggets and
like anything processed and.
after a certain point andactually listening to juice box
podcast.
I really, I really tried to pullback a little bit on my
(17:17):
controlness and trying to tryingto remember that this is going
to be forever.
And if I let this drive meinsane, I'm, I'm going to go
crazy.
And so I learned how to manageinsulin and And try and just
(17:38):
look at the food and know, okay.
Some of it's not gonna get inhis mouth, so I'm going to do a
shot here and then watch hisDexcom and then do a shot there.
And we were actually NTI for agood year Because they were just
concerned with a big old armyhogging on him.
Or if I chose something else,just him being so young.
(18:02):
And, and I was comfortable withMVI.
He was diagnosed with a 12% A1Cand at his first appointment,
three months in, he got down to6.7 and after a year he was down
to 6%.
So we're so so they werecomfortable with getting them on
(18:24):
an Omni pod after a year.
And we'd been on, it saidsporadic for'em it's been two
years now with, with diabetes.
So,
Katie (18:33):
for a year in Omni.
You've been Omnipod for a year.
Tori (18:35):
yes.
Yeah.
So, I mean, he's now at 6.5 A1C.
It definitely went up becausehe's a three-year-old
Katie (18:43):
yeah.
Yeah.
Ours went up to after we got onthe pump and I think that's
something that people need toknow, because I think
everybody's under thisimpression that you're just
going to put a pump on and yournumbers are just going to
automatically just fall intothis nice, perfect line.
And It is.
it is a steep learning curvewhen you get on the pump.
And I mean, it, it was, that washard for us.
(19:04):
And then summer hit and Ithought summer was going to be
great cause she was going to behome with me and we could manage
it even tighter.
And Ooh, summer was hard.
Summer was So, hard.
Just the lack of routine and,you know, anyway.
Okay.
so do you.
Which do you prefer?
I mean, you've kind of beendoing both for equal amount of
(19:24):
time.
Which one do you like better?
Tori (19:27):
so I do like being on big for him beating, being on the
Omni pod because after he turnedtwo he was getting a lot more
vocal about hating shots.
He was running away when hewould see me pull out the pen
and he be afraid of getting inthe high chair because that's
where I would give him the shotso that he was kinda like
strapped down.
(19:48):
And it was just getting verydifficult to even like pre bolus
because I pull it out and thenhe was.
I get upset at getting a shotand then he'd immediately think
like, well, I'm going to getfood.
Right.
And I'd want to wait about 15minutes.
And I explained all this to thedoctor that I just want to be
(20:11):
able to like dose him before Ieven mentioned food because he's
a two year old.
Right.
And so They finally feltcomfortable getting him on the
Omnipod and, and it's been sogreat just to remotely, you
know, go see them without himeven knowing I'm doing it.
And then say like your numberslook good.
(20:31):
You're ready to eat.
And so that's been really great.
And he takes it like a champ.
I mean, he gets a little scaredwhen he, when I pull everything
out and goes, no, no, no mommy.
But otherwise, I mean, it's, youjust distract him and he deals
with it.
So it's, it's been really great.
But like you were saying, peopleget very.
(20:54):
Confused on the fact that thepump isn't magic and learning
how to do things.
I mean, we've looked into thething because he's on arrows,
not, not dash.
And so looping just, it, itlooks like a great thing, but
with him being three years old,he still is on such a little
(21:16):
amount of insulin that I justget scared of letting it kind of
pull him down if he was to gethigh and then dealing with a low
and it's stopping.
And I feel like it would bestopping and starting and only
attacks.
Katie (21:28):
Hmm.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know a ton aboutlooping.
I'm actually going to talk tohave a recording with someone in
a little bit that's whose
Tori (21:37):
It's interesting.
think, yeah, I think it'ssomething that we might look
into, but he, I feel like wouldbe out of honeymoon now, but
even being out of honeymoon, Imean, you don't use for.
Six or seven units a day total.
Katie (21:53):
oh girl, we can blow through that and
Tori (21:55):
tiny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's a teenyamount of insulin.
Otherwise he just falls and Idon't mean to, he's always
constantly running with activeinsulin and stuff.
And so it's interesting howlittle insulin is used with
children that
Katie (22:12):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I take it.
He's on a CGM.
Tori (22:16):
Yes.
That's
Katie (22:17):
Yeah.
I think you maybe said thatbefore.
Well, what do you feel likeyou've, w let's talk about your
biggest challenges first, justwith, I mean,
Tori (22:27):
Yeah.
Katie (22:28):
I don't know, as a mom, that's done it three times now.
I feel like having a toddler ishard enough.
So you throw on T one D on topof it, and I just can't even
imagine.
But what do you feel like yourbiggest T one D challenges have
been far?
Tori (22:42):
I think I have a lot of fear of the unknown as he grows
up, honestly.
He won't know a life without it.
And I sometimes think that's agood thing, but I also wonder, I
mean, how he'll take it and howhe'll manage it.
And that just kind of scares methat he'll be on insulin since
(23:05):
he was barely one years old.
And, you know, if he doesn'tmanage it properly after 12, 13,
14 years old, and he startsgetting rebellious, he can have
complications as early as in histwenties.
And so that fear was in my mindimmediately.
I mean, that's why it was soimportant to me that he managed
insulin properly.
(23:25):
I manage insulin properly,properly from the beginning.
So that was one of my biggestemotional hurdles getting
through that and being like,okay, I need to stop thinking
about the negatives and thinkabout the positives, but and the
positives are there.
I mean, sometimes I, I actuallyam grateful for type one
because.
(23:46):
You see a lot of kids parentsgiving their kids whatever, to
whatever they want and to smellcandy, just, you know, don't
cry.
And I, I look at him and I'mlike, he loves his playing water
and he likes to eat this bananafor, you know, low snack.
(24:07):
And I'm very grateful that it'smade him A, not so picky kid
because, you know, he couldn'tget certain things.
I didn't want to give us things.
That's a positive that I'vefound, but as far as things that
have been really challenging Ithink I think there's like
jealousy and people getting to,you know, have a normal chance
(24:30):
at raising their toddlers andnot having to deal with, you
know, the, the, the thinking.
The wondering what his sugarsare and letting anyone watch
their kids.
Katie (24:46):
yeah,
Tori (24:47):
So that's just,
Katie (24:49):
yeah, yeah, That is.
That is hard.
I, I catch myself in thatnegative thinking to just, or
not negative thinking, but justthe, the worrying, you know,
just about like same, same exactthing.
I mean, my daughter is, is olderthan your son.
She's nine, but I still thinkabout like, oh gosh, what if she
turns into a rebellious teenagerand, and and you know what, she
(25:12):
wouldn't be the first and shecertainly won't be the last and
there's been many T1 DS thathave come through that and, and
gotten their act togetherafterwards.
But I don't know.
I just have to remind myselfthat worrying about that.
Now isn't going to changeanything about how you think
about my day or my future or herfuture.
So I just try to live it one dayat a
Tori (25:35):
And I think that's important.
I think.
In this day and age right now,there are a lot of people like
yourself.
Like like a lot of, a lot ofpeople are coming out with
letting people know of how toproperly manage insulin and how
to get along with, you know,parenting a type one diabetic.
And it's important to have thiscommunity of people listening to
(25:58):
other people's stories so thatthey can be a better T and D
parent.
And to, to acknowledge thatdoctors sometimes don't give the
best advice.
I remember when he wasdiagnosed, they were saying that
200 is totally fine.
Right.
And it's not, it's not.
(26:19):
And I think it's important forpeople to talk about that and be
on podcasts and talk about howyou want to strive for the best
sugar as possible.
And that's how we're going toraise our kids to, to, you know,
survive this.
Katie (26:33):
Yeah.
To hopefully have a futurewithout complications.
Totally.
Tori (26:38):
Absolutely.
Katie (26:39):
I definitely would not be comfortable with Sarah being at
200 all the time.
I mean, we hit 200
Tori (26:45):
And it happens.
Yeah, absolutely.
Katie (26:48):
I'm looking at you breakfast cereal, my arch, my
arch nemesis.
But we hit it and, but I'm, wecan get it back down and we can,
we can get it back down prettyquickly and then get into much,
much better numbers.
So Yeah, I definitely agree withthat.
Like 200 is not the place youwant to be forever, but
Tori (27:07):
no.
They were, they were saying myrange for him at, at a year old
was 150 to 215
Katie (27:16):
is that just,
Tori (27:17):
they didn't want it anywhere close to a hundred
because of lows.
And it was, you know, when Irealized.
that one 50 was actually highconsidered high.
And if you stayed at one 50forever, like you will have
complications.
If that's, you're like, oh,that's an amazing number.
(27:37):
And you just live there andhigher.
I was baffled and, and Iremember thinking to myself
like, okay, like doctors arethere to make sure that your,
your child does not die and thatyou can leave the hospital
safely.
And it's up to you as a parentto make sure that you strive for
(27:59):
better.
And you strive to have normalA1C is and normal sugars that a
type, a non type one diabeticwould have.
And there are a lot of peopleout there that, that don't,
don't take that seriously.
And I think it's important to tostrive for that and make sure
(28:21):
that, you know, you're making,you're making your best effort
to Have lower, lower numbers andnot be afraid.
Katie (28:29):
So I'm curious to know, have you kind of gone back to
your, the endocrinologist andlike just kind of advocated for
better numbers and tried toeducate them, I guess is a good
way to say it.
I mean, have you tell me howthat conversation
Tori (28:48):
it was very, yeah.
So I remember looking, theylooked at his graphs immediately
when they saw that I had gottenit down to 6% and they were
like, you're having a lot oflike amazing grass, but we're
concerned about lows and thedesktop clarity to saying it was
3% under 70.
(29:10):
And like between 50 to 70, under3% in three months, I was like,
that's, that's not a lot.
And And they were, you know,concerned that I wasn't feeding
him what he wanted.
So that was their biggestconcern.
He's living a normal life.
Right.
And I was like, he eats pizza,he eats birthday cake, he eats
(29:30):
goldfish, whatever he wants, hegets it.
So, I mean, please don't worryabout that.
And so they were very pleasedwith that, but one of their big
concerns, honesty was just thathe was on a diet and I was like,
no, like he's had on a diet, Ijust use common sense.
And he doesn't drink juice andmilk all day long.
(29:54):
But yeah.
So I think, I think sometimesthey're afraid of not letting
your kid be a kid first andthat's that's, that is
important.
But if you know how to manage itsome well, like you can let your
kid be a kid.
So but I remembered letting themknow that.
I was not comfortable with 150being his low alarm.
(30:19):
And that I was definitely okaywith him being a hundred because
he has to text calm.
Like I am not afraid I'm goingto miss a low it's going to be
okay.
And so they kind of backed offat that point.
And I actually have met a fewmoms now that have a T1 de chil
child and one that I wasactually working out with.
(30:40):
So her daughter was actuallydiagnosed the same exact weekend
as jacks.
So that was really cool to see.
So we were talking about, youknow, oh, she's still in
honeymoon.
No Jackson isn't anymore.
Oh, you got the pump.
You did too.
So a lot of the timelines werearound the same time.
So she was actually letting meknow how she was so afraid of
(31:04):
doing things against.
the endo.
and it wasn't necessarilyagainst, but she'd say, oh, hit,
she, you know, I feel like sheneeds a A higher basal rate and
I I'm waiting for the doctor tolet me know what it needs to be.
you know, she was two years inas well.
So I remember I told her, like,you know, you can change that on
(31:28):
your own.
Right.
And she was like, well, they'regoing to get me, like, they're
going to be mad at me.
Okay.
Thanks.
So like, you don't have to waitfor the doctor's approval.
Like it's your child, youadvocate for them.
And you, you, you know, that sheneeds a higher basal rate.
So just change it, just bring itup like a couple points and see
(31:50):
what happens.
And if she goes low, change itback down a little bit, a little
bit less than what you added.
You'll be.
Okay.
And so that's kind of.
Why I want it to be on podcastsand why I want to talk to other
T one D parents letting themknow that you're there, you're
your child's best advocate andyou know what?
Your child needs more so than adoctor, because they're your,
(32:12):
child's just a name to them.
And you see that kid every day,you does that kid every day, you
know what
Katie (32:18):
Yeah.
Tori (32:19):
and to have confidence in
Katie (32:20):
Yeah.
And I would encourage anybodythat kind of has that mindset
about like, oh, I don't, they'regoing to be mad at me.
You know, talk to your, talk tothe endocrinologist about that
and tell them, you know, I don'twant to wait, you know, even a
couple of days or a week forsomebody to call me back and
tell me how to adjust hisratios.
And in Bazell like, give me someguidelines that I'm comfortable
(32:45):
with and you're comfortablewith, on how I can make small
decisions to make changes, tosee if it will help, because
Yeah.
that's, that's what I do too.
I mean, I mean, I really respectour endocrinologist.
We have a great team that we seeand I feel like they're very
encouraging, which I appreciate.
They've never like beaten us upover anything.
(33:06):
They're always willing to listento me and let us try new things.
But at the same time I do, I amnot calling them.
Tori (33:13):
no, I would be calling them daily.
Katie (33:17):
I would be
Tori (33:17):
I would be calling them daily if that was the case,
because, because that wassomething that I think a lot of
people don't realize aboutdiabetes either is that diabetes
changes by the day.
I feel, especially when yourchild's going through grocers,
having different activitylevels, going through an
illness, you have to makechanges on the fly.
(33:37):
And if you're waiting for thatdoctor to tell you what to do,
and they get back to you threedays later, that that advice
that they doesn't mean anythingthan it did three days ago.
It's totally different
Katie (33:50):
Well, and I know everybody's different, but I
mean, when I make a change, Imake a, I make a really small
change.
Like I'm not, I'm not haphazardor reckless about like we're
taking the ratio from one to 15to one five, like, no, I'm, if I
change a ratio, it's by onepoint and then I see the next
day, how that goes.
If it's still was a hot mess,we'll do it.
(34:11):
Another point.
If I change a basil rate, youknow, the smallest, I change it
by 0.05.
Like, you know, you units anhour, like that's how small of a
change I will make at a time tosee.
And you know what that 0.05, Idid that a couple of weeks ago
with Sarah's numbers.
Cause they were crazy at school.
(34:32):
They were crazy high and Iincreased it by just that that's
the smallest amount you canincrease it by on the Omnipod is
0.05.
And I just did that across theboard and it made a humongous
difference.
So even just that small changemade a really big difference.
But Yeah.
I mean, obviously people need toprobably, if they really have
(34:53):
that much fear about makingdecisions for their kids ratios
and rates and Bazell and allthat stuff, then talk to the
endocrinologist about it becauseI'm sure they would love, they
are swamped.
They would love for you to bemore independent with your
decision-making.
Like they, they would love it.
I'm sure.
Tori (35:11):
Absolutely.
And I remember when he got thearmy pod and she told me, you
know, call me back.
And two days the trainer tell meback in two days and we'll make
any adjustments.
And I said, do I have to callback and do dates?
And she looked at me and shesaid, based on his A1C, I'm sure
you'll figure it out.
And, and so it's little thingslike that where I, I encourage
(35:34):
people to really, you know, justutilize Facebook groups and
utilize these podcasts likeyours and listening to other
people's stories.
'cause I think that right theregave me confidence when I saw
someone talking about like, oh,I should change something.
And I said to myself, wait,people are changing things on
(35:55):
their own.
And, and I thought, wow, like ifthey can do this, I can, I can
do this.
And, and the fact that there arebooks out there, like How to be
a
Katie (36:09):
I think like a pancreas.
Tori (36:11):
think like a pancreas.
Yes.
And I, yes.
And, and so all of these toolsout there are there to help you
really take control.
And if, if it was such a taboothing to do it yourself, there
wouldn't be, will be thesetools.
There wouldn't be pumps.
(36:32):
I mean,
Katie (36:33):
Yeah.
You're you're exactly right.
Yeah.
I love that book.
That's I feel I call it the Tone D Bible because that's like
my that's like my reference bookwhen I needed an actual physical
object to go look at it.
And then I loved the juice boxpodcasts too.
I mean that you will learn a lotin a short amount of time by
listening to that podcast.
And Yeah.
that's one of our favorites inour household too.
(36:55):
So check it out.
Tori (36:57):
And, and I was actually on his podcast and I loved, I loved
talking to him about everything,but I definitely wanted to reach
out to you because Moms moms,need to talk to each other and
moms need to hear other people'sstories.
And I think it's important tokind of relate to other moms
(37:18):
thoughts and stories andlistening to other people's
children's diagnosis.
It's, it's a tight community andI wouldn't be able to do this
without the support of.
Katie (37:31):
Oh, I a hundred percent agree.
You're going to have to tell mewhat episode number you were on
his podcasts.
Cause I, I may have alreadylistened to it actually, but
we'll see.
I don't know.
He there's like hundreds andhundreds, so
Tori (37:45):
It's a million.
Katie (37:46):
haven't listened to it just cause I don't think I've
listened to every single oneyet, but that's fine.
That's great.
Okay.
Let's see.
So you told us about yourbiggest challenges.
I just, before we move on, Ifind it interesting that your
biggest challenges were all likemore mental and emotional, which
I feel like really resonateswith just moms in general
(38:06):
because you know, we, I feellike whether you want to
stereotype moms or not, we areusually the more emotional of.
the half of a pair.
Right.
So I just find that interestingthat it wasn't like.
You know, anything to donecessarily with type one
management.
It was just about the mental andemotional burden.
(38:28):
Cause it is so much, some
Tori (38:29):
Yes, because I knew, I knew that I could handle it.
It was a challenge that Iaccepted immediately and I knew,
okay, well, I'm going to strivefor the best.
And I'm very all or nothing.
And this was something with mytype, a personality that I could
go, okay.
Like this is perfect for me.
(38:50):
And, and so I, I was alwaystrying to perfect it and it
helped me on both ends.
I mean, being a perfectionist toget that A1C down, but also to
teach myself not to be aperfectionist and to say, look,
he's going to have crazynumbers.
Like I need to let myself beokay with that sometimes.
And, you know, work on gettingit down.
(39:13):
And the fact that I CA that he'snever been higher than 300 since
diagnosed.
This is something, you know,that I have to keep my reminding
myself that that's a good thing.
And I listened to a podcast fromspot today, even, and the guy
was telling us, you know, abouthow she lived for 15 years with
(39:36):
probably between 200 and 500,his, his entire youth.
And that was, you know, back inthe seventies.
And so I think the, themanagement style, especially
with all today's technology, Imean, it was, it was fine, but
definitely what you were saying.
It's more emotional for themothers and technicalities.
(40:00):
My husband was like, okay, Ihave to give a shot.
Okay.
fine.
Katie (40:08):
and management in the house.
I
Tori (40:11):
I do.
He was definitely nervous abouta pump because of, you know, new
technology and, oh my gosh, likea needle was way easier.
But I was like, not really pumpis amazingly easier.
You don't have to chase yourchild down.
Like, I think it's great.
But yeah, just like the processis confusing sometimes to my
(40:33):
husband.
Like I just, you know, settingup the different numbers and
being like, okay, set a 10 phaseof this and do this.
He's like, no, I just want to beable to give a shot.
but I mean, he does great.
And there's been times that Ihave to go and do stuff and he's
with him and he won't text meand just we'll manage it on his
(40:55):
own.
And I'll look at the graphsometimes be like, oh, oh, he's
throwing high.
Like give him, give him anotherunit.
But other than that, I mean, he
Katie (41:05):
Yeah, well, that's good.
That's good.
I know my husband usually does areally, I feel like my daughter
always has great numbers whenshe's with my husband and I do
like 98% of the T one Dmanagement.
And I'm like, what is.
going on, man?
Like anyway, story for anotherday.
Right.
But yeah.
I'm grateful.
I have a, somebody who's willingto partner with me in this
(41:27):
cause, man, it's a tough, toughburden to bear on your own.
So I'm curious about childcaresince your kids are so young, do
you work outside of the home?
Tori (41:39):
I don't, I'm actually a realtor, so it actually worked
out great because I willtypically schedule my home
showings for times that are onweekends.
Husband.
Can we be with them or afterbedtime or I'll be able to drop
the kids off with my parents andthen go and show a house.
(42:00):
So I typically work it around myschedule or just even take them
with me.
That's been great, but I'vechose to be a stay at home mom.
And I was actually very veryrelieved after this diagnosis
that I was a stay at
Katie (42:14):
Yeah.
You're a Work from home.
mom, you
Tori (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Katie (42:19):
two jobs, realtor.
And it's an interesting time tobe a realtor speaking of, oh my
gosh.
Is It crazy?
And where you are?
It's insane in Florida.
Everybody wants to move here,which I don't understand because
Florida is a hot mess right nowwith the pandemic, so,
Tori (42:34):
Yeah.
Some of this Georgia,
Katie (42:36):
Okay.
Tori (42:37):
this word, But yeah.
I mean yeah, childcare isdefinitely something that I have
been nervous about letting otherpeople watch.
I have never even let I let onefriend watch him and he refused
to eat and he was going low andBless her.
She kept calling me and say, Idon't know how you do this.
(42:58):
I feel like he's going to have aseizure any minute.
And I was like, oh my gosh, youwon't eat anything.
And she was like, no, he keepssaying he wants to play.
And it's been very difficult inthat sense with type one.
With him just being so young andnot understanding like, Hey,
like, I don't understand why youdon't even want candy.
Like please eat.
Katie (43:19):
well.
What did it, what happened?
What did he eat?
What happened?
Tori (43:23):
She eventually got him to eat like some fruit.
But he had some active insulinin his system and he was running
around like a chicken with hishead cut off because he was so
excited playing with his friendsand all that playing was just
making him low, low, low, low.
And so he did, he like ended upstaying for the whole two hours
(43:45):
around 55.
And, and he would eat, he wouldcome up like to 70 and then keep
falling.
And then she would like try andforce like a pouch down his
mouth and he would take a sipand then like throw it away.
She was like, no, please eat.
And eventually I finally gotthere.
(44:06):
I was like, drink this Coca-Colanow.
He was like, oh, I'll drinkthat.
And I was like, oh my God
Katie (44:13):
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
He probably shaved a few yearsoff your friend's life.
It's like, never
Tori (44:18):
Yeah.
Oh, she was like, I don't knowhow you do this.
And I just, I told myself like,don't put her through
Katie (44:24):
yeah, but don't you feel seen a little bit.
You're like, see, it's
Tori (44:28):
Yeah,
Katie (44:29):
it's so hard.
Tori (44:31):
it is.
It's, it's very hard.
And I think one of the biggestchallenges I've had with letting
people watch him and, and wrote,like, I have a lot of friends
that say, please teach me aboutdiabetes so that I can help.
And while I do trust that theywould understand it.
And I have a very large group ofamazing mom friends.
(44:52):
I feel this weight that it's nottheir responsibility.
and it's very hard for me to letgo and let people try, because I
don't want them to feel likethat friend that I had watched
them that one day she felt soresponsible for his life, more
(45:13):
so than any other child, youknow, just randomly coming over
their, to their friend's house.
And I felt bad.
I felt not shameful, but, justalmost, almost like.
I felt bad for her, not even mychild, but I felt bad that she
(45:36):
had to go through that mentally,because I don't want anyone else
to go through that mentally.
and So I just have a lot of dayswhere friends go, Hey, I know
you have a show.
I play like, I'll help you watchJackson.
And I think to myself, like, Idon't want to put you
Katie (45:52):
Hmm.
Yeah, I hear ya.
I feel like you kind of have tothough, I mean, you know, to
give yourself a break,especially with the, you got a
third one on the way, like youshould take, you should make a
little PowerPoint.
I've actually thought aboutdoing this.
I should, I really shouldbecause I still we're.
We've we've had diabetes now fora year and the grandparents are
(46:14):
always so willing to help us,which I'm so grateful for.
But I feel like I still need tokind of like sit down and like
give them like a little crashcourse.
So I do want to like make aPowerPoint presentation to kind
of have for them.
Or if we, I feel like we rarelyhave to actually hire childcare
just because.
Well, like my oldest is in fifthgrade, so I feel like they're
(46:35):
getting a little older anyway,but also we just have so much
family in town, which is a hugeblessing, but anyway, if we ever
did need, or even teachers likea crash course for teachers at
the beginning of the school yearthe show I just published today
that I put on the Raquel fromtype one together, she was
telling me that the collegediabetes network, whatever
(46:58):
university or college is closeto your city, like to look into
that, to try to find a collegestudent with type one who would
feel comfortable babysitting.
Anyway.
Yeah.
just because I feel like, Imean, I think, I think caregiver
burnout is just as real of athing as T1 D burnout.
So we got to take care of
Tori (47:18):
And I will say that.
Something interesting thathappened right after I gave
birth to my second, it, it wasthrown into my lap that I had to
let my parents take over for aweek because not only did I have
a newborn, but Jack's came downwith hand foot and mouth the day
that my newborn was born And Iwas so nervous that he would
(47:43):
give it to the baby.
Right.
And it's a very contagiousdisease.
So I was living actually in myparents' basement at the time we
just moved and bought our firsthouse this past spring.
but, so anyhow, they had thisgreat idea that they were going
(48:05):
to take jacks for a week down tomy uncle's farm.
He has 30 acres of land.
And they were going to go thereanyway.
The weekend that Rowan was born.
That was in Gainesville,Florida.
And so at first, when theyapproached me with, you know,
(48:27):
taking him for a week so that hecould, you know, have the hand
foot and mouth down there and usjust get time with the baby.
Yeah.
They don't have any animals.
It's like a wedding venue.
So yeah, so he has a wholewedding venue for anyone that's
looking to get married inGainesville, Florida.
And it's called little, littlehouse farm.
(48:49):
I'm horrible.
But but that farm is mostly justfor marriages wedding
ceremonies.
And so they run a whole businessthere.
But you know, I was like, well,just take tax down there.
And if we'll run around andplay, they don't have any
weddings this weekend.
And so I approached it to myhusband and he said, absolutely
(49:12):
not.
And then I'm holding the babyJackson's upstairs where like
sanitizing everything in thehouse.
And finally my husband was like,okay, I really don't want the
baby to get this.
It's like, yeah, I don't either.
He was like, I, I don't know howwe're going to separate them in
(49:33):
a house.
Maybe he could stay upstairswith your parents, but if
they're leaving, then I guess,you know, we have two kids down
here.
And so we finally packed him abag and I had my parents, you
know, I went upstairs and whilethe baby was sleeping and gave
them an entire crash course.
And thankfully they did know alittle because we lived there,
(49:55):
but I still had done everything.
I mean, it was a whole basementapartment downstairs.
And so I sometimes went weekswithout even seeing them.
but I gave them an entire crashbefore, as I had them.
Like they had not even so muchas given him a shot before
really.
Maybe once or twice at thehospital.
And they were learning as wellsince we have them come over,
(50:17):
but have, is like having themgive insulin shots to an orange
and just did doing all thedifferent techniques that they
taught me in the hospital andtold them how to change a
Dexcom, how to, you know, changethings on his Dexcom.
If they needed to like set thealarm higher.
(50:37):
And I let them go with him andhe was gone for a good, you
know, six days.
And that was so hard not beingable to like see every meal that
you had and not doing themanagement and concentrating on
the baby and, and you know what,he came back alive and he, he
(50:59):
never had any issues down there.
He might've gone down to like 50at one point.
They handled it and they did anamazing job.
He never went high.
And so I think that wasimportant for me to, to be
pushed into that position ofletting, letting, my parents
Katie (51:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, we, in what you justdescribed though, the crash
course you gave them is thecrash course that we got.
When we, before we left thehospital with our type one
diabetics.
So, and we kept them alive forthe first six days and beyond.
So
Tori (51:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Katie (51:35):
Grandparents can do it, childcare can do it.
It's super intimidating.
I mean, I, I w I was sointimidated when we first
brought Sarah home.
It really was like having anewborn child and again, all
over again, like having to learnit all and the fear of like, not
knowing what you're doing andeverything.
Yeah.
But they made it yay.
Grandparents.
Tori (51:57):
Yes.
Katie (51:58):
That's great.
Well, okay.
Tell me about what do you thinkyour.
Biggest successes have been withT one D management.
I mean, you do not have an easyjob with a three-year-old and a
one-year-old and a baby on theway.
So what have your, what have youbeen some of your greatest
successes you already mentioned,mentioned your awesome A1C is
Tori (52:18):
yeah, I think some of the successes have just been
learning, learning how man, how,how insulin works has been the
biggest, the biggest thing.
And I think that being a toddlerand having a 6.5 A1C is great
(52:38):
without any type of dietnecessarily.
I mean, he had pizza tonight fordinner and he's hanging out at
75 right now.
So I think that that has beenone of the things that.
I've been very proud of myselffor letting him have a normal
(53:02):
toddler life while havingnormal.
much.
Katie (53:08):
Yeah.
That is no easy task.
So well done.
Tori (53:12):
Yeah.
Katie (53:14):
Well done.
Is there anything else you.
want to add?
I, what, what do you ha, likewhat kind of advice, what would
be your best, you.
know, one or two tips forparents that are managing type
one and a toddler?
Tori (53:28):
I think the biggest thing is remembering that every day is
going to be different and, and Ithink it is, I mean, everyone
has different management stylesand everyone is going to do what
works best for their family.
But if you typically ate acertain way before that was.
(53:53):
The average normal Americanlife.
And it scares you that now yourchild has type one diabetes, and
you're trying to find the nextbest thing to, to, you know,
manage your child's bloodsugars.
I think it's important too, tolearn how to manage insulin
first and foremost, so that yourchild can eat dinner with you
(54:18):
and your child.
10 doesn't have to have so manynew changes in their life,
because that was one of mybiggest fears, how I would
approach birthday parties, howit approached just typical daily
life.
I mean, I wanted my child tohave birthday cake when we kind
of a perfect, and I didn't wantto be that parent bringing our
(54:42):
own food and homemade cake thathas, you know, no sugar.
And so I think one of my best.
One of my best tips would be todo your research and to read
everything you can aboutinsulin, because when it comes
down to it, type one, diabetesis about managing insulin.
(55:04):
And if you can do that, yourchild will have a very normal,
healthy.
Katie (55:12):
I mean, I think that you really can continue to live life
just the way you were living atbefore.
You know, if you can, and it'snot easy.
I like, you know, you say thatand I say that, but it's not
like I just magically knew howto do all these things.
I mean, I've had to, like you,like, we've already talked
about, I've read, think like apancreas I'm on my third, go
(55:33):
round on that book.
And I have listened to podcastsand you know, you, you kind of
have to be a student of yourchild, but if that's what you
want to do, you can figure itout.
And for the families that don'twant to do that by all means,
don't do that.
Your life is probably easierthan my life.
Tori (55:50):
Yes.
And I think that's superimportant too, to do what makes
you the most comfortable ifeating keto makes you more
comfortable because you don'twant to have to look at birthday
cake and go, oh my gosh, how doI dose for that?
Don't don't make yourselfstressed out.
But if it's breaking your heart,there are ways around it and you
can, you can
Katie (56:09):
Uh, absolutely.
I'm such a what's the word?
Stubborn.
Maybe I'm a pretty stubbornperson, which people might not
gather that from my posts, but,or my podcasts, but I feel like
when I like, like for instance,birthday cake, like I look at
birthday cake and it doesn'tscare me I'm like, I will
dominate you birthday cake.
Like we will conquer you andmaybe not this time, but we will
(56:33):
eventually conquer you birthdaycake.
So it's, it's doable you just toit's trial and error and it's
not gonna be perfect the firsttime for sure.
But if you want to, if you wantto be able to do those things,
you can learn how to do them.
For sure.
Tori (56:47):
Well, my big awakening was definitely when he was diagnosed
a week before his firstbirthday.
I remember.
So I was planning his smash cakeand then I was like, oh my God,
my child can't have a smashcake.
And so I immediately like hitthe Facebook groups and was
like, oh my God, we've beendiagnosed a week.
And I want my kid to havebirthday cake for his first
(57:10):
birthday.
Like, I don't want to bedifferent.
I don't want my child to bedifferent.
And that was like one of my bigaha moments right away, right
away.
And so, so many people sent meto different podcasts and
different Facebook groups.
And we're like, you can do this.
Like you can just, just dose,just give influence score.
(57:31):
And I think because he wasdiagnosed at such a pivotal time
and it sounds so silly.
To say that, but it was, youknow, important to me for my
child to get as much.
And so I did like a cupcakeinstead, but I, I learned how to
pre-bill us immediately forthat, that cupcake.
(57:53):
And, and guess what, he neverwent high or low or anything.
And, and that that, right there,I was like, oh, he can't eat
that.
I just have to know what to do.
And so I, like I said, it's,it's important if it's important
to you make it your goal tolearn what to do.
Katie (58:10):
That's great advice.
Perfect.
Wonderful.
Anything else?
Tori (58:16):
I think we've
Katie (58:17):
Yeah, I think we have to I always love chatting with
moms.
You know, I have, like, I feellike lately I've had a lot.
of healthcare professionals onand which they're awesome too,
but sometimes it's nice just tolike chat with another mom.
That's living the T one D lifealongside me.
So
Tori (58:32):
Yeah.
And I think your podcast hasbeen helpful and just listening
to other, you know, healthprofessionals and listening to
your diet, your daughter'sdiabetic story.
Diagnosis story was made me cryand, and I was, I, I remember
reading, listening to it andthinking, oh my gosh, like I
(58:53):
want to tell Jackson storybecause someone else out there
will listen to that, listen toyour podcasts and have a baby
that's diagnosed.
And I want them to know thatthey're not alone.
And it's a, it's a young lifeyoung diagnosis, but
Katie (59:10):
normal.
Tori (59:10):
live a normal,
Katie (59:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, that is a hard age toget diagnosed.
I would have to imagine.
But I feel like there's pros andcons too, to each age.
You know what I mean?
Like with.
It's sad that he'll never know alife.
without diabetes, but at thesame time, he'll never know a
life without diabetes.
So he doesn't really know whathe's missing.
(59:33):
My daughter does know her lifebefore diabetes and she grieved
the loss of that.
But at the same time, she'svery, she's so much older.
She's so independent with it.
I'm already, I mean, you know, wwith my help, of course, but
she's, she's taken so muchownership ownership of it.
And I have a lot of, you know,parents say like, oh, I can't
wait till my kid gets to thatage.
(59:54):
So anyway, I just feel there'spros and cons to every, to every
Tori (59:57):
Yeah.
And I do think about yourdaughter's age.
And one of the things that anurse told me when he was
diagnosed with, you know, youdon't feel lucky right now, but
you're, you're one of the luckyones.
Now I looked at them sobbingwith my, they will, you know, 20
weeks pregnant belly.
Like, how am I lucky?
(01:00:18):
And, and to.
He's Not going to grieve hislife.
You're going to grieve itbecause, you know, you know
what, it was like being able tofeed them whatever's on the
plate, but you're going to stillbe able to feed them on your
plate, just give insulin.
And I was like, true.
And they were like, you know, wehave kids coming in here at 13,
14 years old getting diagnosed.
(01:00:39):
And it is so sad and, andlistening to that kind of gave
me perspective.
And and I thought to myself,wow, like if I was diagnosed at
14, 15 years old, I wouldn'tknow what I would do with
myself.
And, and so I definitely feelfor those mothers and I feel for
those kids I feel for yourdaughter and I, I think to
(01:01:01):
myself, okay.
Like he was a baby, like he'sgoing to live a totally normal
life in his eyes.
Katie (01:01:07):
I agree.
I think the teen.
Maybe be the hardest I wouldhave to imagine, but I don't
teen moms, I have not forgottenabout you.
I have a I'm I'm working up aseries for teens in my head.
I think that would be veryhelpful.
yeah.
And it would be helpful for mebecause I'm not, I'm not too far
away from that.
I need to do it for my sake.
I need to do a teen series.
So if you're listening and youhave some interesting insight
(01:01:31):
into the life of a teen T one, Dyou go ahead and email me and
let me know.
All right.
Sorry.
Well, let's, let's wrap it uphere again.
I've loved having you on Thankyou.
so much for, for being on theshow and sharing your story.
And I look forward to keeping upwith you from here on out.
Tori (01:01:48):
Yeah, definitely.
Katie (01:01:50):
Bye.
Tori (01:01:50):
Hi.
Katie (01:01:56):
That's it for our show today.
Again, if you want to find Torion social media, head on over to
Instagram and search for at Torytackles too.
I hope you guys enjoyed thatepisode.
I just want to thank you guys somuch again for spreading the
word about the podcast.
I can tell by the downloadnumbers that it's growing and
people are learning about it andthey're tuning in and the
feedback I've gotten seems to beall positive.
(01:02:19):
So I just want to thank youagain.
If you haven't already, you cansubscribe to the show wherever
you listen to podcast.
Apple podcast, Google podcast,Spotify, Pandora, Castbox it's
in all of those places.
And once you pull up the show,you click subscribe or follow,
or sometimes I think it'sconnect depending on where
(01:02:39):
you're listening to the podcast,but Wala you'll be subscribed.
And then every week it will beautomatically downloaded.
So you can take it on the go.
I hope you guys have a fabulousweek.
We are heading into holidayseason.
Aren't we?
Halloween, Thanksgiving,Christmas, they're all right
around the corner.
And I just cannot believe thatwe're almost done with 2021.
(01:03:00):
I saw a really funny reel theother day that said something to
the effect of, I cannot believewe're only four months away from
2022.
I'm still trying to process2020.
And I just feel like thatcouldn't be further from the
truth.
Great.
Time is flying.
Alright, have a great week chatwith you soon.
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