#406 Patrolling with Type 1 Diabetes

November 13, 2020Scott Benner

Sean is a Police Officer living with type 1 diabetes

Sean is a 26-year-old police officer who employs the tips and tricks discussed on the podcast to keep his glucose levels stable so that he is able to more readily respond when his job throws something unexpected at him while he works rolling daytime and overnight shifts, as well as potentially adrenaline-spiking SWAT-team roles. He wants to show other Type 1 diabetics that it is more than possible to join the force if they are interested.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 406 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's show is sponsored by Dexcom, makers to the G six continuous glucose monitor the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump, and touched by type one touched by type ones 20th annual dancing for diabetes show is virtual this year. And you can watch it at touched by type one.org. It'll be available on November 14. That's this Saturday, November 14 2020. At 7pm eastern time, I just spoke with Elizabeth the other day, and they filmed the entire event in a huge auditorium said it was really exciting. And definitely worth your time. You know what else is worth your time the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump and you can get a free no obligation demo of that pod sent directly to your home absolutely for the free by going to my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box and of course@dexcom.com Ford slash juice box you can find out a lot about the Dexcom g six, like how to get it what it is. And oh by the way, if you get your health care through the VA Dexcom is now covered.

Shawn lives with Type One Diabetes. He's a husband and a police officer. And today we're gonna talk about a little of all of that here on the Juicebox Podcast. Key Imagine if I did it all like that. I'd be like, oh, welcome to the Juicebox Podcast Today Show. Anyway, Sean's a cop. I grew up around a lot of police officers. And so I have a little bit of background about what it's like to be a police officer tiny little bit, a little bit of background. And generally, if you understand I'm saying to Shawn, and I got along very well. He told me how the podcast helped him what it's like to do his job with Type One Diabetes. And he wanted to come on to encourage young people who'd like to be in law enforcement, and who are living with Type One Diabetes, to know that they can. Please remember while you're listening that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, please always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Searching for Spanish to blooms on the bottom of the oceans are becoming bold with insulin. Oh, I've piqued your interest, haven't I? Let's get to song.

Sean Hunter 2:40
I'm Sean Hunter. I'm 26 years old, from Camden County, New Jersey. I'm a type one diabetic, then diabetic for 17 years. And I'm a police officer also in Camden County, New Jersey. And that's why I was interested in coming on and talking to you, Scott.

Scott Benner 2:58
That's amazing, because I think you're the first police officer that's reached out and said, You know, I I'm happy for you to tell people on police. I think I've interviewed other police officers, but they haven't brought up what they are. Which is interesting sometimes, but I was I was really pleased with the, with your with your note, interestingly, I grew up around, you're gonna be able to tell in a second because I'm gonna say cops instead of police officers because I don't know how often I can say police officers, but I grew up around cops, and right. Just one of my best friends in the whole world with time. And then sort of by proxy, you get drawn into their life a little bit. So you know, I've been at picnics with 40 police officers are going on motorcycle rides with 50 guys that are all cops, you know, in the middle of the night, which by the way, if you've never ridden a motorcycle at midnight with 50 cops gear you're missing.

Sean Hunter 3:50
It sounds like fun.

Scott Benner 3:53
there's a there's a real feeling that we can't get a ticket if you know what I mean. Yeah. Anyway,

Sean Hunter 4:00
yeah, I was sorry, Clay off. I was I was just excited to come on and try and give some, you know, point of view from the law enforcement side, you know, hope play, there's people out there that are type one diabetics that are cops and they're, you know, can listen to this. Or, you know, maybe there's kids out there that are that want to be copson they're kinda skeptical because of the diabetes. I'm trying to, you know, open it kinda

Scott Benner 4:27
possible, right? Yeah. Well, you know, there's a real irony in this that last night, I edited a episode that's going to go up today, with a young woman in Massachusetts, I think she's 26 honestly, when I recorded whether she'd only had diabetes for about a nine months when I recorded with her and she wants to be a police officer. And it's just it's very strange as I didn't you know, I didn't schedule that to happen like that, obviously, but it was it was really interesting. So let's talk a little bit first about being diagnosed when you're nine. So that's old enough to have a memory of it. I imagine. And probably in one of those sweet spots for boys where I don't imagine you were thrilled to find out.

Sean Hunter 5:07
Yeah, so obviously I was not years old. I was it was during the summer, I don't really remember the date. But all I remembers that one of the most distinct memories, I was at a pool party, and, you know, I really couldn't quench my thirst, which is one of those, you know, signs. And instead of drinking water, you know, I'm a little kid, I wanted to drink soda, which obviously was then splitting my blood sugar up higher, which I had no idea about. But then my parents, you know, throughout the night, that the next couple of nights, they were keep an eye on me, they thought I was dehydrated. My dad's an EMT. So he said, you know, pay to my mom on pay, take him to the hospital. Maybe he's just dehydrated, they'll give them some fluids and send them home. When we went to the hospital, I went in told the intake person my symptoms, they brought me immediately back because they know the symptoms of diabetes. And I was kind of in that age group. Yeah. And they tested my sugar and I was 898. Wow,

Scott Benner 6:09
you're well on your way to something. Had you? Do you remember how you felt poorly? For how long prior to that? Did it come on quickly? Or what's what is hindsight then tell you how it was happening? Do you remember,

Sean Hunter 6:20
it was probably like three to five days that I was, you know, feeling really bad throwing up a lot. Obviously, using the bathroom a lot, not keeping any food down. And I my mom said my my eyes were sinking back, you know, just look like I was dying, which I

Scott Benner 6:36
was. Yeah. So you were in decay?

Sean Hunter 6:39
Yeah, pretty much. And I you know, I don't really have I don't really have any memory of that. The only memory I have of being in the hospital is that my mom was so nervous that she went to get her insurance card out of her purse, and she dropped like $300 worth of change on the floor that she had in her purse. was like the last you know, like, yeah,

Scott Benner 6:59
sure, on Vita mom's always have so much change in their purse, like I dated a girl for a long time. She never had a quarter and then suddenly I had a couple babies with her and she's got to fistfuls a change in her purse. I don't understand. Yeah,

Sean Hunter 7:12
I don't know why. But it was it was just a little bit of laughter to kind of break the the seriousness of the situation. Yeah.

Scott Benner 7:17
Now that's, that's amazing. Hey, listen, your voice is cutting in and out on me a little bit. Okay, so when you're pausing, it's you probably have noise cancelling on your headphones. And so every time you stop talking, it wants to take away background noise. So let's try to figure out a way around that. First of all, is that are those The only headphones you have? Do you have like gamer headphones or something like that by any chance?

Sean Hunter 7:40
I don't think so. I can check.

Scott Benner 7:42
Even Apple just on the wire with the microphone in the cord.

Unknown Speaker 7:47
Let me go Look,

Scott Benner 7:48
I don't believe so. Okay, and if not, I have another idea. So your mom has her little moment of levity that kind of breaks the ice a little bit. You go back were you in the hospital long? How long do they keep you

Sean Hunter 8:01
so that night, they gave me fluids brought my sugar back down, I assume you know, insulin and all that stuff. And then they transferred me to chop in Philly. And I stayed there for a week.

Unknown Speaker 8:16
Week.

Sean Hunter 8:18
Yeah, so I was there for a week for education, I guess. And but I specifically remember being there for a week and playing Xbox and doing all this cool stuff at CHOP. You know, it was it was a cool hospital for kids. So

Scott Benner 8:31
they do a nice job there of, of taking care of kids. You know, you and I live pretty near each other right?

Sean Hunter 8:37
Yeah, that's that was another reason I wanted to talk to you is kind of cool. having another new jersey in?

Scott Benner 8:41
Yeah. Yeah, so that's, that's that's Arden's hospital. That's not where she was. Not where she was diagnosed, but it's where her endocrinologist is out of Do you use a an adult endo now in New Jersey?

Sean Hunter 8:54
Yeah. So I use um, Cooper. endocrinology, I just commented on your post in the group actually, the other day use a Dr. Becker from Cooper.

Scott Benner 9:05
It's funny, you were not the only one that brought up that practice. So that's usually a good sign when people are like, Oh, this place this place, you know? Yeah, that's excellent. It's hard to find to a good adult endocrinology. And you would have some feeling about that, too, because you left chop that does a really good job for kids. And did you be able to find Cooper right away? Or was there any struggle in between?

Sean Hunter 9:30
Yeah, so I actually stayed with chop until I think I was 20 or 21. I really didn't want to leave and and I was, you know, I was the really old guy going in and seeing all these little kids. So they kind of pushed me out. But I found Cooper really easily. They referred me there and it was a good transition.

Scott Benner 9:47
It's a funny image, by the way of you just you rolling through like Hey, guys, what's up?

Sean Hunter 9:52
Yeah, on the veteran walking through with these little kids that are diagnosed.

Scott Benner 9:57
So how old were you when you thought You want to be a police officer?

Sean Hunter 10:02
going throughout high school? I think so like in that 14 to 18 range. I grew up with public servants in my family. And, you know, I enjoyed seeing them go out and make a difference in the world. And that's the reason why I wanted to become a cop. So I think as of then, it really, you know, drew my attention, I wanted to go do it. And then I, you know, obviously went to college and studied criminal justice and, you know, started to pursue that career field.

Scott Benner 10:36
And there are two paths, there's two paths to it, am I correct that you can go to college and take a criminal justice track? Or you can just go right to the police academy to is, is that the other option? Or is that not like that anymore?

Sean Hunter 10:49
No, that's true there,

there are a lot of different options, you could actually even pay your own way through an academy, um, without having really any I mean, I think you need some sort of college credits. But you can pay your own way through and then kind of get hired out of the police academy with that, you know, police training, commission certification,

Scott Benner 11:09
so I grew up around a, like I said, a lot of police officers, none of them directly in my family, but good friends, you know, through my, my late teens, who are a little older than me, and I know, scads of great cops, people who want to be cops, for the right reason, do a great job at it. I've been at it for decades. And I've seen a couple who were sketchy along the way. But I have the greatest sketchy story that I'm going to share with you at some point, because it's hilarious. And, and I and I want to, I've never said this on the podcast before. But when I was 18, because of being around these people, and having no real direction in my life, I thought, I'd like to be a police officer, and my local town was hiring three, right. And so back, then they put out a test, and you took the test, and that test would whittle down. And then there was a, you know, interviews and it went down to this process, then they chose from that group of people and sent those people off to the police academy. So I'm barely 19 years old by the time the test comes up. And, Sean, it's weird when you hear me talk on the podcast, because I probably seem like an idiot. But I, I'm bright in strange ways that don't show in regular life, which is right, it was just, it's hard to put into words. But this test ended up basically just being an IQ test. It was a fancy IQ test. And I crushed it. And so when I first told, you know, a friend of mine, who back then was just an officer, you know, that I wanted to do this, the first thing he said was, you mean, you're 19 they're not going to give you a gun. He's like these, like, you're never going to get through this process. He's like, you're old enough, technically, you know, air quotes, but no one's gonna let you be a cop when you're 19. And I was like, I'm gonna take the test anyway. So I take the test and, and just days before the test, the lieutenant comes to my house and says, Hey, listen, we think this is great. But you know, you need to know you're too young, and we're not gonna, you're never gonna make it through. And I was like, okay, and it seems all very, like, you know, I was like, Alright, I understand this. But I did so well on the test that they couldn't weed me out. So the next thing I know, I have an interview. And it's me and want the top 20 people. And you know, you're young, I just figured I must have been the 20th person. And at the end of the interview with some of the lieutenants, and desert in certain designated officers. At the end, they told me how well they thought I did. And of course, that I wasn't going to make it to the next round, because, you know, I'm 19. And then a couple weeks later, the letters come out, and I make it to the next round. And now I'm in the interviews with a 10. By the time it was over, I was top six for that.

Unknown Speaker 13:58
Because I really wanted, you

Scott Benner 13:59
know, well, they they wanted me to be older is what they wanted, you know, but I hadn't done anything yet that made them think we can't just tell him No, like he's doing better in these interviews than people. And he did you know, and so when it got down to the top six, I actually by then I was like, is this gonna happen? Like, even I started, I'm only 19 they probably shouldn't give me a go. Look, I started having that thought. And, you know, it eventually went away gracefully. And people were very nice about it. And you know, the the end result was You're too young to be a police officer in our eyes and but you know, try again, and by the time and you know, like openings don't come that often it was a smaller price. And by the time they did I sort of in my mind moved on. But it was a very strange like nine month period where everyone in the town was like I began to give that kid a gun but it's exactly how it felt for a while. But But you went to college and you got a you know, a criminal justice degree. Did anything in college dissuade you? Or were you like straight on the whole way? Like, this is what I'm gonna do. Um,

Sean Hunter 15:06
so I think originally, before I went to college, I wanted to do something like physical therapy or physical therapy, personal trainer kind of background. I'm really into sports. And you know, I played baseball throughout college. But I really wanted to help people and you know, serve. And that was one of the things that I, I really wanted to do. So I don't think anything really dissuaded me after I went to college. If anything, it pushed me forward, you know, having really good professors who were retired police officers, lieutenants, chiefs and stuff like that, that, you know, really pushed me towards that goal.

Scott Benner 15:47
And you're not, you're not a cop in a, like, a nice little town like the one where I was trying to be a police officer, like, you're, you have a tough job, don't you?

Sean Hunter 15:57
We're in a smaller town, but we are, you know, definitely a pretty busy town with with a lot of different calls for service and, you know, some pretty serious crimes that happen. So it's, you know, it's, we definitely get our share of fun stuff that happens.

Scott Benner 16:11
Yeah, I have an acquaintance from years ago, who's an older gentleman, older than I. And he was, I did a task force in South Jersey serving drug warrants. And he said he could only do it for about a year, he says, most heartbreaking, horrible job he had ever had in his life. And about a year into it, he went back to his chief, and he's like, I can't do this anymore. Like, yeah, it needs to be someone else.

Sean Hunter 16:38
Yeah, I actually started my career in a pretty infamous city down in South Jersey. I worked there for almost three years. And then I switched departments. And I'm in a, like I said, a smaller town now, but still pretty busy.

Scott Benner 16:53
You know, you and I might have a conversation after this is over, because the stories he told me were not they're not appropriate for the show. They have nothing to do with diabetes, but they're horrifying. And, and they've shaped a lot about how I think about some of the jobs people have to do. So you know, so you're, you're into helping people with your father's health, your father knows he's still an EMT.

Sean Hunter 17:16
He, so he slowed down a little bit on the EMT side, he's a paid firefighter, he actually just got promoted to Deputy Chief, he actually works in the same town I work in as a police officer.

Scott Benner 17:25
Isn't that interesting? My dad did volunteer firefighting. When we were kids, he never became professional at it. But he was a dedicated guy who kind of broke the what some people might have is a, I don't know, a vision of what a volunteer fireman is a guy trying to get away from his family drinking beer at the back of a of a building, it has a couple of fire trucks in it, but he really cared about it and, and did really good work. And for a number of years. You know, especially before alarm systems became common, there were a lot more fires, like the realize or not, things don't burn down as much as they used to 20 years ago. But he was a firefighter during a time in our town and surrounding places where things really, really, they needed firefighters and there were some serious building fires. And I actually did it for three years, through my teenagers as well. And I only did it for three years, but I learned a lot about being calm. Okay, and not freaking out when most other people are freaking out. And it's it's an interesting thing until you've stood in a room that is completely on fire, like walls, ceiling, and you've got a hose in your hand and you know, the you went in there to save the building but you realize now you're then there to save yourself. You know, it's a it's a it's a different thing. And and I wonder about that with being a police officer, like how much of your day is spent? Like how hard is that? I guess is my question to go out into the world with a with the idea. I'm out there trying to help other people, but your first thought is always I can't help them. If I'm dead, like is that in your head constantly? What's it like to be on the street? It's my question.

Do you or someone that you love, use insulin? Give type one or type two diabetes? Are you finding that your blood sugar gets low, you become sweaty, disoriented, it gets very high you feel sick to your stomach? Would you like to stop that from happening which like to be able to address those issues with carbohydrates or insulin as necessary and needed without having to poke a hole in your finger a bazillion times a day. You can do that with the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. That's available@dexcom.com forward slash juice box. Find out when your blood sugar is on the move because Dexcom will show you not only what your blood sugar is, let's say 125 but it'll show you what direction it's moving in, up or down or is it steady and how quickly Is it moving in one of those directions? Are you moving one point a minute to three Dexcom can tell you I can tell you in real time, and it can show you right there on your iPhone or Android. And if you don't want that information on your phone, you can carry a dexcom receiver with you. Now you tell this receiver or your phone, this is the range I'm comfortable in. But please, when I fall below this number, go above this number. Tell me just like my daughter's just it. My daughter's dex calm is telling me that her blood sugar's over 120 by beeping like that, by 120, because that's where we set it. And you could set your own range and have a better fuller picture of what your blood sugar is doing. dexcom.com forward slash juice box. And by the way, this is new. If you're using the VA, to get your insurance Dexcom is now covered. Go to the link. When it asks you what kind of insurance you have. You just say, VA that easy dexcom.com forward slash juice box, the how you're going to get that insulin? Well, you could use an omni pod tubeless insulin pump like my daughter has been doing since she was four years old. Arden, by the way, is over 16 now, and she's been using an omni pod every day. During that time. It's an absolute friend in life with Type One Diabetes. And if you're using insulin for type two diabetes, same thing, my omnipod.com forward slash juice box, here's the greatest part, they're going to send you if you like a free, no obligation demo of the Omni pod, it'll come directly to your home where you can try it on and wear it for yourself, where you can see what tubeless means not being tethered to something not having to wear a pack with insulin in your belt or your bra or something like that. This thing's all in one tiny, it's compact, easy to wear, you can hide it, or wear it out loud and proud doesn't matter. And when you do need to do something with your insulin, the controller is completely separate from the pump. And it's easy to carry in your pocket or purse on the pod is definitely something you want to look at. If you're considering leaving injections, or you're looking to leave your tube insulin pump my Omni pod comm forward slash juice box, check it out. Last thing of course touched by type ones 20th annual dancing for diabetes show is this Saturday, November 14 2020. At 7pm touched by type one.org. Go check out all the kids and their amazing dance routines. It has to be virtual this year. But everybody has their fingers crossed for next year being back in person dancing for diabetes.org dexcom.com forward slash juicebox my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box the links in your show notes links at Juicebox podcast.com. Now it's time to find out more about living with Type One Diabetes. And being a police officer.

Sean Hunter 23:15
It's definitely in the back of your head. And you always have to think about that. When you're going, you know to calls for service or you're stopping cars or anything like that, you always have to think about their situations and because if you're not thinking about it, and something happens, you're not going to be able to react to it. But it can't let it you know, take over you know your mind and take over the situation you have to obviously we have a job to do. Whether that is to help someone or if we end up having to arrest someone or you know anything like that. Like I said, you can't really let those thoughts take over that situation. But it always has to be in that the back of your mind. I've been to a lot of training. And I've listened to a lot of people talk and they kind of talk to they're talking about it like like flipping your switch, you always have to have a little bit of violence on standby, you know. And that's, that's something that you have to train and you get used to as you gain experience on the job. You know, you can't expect the guy with six months on the job to come in and say, you know, be able to flip that switch. But, you know, maybe a guy with five or 10 years old job he's more acquainted with that violence that he has on standby. He can. If he has to use it, he can, you know,

Scott Benner 24:36
yeah, it's a special person that can kind of walk that line and I have always seen with the people I know who are police officers, that some of the hardest. One of the hardest things they have to do personally, I think is be able to separate I guess I don't know a better way to say it. But I what I noticed is that their entire day is spent with people who are breaking the law or trying to get over or something like that? And then how hard is it not to, in your personal life think that everybody's trying to get over and treat people like people when you're home, but be have enough, you know, I don't know, just, you know, understanding of what the world can be like, you often don't find a job where you're directed at crime constantly, or people who are in that mindset. And I know, you'll still run into citizens who need help, and they're obviously not thinking like that. But when you get there, right, when you get out of that car, like, Who's Who? And how do you figure that out? And you know, and how do you stop yourself from being suspicious of everybody? Do you find that yet? Are you have you not been in it long enough to have that like, feeling?

Sean Hunter 25:51
No. So I definitely, I definitely know where we're coming from its I definitely, you know, see people different, even when I'm not at work, we're just going out with a family stuff like that, you know, you definitely kind of look at people differently. And you kind of, because you have to, you know, especially if you're living in that, that yellow area, where you're trying to react to things, you definitely see people differently. But if you're going to a situation, and you have to find out what's going on that just takes good investigative skills, and, you know, that's all built over time. I would say that I'm definitely you know, getting better at when Sam great, you know, only having five years on the job. But you know, you gain those skills over time. And you get better at finding out who's the good person who's the bad person, just based off of their reactions and their demeanor,

Unknown Speaker 26:47
learn to read people?

Unknown Speaker 26:48
Right? Yeah.

Scott Benner 26:49
So we're gonna get into how this all affects your diabetes or doesn't or how you deal with it in a second. But have you had a moment yet where you thought, No, I don't need to be a cop anymore. Like has anything really frightening happened that makes you rethink it. I mean, one of my close friends always tells me about the first home intrusion he went into that was happening. And he got in the house and the intruder went into the basement. And you know, the homeowners like he went downstairs and my friend standing at the top of the staircase, and he pulls his gun out and starts going downstairs and realizes as he's going down that because of the makeup of the house, that his legs and his entire lower half of his body are going to be visible long before he can get his eyes into the space. And he said there was a split second there where he thought, why don't I just leave? And but he did. He went down and did what he was supposed to do. But he's like, there was that moment where he's like, do I really want to be a police officer? And now's the time? No, you know, have you had one of those yet? Or how's it gone for the first five years,

Sean Hunter 27:49
um, there's definitely been a lot of those, you know, those pucker moments, if you want to call them that, um, I just recently think within the last eight months or so, I was put on our regional county SWAT team. So there's definitely been a lot of those moments where if we are clear, and a house, or we're going into a situation where we're possibly going to go in and find someone you know, you, you kind of think about it like, and this is kind of crazy, like we're the guys that are going in. We're the first people who are going to get hurt if something happens. But I think we kind of wear that as a badge of pride, like, Hey, we're the guys that went in and found this person that were the first were the people that went in and got the job done. And I think it's, it's a little bit crazy sometimes, but I think that's something that you have to have as a police officer to kind of have that, that pride of saying, Hey, I'm, I'm the guy that got that job done. I'm the guy that went out and did that thing, you know?

Scott Benner 28:47
Yeah, no, I hear you. Um, so I have to tell you my funny story, and then I'm gonna get into how diabetes is this? So I grew up in this in a pretty small town. And I'm going to give not enough details especially because the internet back then, you know, you could find it if you tried hard enough, but we I grew up in this small town, you know, the police department have probably 10 or 15 guys, it's grown over the years. And there was this one officer who was just quiet. He went about his business. He wrote his tickets. He didn't really do much else. That was kind of the vibe about him like you don't I mean, like he wasn't gonna wasn't gonna do much and he was just gonna do what he was supposed to do. And, and he just was he was wallpaper he just there he was, and you saw him you never thought twice about him. He's a decent enough guy wasn't a bad guy. Nothing like that. And then one day, he gets arrested. Because, wait, hold on, I swear to you, you're gonna love this. He found out about sunken treasure in the ocean and decided that he was going to die for it. And this was going to be how he's going to live the rest of his life off of these The blooms, okay, but how is he going to get enough money for the dive? Obviously, he's going to start robbing drug houses in the area. So he did, and was fairly successful at it for a while. if my memory serves, until one day, he went into a place, you know, a place where a lot of people were doing drugs, and they were selling drugs out of the place that he knew about. He went in there as a police officer to rob the place, but she had been doing and someone using drugs in the place if I my memory serves the son of a local politician, recognize them. Wow. And that's how he got caught. No lie. This story goes that he went to prison did his time and then got out and disappeared. And people think he went and found that treasure and left because they never got the money back from the robberies. He just he shut up. He did his time he held on to his money. He got out and he and they think he went and got that money somehow off the ocean floor. So I always imagine this man somewhere on an island, just with a big smile on his face with that same sort of like lackadaisical, like, I'm just here. Like, I just think of him as just existing. I don't know if that's actually what happened to him. But in my mind, that's, that's how I like to think of him. But that's not right.

Sean Hunter 31:20
Yeah, I can't even I can't even wrap my head around that. doing that, that's crazy.

Scott Benner 31:26
It was as much about the fact that he was just the quietest guy who was probably at the time, near 50 years old, he probably been a cop 15 or 20 years. Like he just really, it was insane. And it's 100% true. And I know it's true, because I know enough of the details to Google it and I just found two news stories on it while I was talking to you. So I know. It's not just stories that people told. But that was that like, you know, you woke up one day and you're like, Hey, remember, Officer blah, blah? Yeah, you got arrested? How come? He was robbing drug houses to make money to go look for Spanish to blooms on the bottom of the ocean floor? And you're like, Get the hell out of here. Anyway, I hope you don't go that way, Sean.

Sean Hunter 32:06
No, I don't I don't plan on it.

Scott Benner 32:09
What's that I don't think he had planned on it his whole life. And one day he snapped, like, I guess it was just one too many free medium coffees from 711. He was like, I'm done with this. Anyway, what I really want to know about is, you know, we just described a job that is can be, you know, fulfilling, you're off helping citizens. It can go from that fulfillment to anxiety and adrenaline very quickly. You have to be ready at a moment's notice. How do you manage your type one diabetes through that, that's why you're here. I really want to hear how you do that.

Sean Hunter 32:44
Um, so I, I was actually using a Medtronic pump, but I just switched to an omni pod. Okay. And I use the.com g six. Um, so you actually pushed me towards the Omni pod with your ads. Oh, on yours worker show.

Scott Benner 33:03
Excellent. Hey, dex coming on the pod the ads work, keep buying them.

Sean Hunter 33:09
But yeah, so I use Omni pod in the Dexcom. And I kind of just use the principles that you talked about, while I'm at work, you know, pretty bolusing and bumping and nudging are the two big things that I try to use. You know, not trying to, you know, use or have mountains in my, my numbers, you know, what I mean? Just have them be small rolling hills, if I, if they end up getting too high or too low,

Scott Benner 33:41
you know, so is creating that stability, helping you when out of nowhere, you do a car stop, and something looks weird, and you feel that adrenaline kick in does your blood sugar jump up at that time does it try

Sean Hunter 33:54
who I haven't really ever had too much of an effect from adrenaline, just my, my sugar going too high. But it definitely having a more stable blood sugar and more stable numbers throughout the day definitely helps. If something does, you know, go bed and say I'm away from my my snacks or something like that. It definitely helps to have a more stable number. If I, if I'm away from things for a while, you know, see, I

Scott Benner 34:22
think that's interesting what you just said, so that when you and I believe this as well, when you create stability that runs over hours and days, then when something happens that some people see is like, Oh, this thing threw me way off. I think they don't realize the whole picture. Sometimes if their bezels too high or too low, if they're bolusing too much at meals because their bezels too low or whatever the things are. They have this imbalance of insulin running through their life. And then when something happens, it's easier for things to get upside down because so many other things are wrong. So now that you've created the stability when things come up, you're okay, what about? Excuse me? What about you ever have to, like suddenly jump on foot and take off? Do these it in your head? Like, like, I give it to me? Like, are you ever gonna go pull your gun and pull out a candy bar instead? Because you've got stuff on you like, how do you handle like, like, when you're away from the car, I guess? Are you out of that?

Sean Hunter 35:23
Yeah, so I actually always have something with me, I always have like a glucose jellen, I have like two or three in my pocket at work. But like I said, I always try to keep my blood sugar pretty stable. If I feel like I'm going low, I will correct it before it gets, you know, too low. Just in case something like that does happen. And being on, you know, different scenes in different situations. You know, I like I said, I always try and keep stuff on me. There have been situations where if I'm standing outside of the house on the perimeter, and I'm going loads, like, hey, let me you know, I put call the guy up to me and say, Hey, you know, watch this side, I'm gonna just, you know, shoot some glucose real quick. And then I'll, you know, right back in the flight, but like I said, I try to keep everything pretty stable. So I don't have to get into that situation. So I can go an hour or two inside of the house, or on a job and not have to worry about my sugar crashing or spiking.

Scott Benner 36:25
Yeah. So because that's sort of your reality. While you're at work, do you find that your management? I'm gonna say control, although I know some people don't like that idea. But do you find that your control is better while you're working? Because you're more present about it? Or do you carry that into your regular life? Because you do work shift work as well?

Sean Hunter 36:43
Yeah, so we switch each month. So I'm actually working on days, this month, and then next month, we'll switch to tonight work where we work a 12 hour shift. So we work 630 to 630. And, but I actually, like you said, I actually think I have better control while I'm at work. Because, like you said that, that awareness that things could go bad really quick, you know?

Scott Benner 37:12
Yeah. And so the reason I bring it up is because it's a, it's a simple idea that translates to everybody's life. And, you know, you can say it anyway, you know, I've said it a bunch of different ways over the years. But if you pay attention for small moments, you don't get into big problems. It's when you try to ignore diabetes for 346 hours at a time and just hope that it's going to be okay, that you wake up to find, oh, my blood sugar's 200 points higher than I thought, or I've been 50 all night long, or something like that. But when you just look once in a while, it takes a brief couple of moments to say, Oh, I'm good, or I need a little bump here or something and get right back in the game. I'd much rather spend 30 seconds, never getting way out of bounds then pretending for three or four hours that everything's okay. And so I when you're describing how you handle work, I thought I bet you He's, like, really within tolerances. At that time. Where do you set your, your goals that high and low on your CGM.

Sean Hunter 38:15
So before listening to you, I had them wherever Dexcom has been preset, I think it's 70 to like 220 or something like that. Okay. But since listening to you, I bumped it down to originally 70 to 140. And now on 70 to 130. Good for you.

Scott Benner 38:31
You're a one sees probably sub six. We like 5758

Sean Hunter 38:36
as one so I, I just started listening to your podcast in January, I think. And then my next appointment after that, I think was in March. And I was at like 6.1. And I'm excited to go and get my bloodwork done for my next appointment because I'm fairly certain I'm going to be under six.

Scott Benner 38:57
Congratulations. That's very, very well done. But were you prior to finding the show? Do you mind saying

Sean Hunter 39:05
I think I was low low sevens or high sixes I could probably pull it up. I probably like a six, seven to seven. You know,

Scott Benner 39:14
that's a that's a really great adjustment. Do you feel differently by any chance?

Sean Hunter 39:20
I definitely feel better. I'm especially so before even when I would go work out you know, go to the gym, do stuff like that. It was tough trying to keep my sugar in rain. Okay, but then being able to find a good basal rate. I can go out into the gym and work out for an hour and not have my sugar go out of range for that hour, hour and a half. You know, and that's that's something that is, is pretty freeing for me because I work out a lot and that's one of the things I enjoy doing.

Scott Benner 39:52
How did you handle it in college because I know at every level of baseball, it doesn't matter what division you're in the guys They lift a lot they do a lot of hard workouts practices are long. Were you constantly feeding your insulin when you were in college?

Sean Hunter 40:08
Yeah, so I can tell you that I was a terrible diabetic in college. It's one of the things I regret a lot about my life as a diabetic. Probably the last three years, or, you know, the first three years, my senior year, I was definitely more focused on it. But I wouldn't check a lot. I wasn't using a CGM throughout college. So, you know, I was checking my sugar, but I was using the Medtronic pump. But I wouldn't check my blood sugar a lot. I wouldn't really only do it, you know, before bed. And then after I woke up in the morning, you know, and then kind of just ride the feeling I had throughout the day, if I felt low, I would eat if I felt like I was too high, give myself insulin. And, again, like I said, that's that's one of the things I kind of regret about my life as a diabetic is kind of just living that. uncontrolled life for for a few years in my college years.

Scott Benner 41:07
How was it before college when your parents were more involved? Do you remember being similar?

Sean Hunter 41:14
Yeah, I mean, I was, I was pretty good. I wasn't, you know, anything crazy, like I am now you know, where I'm in pretty tight control. But I was more controlled, because obviously, they're looking over my shoulder. And they're making sure that I'm doing things correctly and making sure I'm testing for from meals and giving myself insulin prior to eating rather than after eating and you know, stuff like that.

Scott Benner 41:36
Yeah. Well, I have to say that it's impressive what you've done end on a personal level, I feel like, in an indirect way, I'm protecting South Jersey now. So I feel like I feel like I'm making it easier for you to protect them. And so I'm gonna take credit my own mind, I won't say it. Anybody else except for the 10s of thousands of people that are hearing me say it right now. But that's not the point. Really. I'm joking, mostly. But I'm happy that you're able to do your job better and live a better life just off of a couple of small ideas. Really? You know, right tools. Right job. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to oversimplify it. But it sort of is what it is.

Sean Hunter 42:17
Yeah, that's all it is, man. It's all it is, is just having the right tools and the right mindset to go out and make things work happy.

Scott Benner 42:24
How long have you been married? You said you're a married you seem as although I was married when I was 26? When you said I was too young, but go ahead.

Sean Hunter 42:34
So I've been married for going on three years or four years now. Yeah, four years. We got married in 2016. October 2016. So what's that? What's that? Make me 22? I'm about as good as you at now.

Scott Benner 42:50
Yeah, I don't know if you asked me how old I was. When I got married. Or when I had my children. I have no idea even though the years. I know, like I know when my son's born. But if you ask me how old I was, when he was born, I don't know. And that's even more ridiculous because he was born in 2000. So the math is really simple. And I can't come up with it off the top of my head. But that's neither here nor there. So did you guys know each other a long time?

Sean Hunter 43:16
Yeah, we actually met in college. She's from North North Jersey in Warren County. But we met in college. She was actually my ra my sophomore year of college.

Scott Benner 43:26
I see Sean, he started out trying to get a decent room and then went better. I say I love listen. Interesting. She was from North Jersey when she got to South Jersey. She probably thought she was in Pennsylvania right because people from North Jersey think that think that like Princeton is South Jersey?

Sean Hunter 43:44
Yes Yeah, she's definitely It was definitely a culture shock at first when she moved down here with me

Scott Benner 43:48
it's a very interesting thing so New Jersey sort of split into these three knits North Central and South people in South Jersey think the Trenton area where the capitalist for example they think of that is north but that central the people and the only the people around Trenton understand that there's a north in the south because the people up north by the city just think that by the time you get to Trenton that's the bottom of New Jersey. Right. It's It's interesting how we don't understand the state of

Sean Hunter 44:16
weird though, and there's a lot of different things going on around here.

Scott Benner 44:19
Yeah, well, once you get far enough south, it feels like you're in Philly. Honestly, it feels like you're in a suburb of Philadelphia. Like do you feel like you live in Philadelphia Moreover, or is that taboo to say down there?

Sean Hunter 44:32
Now we're more suburban like you said we're you know, little neighborhood nice little house so it's not really that really city like but we definitely I mean, we're like 20 minutes from Philly so

Scott Benner 44:45
right. Just Just tell everybody for a second not to get off track too far. But explain the joy when the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Wasn't that was great. It's just amazing.

Sean Hunter 44:54
Yeah, it was awesome.

Scott Benner 44:55
I never thought I was gonna say it. I thought for sure I would die before it happened. And and It was I just remember sitting in my house for the last 20 minutes of the game thinking like, I think they could win. It's such a strange thing to have no hope ever to grow up with no hope around sports

Sean Hunter 45:14
that in the Phillies in a way, I was more excited about that.

Scott Benner 45:18
I was so thrilled I my son was still kind of young. And if I remember correctly, there was some weather that pushed the game, the last World Series game a day or two. And we were down to like carving pumpkins for Halloween while the game was being played. And I remember Cole being in the kitchen, a little kid carving it, excuse me. A little kid carbon is pumpkin. And I just was like, come out here like you have to watch this. And and he's like, what? Like, it's baseball. I'm like, no, no. And I even remember even though he was that young, he was eight years old. I said the last time the Phillies won the World Series. A, my dad was alive and he's dead now. So I'm going to be dead the next time this happens to stand here. And then of course, the next year, they're back in the World Series. And he's like, I thought you told me this was never gonna happen again, you idiot. But, uh, that was a great baseball team there for for a number of years. So have you heard Sam on the show? Sam's a coach. Oh, yeah.

Sean Hunter 46:20
Yeah, I actually listened to both of his episodes. Okay, cool.

Scott Benner 46:23
Yeah, he's a, he's terrific. And I love that he's in Philadelphia. I was so happy when that felt so random to me when he left the A's and then suddenly was coaching. in Philly. I thought, Oh, this is terrific. You know? It's cool. Yeah. So okay, so you've got this job. The shift work I want to get into for a second, but I have to clear my throat. I apologize. I think it's just like a little Corona back there or something. I'm not sure exactly. But you shouldn't joke about that. shift work. Now, when my buddy was young, they had shifts that you would probably think was crazy. He'd work 5772 threes. The early cut, the early guy was six to two. And then there were three, two elevens, the early guy was two to 10 and then 11 to seven and then there was always an early guy so there was always this one guy that came in an hour before the shift started left an hour before the keep this overlap going. So there's always a car on the street while people are switching over that kind of feeling. But they would work them five on three off five on three off and they would they would I don't know how he did it. Like I there were times I thought it was gonna kill him. He said he'd come out of a midnight into a 303 211. And fella he lost two weeks of his life. And it but you're but you're doing. You're doing 12 hours for how many days in a row.

Sean Hunter 47:53
So we work a Pitman schedule. So I work Monday and Tuesday, and then I'll work all weekend. So I'll work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then it just flips that next week. So after I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I'll be off Monday, Tuesday, work Wednesday and Thursday and then all Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Scott Benner 48:14
Okay, so there's these two days, the keep moving forward on the counter you have off Monday. You'll have off like Wednesday, Thursday, then Monday, Tuesday, Friday, sad like that kind of a thing. But you're always working live.

Sean Hunter 48:26
Yep. So it's easier to think about it. We just we basically we have every other Friday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off every other good schedule. I like it,

Scott Benner 48:36
it is but now how does your management change? Or does it daytime to nighttime days off? How do you do it? Do you find yourself changing basal rates or anything like that.

Sean Hunter 48:47
The only thing that I find is I may have to back my bazel down on a network because I kind of jacked my bazel up I have my babies will setting kind of jacked up at night when I sleep because I tend to rise when I sleep. Um so I kind of use the technique that you've talked about is like the to two hours before I see the rise I've kind of jacked my bazel up and it's helped level out my sugar overnight while I'm sleeping. But But with that jacked up basal rate I kind of just kind of Temp Basal while I'm at work at night. I know I can set up different bazel patterns on the pod, but I think that's more complicated than my brain can handle. You know what I mean? Trying to switch Sorry, guys,

Scott Benner 49:38
no, no, I feel like you could do it but but I think you would need three different three different programs you would need. You'd need a day off, you need your day off program. You'd need a night night work program in a day work program. I would think I would think there's a way to do that. And then you have to just go go into your settings and change from days to nights. But anyway, you're doing great. It's not like you need it. But if it makes it easier for you on day,

Sean Hunter 50:08
yeah, it's definitely just been easier to kind of Temp Basal as I need it, you know, or if I see, if I see a change, you know, looking at my graph, I can just kind of temp it and then deal with it.

Scott Benner 50:19
So now do you ride with someone? Or are you in a single

Sean Hunter 50:23
now, so where we ride solo? Our Town is kind of small enough, where we have a two guy minimum for the street. We work squads of three guys. So a supervisor in two patrolmen. We, like I said, we ride solo, it's easier to cover more area, we have a four square mile town, which is small, but we are still pretty busy with calls for service. Yeah.

Scott Benner 50:51
I was wondering about the guys that you work with? Do you? Have you told each and every one of them? Do you tell each one of them? Or do they just know on their own? Or is it private? Like, how do you handle being diabetic in a setting like that?

Sean Hunter 51:06
So everyone knows. I don't if I'm not mistaken, I don't think it has has to come up really on like a hiring process. I think it I think it's a something that should come up in a job like, like a police officer, you know, it's more demanding than like a desk job, you know, something like that. But like I said, everyone knows, the gods that I work with, know, they're not super knowledgeable on like, what to do in different situations. They kind of know. I'm like, they know what my alarms go off. They look at me like you are, right.

Scott Benner 51:45
Guys are great, aren't they? Just guys, I don't know. Women will never really be able to appreciate this. But when you just get a bunch of guys together. I'm sure you work with females too. But guys are just like, y'all right now. Yeah. All right, good. And then it's sort of like, I wish you knew how little we thought about things. Generally speaking. I get the vibe, but you're saying they check on you a little bit. And that doesn't get old for you like it feels brotherly, I guess?

Sean Hunter 52:12
Yeah, I don't, I don't mind it. I've always been really open about my diabetes. And I really don't care that I have it. It's up sometimes. But, um, it's a part of me. So I think that, you know, people should know that I have it and how to deal with it. You know, especially with being on the SWAT team. I talk to those guys about it. We have a medic on the team who's just specifically assigned to have medical interventions and we need it and I you know, I gave him some glucose Joe and told him like, Hey, listen, if I go down you know, if I pass out or something look at my look at my phone if my numbers right, give me some some glucose, you know, but that's really the

Scott Benner 52:54
extent of it.

Sean Hunter 52:55
Yeah, the extent of knowledge that they really need to know about it.

Scott Benner 52:59
Your is your SWAT team, like my buddies is it made up of guys from a lot of neighboring towns, and when something happens, you all come together?

Sean Hunter 53:07
Yeah, we have about five or six different towns that are on the team. We're like 20 to 22 guys.

Scott Benner 53:15
And then you support all the team supports all those towns in the the the situation where it's needed, how often do you get called for that,

Sean Hunter 53:24
um, kind of few and far between for call outs, especially now, you know, the, the virus and everything that's going around. So we'll get called out every once in a while for like a barricaded subject or, you know, emotionally disturbed person, something like that, where people are barricaded in a house, and we're, you know, obviously the people who are more well trained for those situations. But we also do search warrants, like narcotic search warrants, and high tech crime search warrants, like different stuff like that we do those more, more than we get called out for situations.

Scott Benner 54:04
How has COVID-19 changed how you do your job?

Sean Hunter 54:10
Yes, so we've, I don't know if it's for the better or not, but we've definitely changed the way that we do things. We're handling a lot more calls over the phone. So like, whereas before somebody would call calling like a theft complaint or something like that they're reporting something stolen, we would go out to their house and talk to them and you know, get all their information meishan then do the report. Whereas now we're, you know, handling that call over the phone. So we don't have contact with people.

Scott Benner 54:42
It's gonna be an app one day.

Sean Hunter 54:44
Yeah, I mean, there's there's actually a lot of police departments that are doing it now where you can report like non violent crimes or you know, property crimes on their, their website, you can just go on, put in the information for your report, and then it'll be investigated. The police departments, they're probably really

Scott Benner 55:03
work on the street, they'll just do. Like they'll do crime. digitally. That's really that makes sense, though. I mean, honestly, it's the population explodes. You can't be everywhere constantly, right? I mean, it's just, it just makes sense. And the limiting contact is limiting contact, but but in a, in a real situation. Okay, listen, I know, there's they've probably given you, I don't want to get you in trouble, they've probably given you rules about how to handle yourself. But the fact of the matter is that if something goes down, out of nowhere quick, you're not going to stop to cover your face before you go do your job, right? Like, you're gonna end up doing what you're going to do. I don't see how in some lines of work, that's, you don't mean like, hold on a second, I'm sorry, that guy's hitting you. Let me just get my face mask on before I come over there and help. Like, that's not going to be the case? Do you find yourself somewhere between reality and what a perfect situation would call for?

Sean Hunter 56:06
Yeah, so we actually have a response protocol or continuum that we have, that our command staff put on to us. And that, you know, there's always that, that section that says, If you know, everything in this, you know, policy or whatever is subject to, you know, situations. So if there is a situation like you're explaining where it is, or emergent, like we're pulling up in, someone's getting beat up or something like that, we're not going to take into account the time to put a face mask on or put our personal protective equipment on, you know, we have to go address the situation. And then once everything is calmed down, then we'll go back and we'll put our mask on, and we'll deal with that, you know, but we have a, we have a job to do we have a duty to protect people. And that's what I'm going to do, I'm not going to worry about, you know, there's no time it takes to put that mask on.

Scott Benner 57:01
How do you personally think of COVID-19 in relationship to you having type one are you going with? I mean, I'm sure you're you're being careful as you can, but are you going with I'm healthy, my blood sugar's are stable, they're in a good range, I'm probably no more risk than someone else, or do you have concerns?

Sean Hunter 57:23
I wouldn't say I have a lot of concerns I, I kind of and like you said, I'm, I'm pretty healthy. I think my immune system is pretty good, you know, minus the fact that I have diabetes, but I wouldn't say I'm too concerned about contracting it. And I think if I did contract it, I think I would, you know, I would be okay, fighting it off, you know, or having my body deal with it?

Scott Benner 57:49
Well, as my friend Vicki said, to me, your immune system is pretty toxic, kick the shit out of your pancreas. So it's, it's a very strange situation to be in, though, honestly, you know, you're you're looking and it makes sense, what I'm hearing, I don't disagree with like, I cover my face, when I go out, I don't think I'm sick. But if I am, I don't want to make someone else sick during this time, you know, or wherever, if I can help it. And at the same point, you know, we have to be a little realistic, that you know, moving forward, we're not all going to live inside of our homes for the rest of our lives. It's just not what's going to be, I really hope we get to a point where we protect people who are at risk. And you know, and everyone else sort of gets to go back and do what they're going to do. But yeah, I mean, you're just in a unique situation. You really are. Yeah, I've seen I've seen it happen. Fire calls and rescue calls. I've seen it happen with police officers, there's a moment where you have to make a decision and you can't always do everything, you can always open up the book and follow the steps. Sometimes it has to be, you know, like you said, this is emergent, we needed to act right now. There's a story the other day about a a very, um, you know, dedicated nurse who had a, I forget where it happened, but she had a patient who was in trouble and she ran into the room and it ended up killing the nurse. Like she died a couple of weeks later from Corona. And but she didn't they say she didn't stop. She knew she wasn't unaware of what she was doing. But she felt a calling to help these people. It's what her job was, and she did it. And that's what it called for in the moment. I'm assuming that's how police officers feel as well.

Sean Hunter 59:26
Yeah, there's a like I said, there's a there's a calling like you said, No, we have a purpose. World everyone has a purpose. And you know, my purpose is to go out and help people and make a difference, or at least try and make a difference. And that's what I that's what I do every day I strap on the uniform and strap the vest on I go out and try to fulfill that purpose and make a difference in someone's world.

Scott Benner 59:47
Good dude, man. Like it's a special person who's willing to to take a job like that I think of you know, it's it's really strange because, you know, over the last number of years, you'll hear stories worries about, you know, cops who aren't doing things the right way or, you know, violating people's civil liberties in a way that I think everyone can look at and think that's not okay. I don't want that to be happening. But I always get afraid of just like with everything else, you don't hear enough stories about all the people are just out there doing it, you know, and doing a good job and doing it for the right reason. It's the internet or the news, you know, you hear about the bad stuff, not the good. It's nobody, nobody takes five minutes to click through a picture to find out about, you know, a police officer who stopped in, you know, got a cat out of a tree or helped a woman across the street, not to use a bunch of old, you know, tired ideas, but you don't mean like, just to do the regular everyday things that people need. It's a kindness, and it's their job. And we never hear about that, you know, right. It's, it sucks. It really is. It's terrible, to have bad apples be able to ruin the whole barrel. But, you know, especially when you're out there working so hard and doing such a good job. So I really appreciate what you're doing. And I'm sure everyone else does as well, especially with your circumstances. But moreover, Shawn, I'm really thrilled with how far you've come with your type one and what is basically like six or seven months. That's it? Yeah,

Sean Hunter 1:01:11
I definitely feel better. And I appreciate, you know, you put in the info out there, you've definitely helped me because I, I've known a lot of these things, you know, whether it's Pre-Bolus saying or, you know, using a little bit less insulin if my sugars high and trying to make it come down a little bit more gradually than, you know, then plummeting, you know, I'm getting my basal rates, right. I've known all these things, but kind of hearing it from somebody else and hearing from a podcast, you know, I listen to a lot of podcasts is you know, it's definitely helped. And it's definitely pushed me to to make a change.

Scott Benner 1:01:45
I'm thrilled for you. I really wish I understood, I think I you know, in a broad way, have the idea of what it's like, but I still don't like when people like you say what you just said like I knew a lot of this I just didn't do it. Do you have a feeling for what it was about hearing it through a podcast that made you go I'm gonna try this do you think you were just ready? Or did it flip a switch? Do you have any idea even you might not even know,

Sean Hunter 1:02:12
man, I don't really know what like you said I could just be I was ready to do it, you know, kind of just ready to take take them not the risk, but you know, take the risk and just say Screw it, I'm gonna I'm gonna mess with my basal rates. Now I'm gonna do the stuff and see if it works. And you know, if it works, it works. If it doesn't, then I'll just change it. I don't know if you've ever heard of Jocko Willink in his podcast, but he talks about having, you know, being disciplined in your life. And this is how discipline equals freedom and I try to live that way in my personal life and my work life and be disciplined in the things I do. But I wasn't really being too disciplined with my diabetes, I was kind of letting that go to the wayside. So I think it was just me realizing it was time to take control of the diabetes and you know, be in control of everything in my life rather than just letting one thing go

Scott Benner 1:03:07
on. Like, I've got all these other things in line, why am I Why the hell am I ignoring this one thing that's got such impact over you know, everything about me really, like you could be as good at your job or as good at being married or you know, whatever else you're going to be at, but your blood sugar's are bouncing all over the place and you feel like hell and you're hurting your long term health, like what's the point of the rest of it? Like that's got to be first. Right? So and Jacko tacos the the military guy, right? Was he a seal?

Sean Hunter 1:03:34
is a retired Navy SEAL? Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:03:35
is he the guy that puts like the time he gets up in the morning on his Instagram every day. It's like someone godly early time is that the person

Sean Hunter 1:03:43
he takes a picture of his watch, everyone gets up at 430 and works out.

Scott Benner 1:03:46
God bless him, he deserves to be in good shape. If he's up at 430. I try to wake up at 430 and there's gonna be a noise from my knee and my ankle in my lower back. That's like, Brother, you better lay back down. But, but I guess I'd be better off if I was up working out. But let's not. Let's not do too much. So I think what I've learned here is that it's just like when I'm talking to people privately, and you'll talk for like 45 minutes, and sometimes you end up laying, I'll end up laying things out. And I can tell it's the first time they've ever heard them. But in the end, whether it's the first time they've ever heard them, or it's the 50th time and they're finally going to listen, a lot of the times I feel like my role in that moment is just, it's a pat on the bud. It's like you could do this, move your bazel and see what happens. Try this and see what happens. You know, I mean, like I think sometimes people just need a voice to say to them, what's the worst that can happen? Like you're only moving at point one like I said to someone we were doing a zoom the other day and I the lady's like can I move my kids bazel from you know where it is to this? And I was like, Look, I don't know like for certain I can't tell you I'm like but what I can tell you is the kid weighs 40 pounds and you're asking me about moving is bazel point oh five. I'm not a doctor, but always that's gonna kill anybody. Like give it a shot and see what happens. You know, and I said it if it's blood sugar starts going down, put it back. But you don't you know, you're not you don't have to stand there and watch it. It's it's, there's no rules like, Oh, you move it, you got to leave it there. So that's, that's really excellent. And I good for you. I think that's wonderful. I'm gonna, I'm going to say thank you and let you go. And then I just I want to tell you one more thing privately. So if you don't mind, can you hold on one second? Yeah, absolutely. So I appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much. Hey, huge thanks to Sean for wanting to be on the show, share his story, and give encouragement to younger people who'd like to be of service to others. And thanks to Dexcom, makers of the G six continuous glucose monitor You can learn more about it@dexcom.com Ford slash juice box and of course the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump and it's free. No Obligation demo offer can be found at my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Don't forget to head over to touch by type one.org on Saturday 7pm. Eastern Time, check out that dancing for diabetes program. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juicebox Podcast.