JUICEBOX PODCAST

View Original

#438 Poop in a Group

A type 1 diabetes journey

Galen is an adult type 1 who was diagnosed with diabetes as a teen.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or their favorite podcast app.

See this content in the original post

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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 438 of the Juicebox Podcast. On today's show, we're going to hear an adult father who has type one diabetes himself, look back on his younger self, his diagnosis, and how he got to where he is right now.

Hey everyone, today we're going to talk to Galen Galan is an adult who has type one diabetes is diagnosed as a teen. And things didn't go great in the beginning, but they're going better now. And this is a very retrospective look back on that time. 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 for becoming bold with insulin.

You may have heard about those diabetes pro tip episodes that I have and defining diabetes episodes, if you're looking for them, and it's hard to find them in a podcast player, sometimes you can check out diabetes pro tip.com. That's my website where they're all sort of collected together. And you can get a good feeling for where they're at. Now, if you want to go back in your app after that, and listen, once you know what episode number you're looking for, it's cool. that'll definitely work. And those defining diabetes episodes, I love them. They're shorter episodes that give you a good firm grasp.

Of all the terminology that's used around diabetes, I hear very often from people who are newly diagnosed, that it all just sounds like a foreign language to them. So those defining diabetes episodes are me and Jenny Smith, talking through specific ideas, given some examples and get me out of there. So that doesn't take too long for you to grasp all the new words that exist in your life. Before we start, I just want to let you know that this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, you can find out more about ardens meter at Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. I'd also like it if you check out the T one D exchange at T one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box. Last but not least, this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. g evoke hypo Penn. Find out more at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juice box.

Galen Hensler 2:41
I'm Galen Hensler. I am 32 years old. I've been type one diabetic for 15, almost 16 years now. So October 27, will be the day that I've had diabetes longer than I have not.

Scott Benner 2:56
I live in Boise, Idaho with my wife and two little kiddos. That's interesting, because your name makes it feel like you're from Sweden or something like

Galen Hensler 3:05
that. Yeah, yeah, I was born in Berkeley. So I think that kind of explains the beard name.

Unknown Speaker 3:14
Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about your hippie parents?

Galen Hensler 3:18
I think that covers it.

Scott Benner 3:21
Are they still with us?

Galen Hensler 3:23
Yeah, so my mom is actually a social work professor in Montana. So she teaches at the University of Montana. And then my dad is retired and living in Oregon.

Scott Benner 3:35
I just figured they were both protesting in the street somewhere right now.

Galen Hensler 3:38
Not you know. I think my mom would be. But uh, yeah, she's she's busy teaching.

Scott Benner 3:44
Oh, that's excellent. How did you end up in Iowa?

Galen Hensler 3:48
Or Idaho,

Scott Benner 3:49
Idaho. I'm sorry. Yeah, Boise, that was fine. I know, they're not both the same place. I just heard I and, you know, go ahead. I'm sorry. I don't

Galen Hensler 3:59
know. No. Um, so my wife and I actually moved out here about three years ago for the job. I guess my previous job here. So we were in Missoula, Montana. I'd been there for about 10 years doing undergrad and then graduate school. And then we both graduated I guess I graduated and looked for a job in Boise Idaho was kind of where we ended up

Scott Benner 4:24
and what function of getting us our baking potatoes are you involved in?

Galen Hensler 4:30
I you know, I am involved in the marketing of the potatoes. Are you seriously? No. No, I I do work in marketing but not not on potato

Scott Benner 4:41
chips. There's got me that's something now I listen. What else is going on? And I'd hope but

Galen Hensler 4:46
school me a little bit. Um, it's beautiful. I would say that. It's so I grew up in Salt Lake City before I moved to Montana. And it's close enough to Salt Lake City where I can go and visit Friends and family that are still there. Nice, but not so close that it's every weekend.

Scott Benner 5:07
The same thing coming at you without saying

Galen Hensler 5:11
100%. And it's like, in the middle of nowhere. So like, nobody's just gonna like pass through Boise.

Scott Benner 5:16
So I have a dream, Galen, seriously of living in the middle of nowhere. I don't know if maybe a lot of people have that feeling of like, I want to get away from everything. But I feel like if I didn't have children that I was trying to say central to as they became adults, you know, or maybe I'll get lucky, and they'll just turn out to be, you know, jackasses and I won't want to be near them very much. Yeah, that would be nice. Yeah, that would be beautiful. Because then I would totally try to mimic Harrison Ford's life. Um, you know, try to find some property that's a mile and a half from the mailbox that kind of Yep. Yeah, that's, that seems really quiet to me. I worry about wild animals. Do you want a gun? You have to shoot things ever that come at your house?

Galen Hensler 6:01
No, you know, so we're actually in the city in Boise. So it's not so horrible. I will say in Montana. My parents lived in stevensville, which is like 30 minutes outside of Montana in Missoula, on like a few acres of land, kind of in the middle of nowhere. So we did get like, wild animals rolling around. So I was never worried about it. But there was one day where I came outside, and there were a bear and a few cubs up in the tree. And that did give me a bit of a reason to leave.

Scott Benner 6:41
I would have put myself in a box and FedEx yourself out of there

Unknown Speaker 6:44
immediately. 100% would have to go. I

Scott Benner 6:46
didn't realize there was a bear here. Why didn't someone tell me and that would be the end of it. I'm sure it's not like that. I only have one experience with a bear. We were in a cabin situation out in California, at Yosemite. And we were walking across from I don't know, like a centralized eating area to back to the cabinet. And there was just a bear walking through. And I recognize that the people who work there did not seem to care and they weren't even aware of it. It was it was, you know, it was like a squirrel was walking through. I felt like you know, it's on. Yeah, and I'm like attacking my children and my wife and we stay here till the end. We'll make a run for to the car and go.

Galen Hensler 7:27
Yeah, seriously?

Scott Benner 7:28
No. Anyway. Okay, so you've, you've had type one for about half your life. Tell me about when you were diagnosed you.

Galen Hensler 7:37
So yeah, when I was diagnosed, I was just turned 16. For like, a few months before, I was just like drinking a ton going up, or like getting up in the middle of night to pee, just like all the classic symptoms. Right? My I have a stepbrother, who's 11 days younger than me. So we're super close. And he would always give me a hard time because I couldn't like see the TV. So like we'd be watching TV and I couldn't read like the score of the football game. So all of the classic symptoms. Yeah. I was playing football at the time. And I do I still credit that to basically saving my life. Or at least making sure I didn't. I was diagnosed in my blood sugar was 990. And I credit kind of football everyday with keeping that below 1000. Is it

Scott Benner 8:32
just do you think the activity was holding it back? As much as Yeah, because you were really you were running towards the I'm assuming they told you you were in DK. What was the what was the final thing that happened? couldn't lift your hands fell over what?

Galen Hensler 8:45
So I was actually on a road trip with my mom and we were driving. And I couldn't read the road signs as we passed them. So we came home and she started doing some research and I just I remember one day she picked me up from school. And I got in the car and we drove to this like urgent care I think it was Yeah, and they tested my blood sugar. I just like one of their meters there and it was air or Hi. Hi. Megan said hi. Did you

Scott Benner 9:13
actually mom I can't read the street signs.

Galen Hensler 9:17
Yeah, okay. Yep. Yeah, and she was like, like we road tripped a lot when I was growing up so like we were like really good with like we're getting in the car and we're driving to wherever going even if it's like 12 hours away and we're not stopping how many Femina went out rallies Have

Scott Benner 9:29
you been to? Just kidding I quite a few. Yeah, I was gonna say I don't have any problem with that. I just thinking maybe a little Galan has been been in a couple of seasons of people holding signs once or twice in his life.

Galen Hensler 9:43
You know, it was actually dog shows which isn't that far off. rallies, but yeah, like all over. But for the trips. This last trip I just remember we'd stop like every hour so I could be so we got home. I think my mom did some research. got into the car. And she later told me she was like, your breath smells like, like fruit, like you smelt so sweet. So I remember we went to the urgent care, blood sugar was off the charts there and they're like, you need to go to the ER. My mom was actually working at the Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. So we went there. And it was, like a few days before Halloween, and I just remember, the one thing I'll never forget is the nurse came in and was like, you know, eat whatever you want. This is last time you're gonna be able to eat without taking insulin. So, uh, yeah, I was in the hospital for a couple days and

Scott Benner 10:42
got trained and a lot of people get the the last meal. Yeah, from from medical staff. It's uh,

Unknown Speaker 10:49
it's weird. Yeah.

Scott Benner 10:51
Would you like? Would you like a horrible last meal to? Hi high anything at all you want from the hospital cafeteria? Exactly. Last free meal of your lifetime? Yep. Did you want the jello? It's not good. How did they screw the jello out? By the way? That's fascinating.

Galen Hensler 11:09
But it probably sits there for a couple weeks. Yeah, no, it's bad.

Scott Benner 11:14
What's the What's it like being 16 and suddenly having everything about your life change.

Galen Hensler 11:21
Um, it was hard. So I definitely went through a period of, I'm not diabetic. So for like six months, when I was like, regular seeing my endocrinologist, I was like, really good. And then probably around 17 and a half, like senior year of high school, I just kind of denied it. But for that, first, I would say there's a lot as crappy as diabetes is, I was lucky. Like I said, my mom worked at the hospital. She's a social worker. I said, as a social worker. I had a teacher, who I was taking a class from that was type one diabetic. Like, my endocrinologist was my best friend's uncle. So like, these weird connections, it just, it made my life easier.

Scott Benner 12:14
So a fair amount of support around you. But yeah, yeah, some point you just deny having diabetes. I wonder what that looks like? What does it look like to just say, this is not happening to me? Do you stop taking care of it?

Galen Hensler 12:25
Or Yeah, it's like stop testing, stop giving insulin. At the time, I was on multiple daily injections. And it was I would say I would like take lantis maybe. But not bossing for food. blood sugar's are running, you know, probably in the high, two hundreds, low, three hundreds. And this went on for probably at least a couple months. I'm just not, you know, it's I want to be a senior in high school. I don't want to be different. Just let

Scott Benner 13:01
it go. You just let it go to do the things who Yep, catches that. and turns it back for you? Is it yourself for people around you? How does that happen?

Galen Hensler 13:11
It was it was me and probably my mom. Like my mom, I said, was a social worker, she worked at the Children's Hospital. She's been involved in, you know, just supporting people going through tough times for her career. So

Scott Benner 13:29
it's not hidden. She's aware of your ambivalence at that point.

Galen Hensler 13:35
It took a while. I would say that,

Scott Benner 13:37
okay.

Galen Hensler 13:38
Like she was not. I was 16. So I was obviously giving myself shots, and checking blood sugar myself, like all of that. But I think eventually, it's like when your blood sugar is running it to 50 for two weeks. Like you're not functioning at 100%. And I I get really pissy when my blood sugar's high. Yeah. So I think she caught on, you know, after a while, and then when it didn't get better, she,

Scott Benner 14:05
she stepped in. It's very interesting. I mean, I know you have children who are younger, but I was just speaking about this with a friend of mine the other day, actually, Adam Needleman, who's been on the show before. And I said, it's this, you know, I was talking about my son is like, He's a good kid. And so I don't want to be up as asked all the time. Ya know, and at the same time, you're trying to stay involved, you know, so that you kind of know what's going on, but you don't feel like you're being pushy. And he doesn't feel like he needs it. But at the same time, I'm sure there's a ton about him that I don't know. And yeah, you know, like, so you're just trying to stay your interest. I mean, for me, I'm interested, right, like, and I want to be involved. I don't want him to feel like I'm pushing him or that he doesn't have a little room to figure things out on his own. And that's great in a normal scenario, but not if your blood sugar's 250 all the time, like you know, yeah, then you need somebody to go Hey, go And I was wondering, could you stop being an idiot and, you know, start listing out, but but you're not being an idiot, really, you're trying to give yourself space to do the other things that didn't feel I guess it didn't feel possible to do diabetes and live at the same time is Yeah, it's just

Galen Hensler 15:18
yeah, you know, like I said, I had a stepbrother, the same age, and we, you know, would go out and it's like, I want to be able to go like, eat dinner with friends and not have to worry about running and checking my blood sugar, or running to the bathroom and shooting up. So like, it's easier just sit there and have dinner and hang out. And yeah, ignore it.

Scott Benner 15:40
So it was the it was for you? Was it the actual process of having to test having to inject or did you not want anybody to see? Did you know, that part?

Galen Hensler 15:50
So I didn't really care about that part. Like, from as long as I remember, I've never had a problem with like, whipping out my needles and shooting myself in the arm. It's more of just taking a step back. I remember when I was diagnosis that it was a 62nd. Disease a day. So like, every day, you're dealing with it for like 60 seconds. And I remember, it became clear pretty quick that it's like, there's no way this is 60 seconds. It's like, you know, I was trying to think this morning. It's like, I'm thinking about diabetes. Like, every moment of the day, it's just checking in on how I feel checking my blood sugar, you know, am I gonna eat in a couple minutes? Am I drinking coffee, like, what is what's happening in my body. And that, I think I just got burnt out really quick of, I don't want to have to think about what my blood sugar is doing. I don't want to have to think about giving insulin. I don't want to have to count carbs. I don't have to worry about if I exercise and my blood sugar is gone, though. Like I just want to I just want to get back to normal life.

Scott Benner 16:57
Was there any feeling that you, you know, you got lied to when they said it was a 62nd disease? Was there? Like when that was told you were like, Oh, that's not bad. Like, I'll just do this thing and then I'll be okay. And then you realize that's not the case? Do you feel like there was a bait and switch? Or?

Galen Hensler 17:12
I don't, I don't really feel like there is a bait and switch. I just feel like it's, you know, I think it's something that just doctors would tell people to make it less intimidating early on.

Scott Benner 17:26
I always think they don't want you to drive off a bridge on the way home. So they're like, exactly, I'll be bad. They'll probably hear it soon. Even they'll be fine.

Galen Hensler 17:33
Yeah, within five years, you'll be cured. Don't

Scott Benner 17:35
worry about it just didn't look it Look, inject it into the banana. See how easy that was? That's what you'll remember. I had an orange to get an orange. I remember injecting

Galen Hensler 17:43
into an orange. And but yeah, it's like they they they make it seem like it's not a huge, huge deal. Checking your blood sugar takes five seconds. You know giving insulin takes 30 seconds to drop the insulin and shoot yourself in the arm. Yeah, but it's there's there's so much more to it than that, that people even without diabetes don't get you know, so doctors that are trying to explain this to people just don't really understand unless you've been through it.

Scott Benner 18:12
So did you for the lack of a better term. Did you pull it together before college? Or did this persist into college?

Galen Hensler 18:18
No, I was lucky I kind of got a group in a group before I went off to college. And I kind of bounced around between graduating high school, doing a semester in college in Logan, Utah, and then went back to Salt Lake worked full time for a bit and then my parents went to Montana. I followed them up there and started school there.

Scott Benner 18:46
You know what I'm doing right now while you're talking? Right? I'm writing down poop in a group as a possible race at the end of this story. You come out victorious. This one's going to be called Getting your poop in a group and Okay, it's your fault. Just so you know.

Unknown Speaker 19:04
I'll own it.

Scott Benner 19:05
I never heard anyone say that before. And I was my brain went poop in a group.

Unknown Speaker 19:09
Oh my God. He

Scott Benner 19:10
means together. This is fantastic. That I grabbed my pen. So thank you so much. You guys are all your worst enemies. Just so you know when you're going so true. Yeah. But but that's fantastic. Is that a colloquialism that's local to you.

Galen Hensler 19:30
No, it's me. Try not to swear so my daughter doesn't hear me and repeat it.

Scott Benner 19:34
She's gonna curse Don't worry about it. You can't Oh 100% Yeah. I Arden just asked me about Coronavirus. The other day she goes when the f are we getting out of this house? I was like is it gotten to that point yet? She's like, I really need to get out of here and I was like, Alright, well, I said, sweetie, I'm not sure what's about to happen. But we'll know. I think it's mid July or not quite mid July right now. And There's as much of me that thinks that this is about to get worse, you know? So yeah, yep. Like, oh geez, why don't we wait a little while longer? Find another corner of the house to stare at? You're gonna love it. How old are your kids?

Galen Hensler 20:14
I have a three year old and a one year old. Wow. Oh,

Scott Benner 20:17
yeah, that's kind of better, at least. I mean, maybe not for you and your wife as much as them. But, you know, at least they're not like, Oh, we never get out of here.

Galen Hensler 20:25
Yeah, and we were lucky. We live right behind the school. And obviously the school is out so we can go over there and walk around and play in the field and nice. Get out of the house. But yeah, it's definitely it's been. It's been a long lockdown.

Scott Benner 20:38
Yeah, no kidding. And you can't walk through a potato field because it's all lumpy. So yeah, you gotta go find somewhere else. Really? Yeah.

Galen Hensler 20:44
Yeah. It's Idaho. So it's leaving the state really to find a field. That's not

Scott Benner 20:49
I don't imagine that it's not just border to border. Just Vados? I don't know this. Bruce Willis live there. Where is he? I Oh, damn it. Am I am I I'll figure that out while you answer your next question. Are you so you're in college, you've got your stuff together. It's going pretty well, but I'm looking at your note here a little bit. Do you develop an eating disorder in college? Or how does what happened? Yeah,

Galen Hensler 21:16
so that was, that was I would say, right, when I moved to Montana, I kind of got burned out. Again, this was probably less severe.

But similar, like cutting down on insulin, and I just started basically running a lot.

Scott Benner 21:38
Okay, um,

Galen Hensler 21:40
so I would, I was down to like, 140. So I lost probably like 40 or 50 pounds. Well, I've just giving less insulin. And this was like, I wouldn't say in high school, and I got burned out. It was like basically no insulin. When I moved to Montana, it was more of I'm just going to run a lot and give insulin and try and keep my blood sugar. If I'm hitting 250 that's fine. I just wanted to stay below 250. So yeah, got it just wasn't it wasn't a healthy time.

Scott Benner 22:30
Je Volk hypo pan has no visible needle, and it's the first premixed autoinjector of glucagon for very low blood sugar in adults and kids with diabetes ages two and above. Not only is chivo hypo pen simple to administer, but it's simple to learn more about. All you have to do is go to G Volk glucagon.com, forward slash juicebox g vo shouldn't be used in patients with insulinoma or pheochromocytoma. Visit g Vogue glucagon.com slash risk.

How often do you think to yourself, hmm, my agency doesn't match what I'm getting with my blood glucose meter. The meter is telling me one thing, but then I get my agency done three months later, things aren't jiving. Or maybe you have a continuous glucose monitor. And it says one thing and the meter says another thing and that just leaves you confused. I remember this happening with my daughter. And it was not fun, just these two different numbers. And they left you feeling unsettled. But since Arden has moved to the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, I don't live through that any longer. And ardens a one sees very closely match our expectations. My point is, is that technology gets better. And you should keep up, especially when it comes to your blood glucose meter because you make so many important decisions based on that number. Head over to Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box. And you can learn all about the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. For instance, it uses test strips that offer Second Chance testing, meaning you can touch the blood not get enough, go back and get some more and still get an accurate test. Without wasting the strip. It's possible that you could be eligible for a free meter, it's possible that you could buy the meter in cash and it'd be cheaper than you buying it or another meter through your insurance. There's so much to find out and all the information you need is at Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. There's links in the show notes for contour for G Vogue. And for the T one D exchange because I'm going to ask you to head over there as well. P one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. If you're a caregiver, or a type one who lives in the United States, you can add very simple data to what the T one D exchange is doing. They ask you these super simple questions about life or diabetes there Not long answers, I think it must have taken me about seven minutes to do the entire thing. I did it right from my phone, you could do it from your computer. It's easy. And this information helps the T one D exchange to move things for for people living with type one. I give you all the examples all the time, but they're there, read about them at T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. You could very easily make life for other type ones and yourself much better and support the podcast. Alright, let's get back to the show.

So you were purposefully manipulating the insulin to lose weight? Yeah. Did you feel like you had a weight issue?

Galen Hensler 25:56
Yes. Um,

Unknown Speaker 25:59
yeah,

Scott Benner 26:00
we like 190. What do you five? Five?

Galen Hensler 26:01
I am six foot.

Scott Benner 26:03
How are you at? 190? That seems like a good way for me. No.

Galen Hensler 26:08
Um, it probably was right. But it was more of Yeah, it just, it was a weird period, I would say moving to Montana, not really knowing anybody not really knowing what to do with myself. This was early in my college days. So just just to get in

Scott Benner 26:29
your own head, do you think? Yeah,

Galen Hensler 26:31
yeah, definitely.

Scott Benner 26:32
That's interesting. That's really interesting. Because, you know, obviously, any kind of eating disorder is not I don't think, you know, you couldn't call it sensible. Like, you're like, Oh, I'm, I'm at the perfect weight, but I'm just gonna lose weight, you know, like, so. I mean, obviously, that's that aside, it's just interesting to hear that you were at what I would consider. I mean, a reasonable weight for your height, and especially your age. Yeah. Were you just trying to make yourself inhospitable to bear attack? Perhaps you're like, maybe if I get small enough these things? I think it's not worth the effort.

Galen Hensler 27:03
Yeah. Not worth it. If I just practice running, I can get faster than them. Just outrun the bears.

Scott Benner 27:08
Are you aware of it while it's happening? Are you like I'm manipulating my insulin? I this is not healthy.

Galen Hensler 27:13
Hold on. I think I lost you.

Scott Benner 27:16
Hello. Hello. You say goodbye. Can I say hello? Hello? Hello?

Galen Hensler 27:26
Scott. Can you hear me?

Scott Benner 27:27
I can. Can you hear me?

Unknown Speaker 27:30
Oh, no.

Unknown Speaker 27:32
This is weird.

Scott Benner 27:35
I am going to

Unknown Speaker 27:44
can you hear me?

Unknown Speaker 27:48
What?

Galen Hensler 27:52
Alright, can you hear me now?

Scott Benner 27:54
I can hear you the whole time. Can you hear me?

Galen Hensler 27:56
I can hear you now know what you do. I think vice speaker my airpots died. Oh.

Scott Benner 28:05
Yeah. And when you can't count on $240 small pieces of plastic. What do you really? I can't believe you didn't charge your air pods for this.

Galen Hensler 28:15
I you know, I did her. Eating before

Scott Benner 28:19
hurts my feelings. Just so you know.

Unknown Speaker 28:21
Oh, sorry.

Scott Benner 28:24
No, get yourself situated. And we'll go back.

Galen Hensler 28:26
Okay, I'm gonna have some other speakers. This whole work from home thing is?

Scott Benner 28:38
Yeah, my dining room looks like what I imagined Kelly's office looks like and it's not pleasant.

Galen Hensler 28:44
You know, we, uh, my wife is in graduate school right now. So we turned our walk in closet, in our apartment, into our office. And it is just hot mess.

Scott Benner 28:58
Honey, get in the closet. This is where it's gonna happen.

Unknown Speaker 29:00
Just everyday just come out of closet.

Scott Benner 29:04
It'll be an awakening for you every day. At the end of the work. You'll be like, I'm free again. By the way, Bruce Willis just recently sold his $5.5 million. Idaho ranch. It is beautiful.

Unknown Speaker 29:15
She is

Scott Benner 29:16
new. He lived in Idaho. Because I think I think dummy lives there still and that's not again, I'm not being mean. I believe that's how she wants her name pronounced. Any of you who lived through the 80s and 90s will hear that joke and no one else will understand that there was a time where Demi Moore ran around telling people Her name was to me. So I'm I'm the only one that apparently is gonna remember that but for you all people out there Enjoy your giggle. GALEN gets his headset together while and I figure out if Demi Moore lives in Idaho? Cuz I'm telling you she does who she does Are you rich Galen cuz I have houses seem very expensive.

Galen Hensler 29:55
I wish

Scott Benner 30:00
My gosh. As a matter of fact, but yeah, I can, by the way, as a matter of fact it during the beginning of COVID Bruce went to live with me and her family and I think she's

Unknown Speaker 30:15
Wait, what is this?

Scott Benner 30:17
Oh, and he got split from his current family to stay with Demi's the scary accent behind Demi Moore and Bruce Willis is COVID-19. quarantine. I'm not gonna read that. But apparently Bruce Willis got stuck quarantine with his ex wife instead of his actual life. Photos of the mirror and matching pajamas and oh, that's comfortable. Honey, I'll be honest to this crowd is over. I'm just hanging out with me. Seriously, I wish this is the first time I found myself wishing I could take a phone call to like to see if somebody goes. I remember when she wanted to be called dummy. It was hilarious. My gosh, anyway, you're good. I'm good. All right. So it's a nice interlude. I'm leaving all that in, by the way. Okay, while you could hear me, I was singing it was terrific. So when you're consciously doing that, and so you have you have the sort of, you know, intellectual, emotional, you know, ability to say, I'm doing something that's not healthy for me to get this result. Yep. I mean, that's a weird headspace to be in, is there any way you can explain how that feels?

Galen Hensler 31:32
Um, I think it's thinking long term versus thinking short term. So you know, having your blood sugar, run it to 50 isn't going to kill you tomorrow. And I knew that, and it was me thinking, Okay, I, you know, I want to lose some weight, I want to, you know, just kind of deal with a little bit of burnout right now and not think about it as much. So let me let my blood sugar run high a little bit. Yeah, knowing that it's going to take you know, I won't see the effects of this. Or the major effects. Obviously, there are some short term effects, but I'm not gonna see the effects of it for a while. So it's okay to let it happen for a bit.

Scott Benner 32:19
Did you see it? Looking back? Did you see it as a psychological issue? Like was your appearance was so important to your that the idea that this needed to happen, or you were Joe,

Galen Hensler 32:29
I don't, I don't think it was ever like, worrying about my appearance as much. Because really, I was like, I just moved to Montana, I was living basically in the middle of nowhere. Like, didn't really see anybody except my family. And then, like friends in Salt Lake who like play video games and chat. It was just more of again, just, you know, the burnout of not wanting to deal with it as much and having other I'm good,

Scott Benner 33:02
no, I was gonna say, I guess the real fear ends up being that you could get stuck in that forever. And and that burnout, because then what the high blood sugar's due to your kind of your ability to think about, yes, you could just get stuck there. Like, yeah, like any bad sci fi movie where somebody takes you to a place where you, you just have to realize you're there to get away from it. Yeah. And instead, you just give over to, you know, the good, you know, the quote, unquote, good parts of what you're saying. And you're like, um, I keep my weight down, it's fine. You know, and you can keep saying these are long, long term, like, I can stop it whenever I want. Yeah, I guess the real problem is that a lot of people can't stop it, because they're being pushed more through the psychological impact of being concerned about how they feel, or they have some actual, you know, issue. Totally where, where they feel like they don't look the way they want to, quote unquote, but you know, even if that's not true, and if they're the only one seeing it, we I guess makes it true for them. It's interesting, I didn't know we didn't really feel like we'd be talking about this. So yeah, still wrapping my head around it a little bit. But it's, I'm thinking now, this is gonna sound terrible, but I knew a kid in high school who was really heavy. And he tried and couldn't do anything about it. And you know, he eventually it was keeping in mind, it was the end of the 80s he decided that cocaine was the way to lose weight. And it worked. He was real skinny by the time Yeah, he was done, but his life for the next 15 years was a disaster. Yeah. And thinking of that group of people now. And there's no way any of them are going to listen to this podcast. I feel like I'm good here. They're all a different mass in some way or another and one of them's dead. Yeah, and and had a terrible heart attack when you know in early 40s, mid 40s And if I could describe that his life was exactly how you might imagine somebody who's you know, recreationally and consistently using cocaine through their 20s and 30s. And pulls himself together in his late 30s. Go to school, becomes an attorney is practicing, meets a woman has a baby, and drops that cheese. And so I wonder if when he was 20 if somebody would have said to him, Hey, listen, man, when you're 43, you're gonna die with a newborn? Like, you know, you're gonna go through all this. And I wonder how that would have impacted his first decision. And I? And I don't, you know, obviously, yours didn't go on very. How long did you do this for?

Galen Hensler 35:44
Probably. I would say I got insulin and eating under control within six months,

Scott Benner 35:53
okay. So you're not gonna have I mean, likely have any long term complications from it? But But what if you would have got stuck in it? Yeah. And many people do, right? Yeah. Okay. So you, you get that you put that poop back in or to a group? And Yep, your poop gets scattered a lot.

Galen Hensler 36:12
It does. Yeah.

Scott Benner 36:14
You just got to run around and like, just push it all back together again, and head off again. That's, let's find out where else you get scattered. Let's keep moving forward. When do you meet that lovely girl who you jammed into her closet.

Galen Hensler 36:29
So she was actually a student of my mom's at the university. So she was a social work major. My mom's teaching social work at the time. And we ran into each other a lot, just like around basically, my mom's office slash the social work department. And we were, you know, chat and friendly. And that went on for like, two years. And then a couple weeks before we both graduated, actually sent her a friend request on Facebook, and said, we should hang out. And literally the next day, we got coffee. And I think we hung out every day for like the next

Unknown Speaker 37:15
couple months.

Galen Hensler 37:18
And then propose, like six months later, and got married couple months after that, and been together for five years now married for over five years. Wow.

Scott Benner 37:29
When do you propose when you realize you can't believe she's still with you? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, well, this girl's not figuring it out.

Galen Hensler 37:37
Gotta lock it down.

Unknown Speaker 37:38
Why does she not look at me and go, what am I doing here? She's gonna figure it out. Eventually. I gotta do something.

Galen Hensler 37:44
I thought she would. But

Scott Benner 37:47
well, he she's the kind of girl who will accept a closet as an office so amenable to all kinds of things. Yes.

Galen Hensler 37:53
Yeah. No, she's great.

Scott Benner 37:54
It's funny. That's great. Good for you. I don't want to jump around too much. But have you gotten an answer? I'm looking at your notes though. Your daughter had your which daughter, the three year old?

Galen Hensler 38:06
So? Yeah, my three year old? Um, yeah. So this is kind of the ongoing story of our life. And January 2019. So last January. I was at work one day and got a call from my wife during a meeting. I thought it was weird, but I just ignored it. And then I texted her and she was like, No, something's wrong, like call me. From what I can tell. My daughter Berkeley had a hypoglycemic seizure. And my wife was there, she called 911. And then called me I started driving home. Paramedics came, paramedics did not check her blood sugar, which I find weird, took her vitals and said she was fine and left. I got home, probably about 20 minutes later. Berkeley like ran to me when I came in the door. And she just looked off. And had I not been type one obviously, I wouldn't have thought anything. Like we would have just taken her to the ER but she looked, she looked like she was low. So I checked your blood sugar. It was 41 huh? And we started giving her honey. Check your blood sugar again, probably about 10 minutes later and it was 37. So we call 911. Again, paramedics came long story short, we ended up in the ER she saw my daughter had basically was not able to like move the left side of her body and we think probably part of the seizure. Did all the scans were in the ER for a couple hours, did a bunch of scans or a bunch of tests, everything came back normal sent us to the Children's Hospital here. We were there for two nights, I think two or three nights. And basically just ran a bunch of tests. Everything came back normal.

Unknown Speaker 40:23
As it happened to me and since then.

Galen Hensler 40:26
So when we left the hospital, they basically said, like, we don't know what's going on. So my wife and I, again, kind of luck of the draw that I'm type one diabetic. I know about, you know, counting carbs and like different food groups and like, what? Like, I'm more aware of food, I would say than the normal person. Yeah. So we were checking Berkeley's blood sugar. I mean, we we kept a little log, and it was ridiculous. I think we checked her 30 times a day, at least.

I was waking up every two hours in the night to check her blood sugar. Just because we didn't we didn't know what was going on.

Scott Benner 41:12
Were you in a panic, she was just gonna die.

Galen Hensler 41:14
Yeah, 100% pressure comes from 100%. And, you know, again, it's like when my wife calls me and says Burke was having a seizure. This obviously never happened before. So it came out of the blue hit like a ton of bricks. And we did everything we could to like, make sure that didn't happen again. Pretty quickly, we realized that it seemed like dairy, made her blood sugar go down. So we would if she had yogurt or milk, her blood sugar would start to dip. And we'd have to correct. So we basically have been avoiding dairy milk. Is that working? It is?

Scott Benner 42:01
Have you gotten any kind of answer about why that?

Galen Hensler 42:04
No. Nope. And we've had, so she's had genetic tests done. Every like literally every test has come back normal. So she's been charged for, like pre markers for diabetes. Just everything seems to be normal that we've tested for.

Scott Benner 42:25
Wow. Yes. Incredibly odd. I hope you find an answer to that and share it with me, by the way.

Galen Hensler 42:30
Yeah, excuse me know me. Yeah,

Scott Benner 42:32
that's fascinating. And I know a bit about, like, seeing stuff like that. And just being perplexed by it. I, I've mentioned on the show, I think before, but my body doesn't appear to hold on to ferritin. So like, you give me a CBC, and my blood tests are all my values are perfect. I look fine, like you know, except my ferritin is 13.

Unknown Speaker 42:53
Interesting.

Scott Benner 42:54
And hold on a second. I'm sorry. And then I go get an infusion and it goes back up again. And these symptoms that I have, which are really weird, like, I think it's called paraesthesia. But I get like a little electrical feeling on the right side of my skull lesion. And if that's not painful, or anything like that, it just get like it feels like somebody like touches a nine volt battery to my tongue, but on the side of my head for a split second. When I feel that I start thinking, Okay, my father must be starting to go down, then my muscle tone goes away. Like I've changed nothing else about my life. But however, please don't get me wrong. I'm not lifting weights or anything like that. But, but my normal muscle tone begins to lessen it gets a little jelly ish. And then I start having weird reactions to things. And so what I would say to that is that you know, it, you might just say, I'm overreacting, like if you think of someone who's overreacting, but there's a fogginess that comes around it. And I just sort of something happens. And as I'm responding to it, it's usually like a more tense thing, right? Or, I don't know, you'll say something to me. And where I would not normally be flippant or dismissive. Like I just sort of em, and that if it goes into a conversation, the words coming out of my mouth don't match how I feel or what I'm thinking. It's, it's and I'm not it's not disassociated or anything like that. You understand what I mean, but it's Yeah, it's I have a hard time. Not saying, I guess the worst of all the options of what to say, Sure, I get the ferritin it all just goes away.

Galen Hensler 44:39
Interesting.

Scott Benner 44:40
And so my son's home from school, gets his, um, you know, his well visit. And, you know, the girls have hypothyroidism and, you know, with diabetes and everything, so I just say to the doctor, can I get a baseline on coal when you do his blood tests? He's like, Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So You know, everything's fine. It's thyroid level. I mean, you should see the kids like, seriously, it looks like an underwear model. You can run forever. You know what I mean? Like there's there's nothing about his life that would make you think something's wrong with him. Yeah, physically. And Adam called and we talked about it. Hold on one second, I cannot get my throat clear. It's probably Corona just stuck right there in the back. Sorry. Um, you know, if I end up with Corona, people are gonna be like, you shouldn't have joked about that. Seriously. My joking, it's not gonna stop me from getting sick or getting sick. But, but so I hear back colds blood tests are amazing. He's like, they're better than amazing. He's like, his CBC is absolutely. It's it's like everybody wants the CBC, his cholesterol, his thyroid levels are fine. Everything is good is a one C was five, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, is ferritin 20. It's incredibly low. And I'm like, Oh, my God, we there's some genetic thing, but he doesn't have any symptoms of it. So I don't know. Like, it's just a strange thing. when something like that happens to you that that then doctors go. Well, I mean, I wouldn't worry about it. If it's not causing a problem. Yeah, that's a weird answer to get,

Galen Hensler 46:13
you know, yeah. No, it really is. So

Scott Benner 46:15
is that the answer? You got? Like, don't give her milken go live your life. But how do you do that? Yeah,

Galen Hensler 46:22
I mean, that the answer that. So I mean, like, we've traveled like, we've gone down to Salt Lake. We've seen a couple doctors up here. Everybody gives the same answer. Like, everything looks good. Maybe she'll grow out of it. Right. And so it's been 18 months now. And still, you know, she got the day had a not low but you know, in the 60s and acting some dramatic? Like still happening that outgrowing it. It doesn't really give us as parents any peace of mind to be a comfort with that. Yeah, yeah, like, outgrow it when? You know, and that's not an answer. No, it's Yeah, it's like, what are we supposed to do when we send her to kindergarten? Like, just? Like, how do we deal with this throughout her life? Where it's always been? Or it's always gonna be like, Maybe, maybe not? Maybe today, she'll outgrow it? Maybe not.

Scott Benner 47:23
I wonder if her doctor couldn't prescribe a Dexcom Pro study for.

Galen Hensler 47:28
And that's. So we actually have a appointment with her endo, next week. And that's kind of what I'm trying to push for is just give us a Dexcom for her. Yeah, so we can see. Because again, it's like she's three years old. She takes a nap during the day. Sometimes she'll wake up and like below when she wakes up. And it's nice to know.

Scott Benner 47:52
Well, you might be able to find a pattern more of a pattern. Yeah, maybe finding the pattern would point to something. I wish you luck. I'm sorry. We got sidetracked on that. But that's really

Galen Hensler 48:00
No, no, you're fine. It's super. Yeah, it's definitely the case of our family of everybody's trying to figure out what's going on with poor Burke.

Scott Benner 48:09
Well, by the way, this poop in a group thing might get sent away because you're a bit of a hypocrite because you've mocked your mother in the beginning. Being from Berkeley and calling you Galen, and then you named your baby Berkeley. So yeah,

Unknown Speaker 48:21
it's true.

Scott Benner 48:22
GALEN is a hypocrite. But he's now second on my list.

Galen Hensler 48:28
That's fine. We actually Her name is actually Berkeley rose. And there's a Berkeley rose garden. So

Scott Benner 48:34
yeah, that's very nice. I'm just kidding. It's so wonderful. It's a lovely name. It really is.

Galen Hensler 48:38
It is but it's definitely for Berkeley, the city that you know, was born in and grew up in. So

Scott Benner 48:42
how is the one year old? Saskatchewan she okay. Things are good that

Galen Hensler 48:46
a one year old is actually Lincoln?

Unknown Speaker 48:49
and Nebraska.

Galen Hensler 48:51
Yeah, it not Nebraska. It just, honestly, I don't know. We just like the name Lincoln. So we ended up going with Lincoln.

Scott Benner 48:59
I'm not I'm not. I'm not breaking your balls overnight. It's fine. It's easy, like, Link? Is that a is that? Yeah. Yeah. It's not like that. Yeah. Plus, you're not matching anything with your last name. So it doesn't matter. Hey, listen, this is the point in the podcast where I tell you I don't care and it means nothing to me. But because of the podcast history. I'm remise. You've mentioned Utah a number of times any chance you're Mormon?

Galen Hensler 49:23
No, I was raised LDS. But I am not. I would say I am far removed from the church. Ah,

Scott Benner 49:30
gotcha. But you were there at one point.

Galen Hensler 49:33
I was there at one point up until I was 18.

Scott Benner 49:35
I'm counting you on the tally. Just so you know. At some point, one day, I'm getting an answer. I really am. Because this podcast is listened to everywhere. Really everywhere. And I mean, I gotta be up to 10 by now, right? Like I'm getting close. Like I there's Yeah, I don't know something's going on.

Unknown Speaker 49:56
That's weird.

Scott Benner 49:57
I need to study of diabetes and Utah. That's what I seriously. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So, you know, with all this, it's sort of happened to you and and, you know, currently with your daughter and previously with yourself. You mentioned that, you know, when we were talking, you know, through email, you mentioned that you really feel like attitude has a lot to do with diabetes. And I was wondering how that manifested for you and how you put it into practice?

Galen Hensler 50:25
Yeah, so you know, when I was going through, when I first moved to Montana was kind of going through the struggle there. Once I started getting into school, I got a job, I was kind of forced to start taking care of myself again, to basically feel normal. So when your blood sugar's around 250, you're just not feeling great. And just kind of realizing that I feel so much better when my blood sugar is controlled. And being able to, to know that there's a benefit and taking care of yourself. And I think I mentioned this in the email, but I graduated with my undergrad and then moved into law school. I got engaged, my first semester of law school, got married, my second semester of law school. And then we had Berkeley, my last year of law school. So law school was kind of a whirlwind. And I think that's where I kind of really buckled down on, on knowing that you have to put limits on everything. And what I mean by that is, law school takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. But I was also newly engaged, newly married, had a new kid. So I got in a very good habit of really looking at law school, like a job. And you know, from nine to five hours, I was working at law school, and then I would come home and hang out with my wife. And, you know, do that basically every day.

Scott Benner 52:08
And you can't do those things when your blood sugar's high, and you can't focus and all the other problems that it comes exactly,

Galen Hensler 52:15
yep, you really have to, you have to change the my mom's favorite saying is like, change the channel. So you have to, like change the channel of your mind. Like, like diabetes sucks. Like, there's no if ands or buts about that. But there's no like denying it doesn't do anything to help you. Right? I think that's kind of what I really came to. It's like, I cannot take insulin, and I can feel horrible. Or I can just it, I can just suck it up and be like, this is the hand I was dealt. It sucks. And again, I've said this a few times now, but like, I'm lucky, like, I have never had gaps in my insurance. I've always been able to get insulin like I've never felt like I was rationing insulin. Like you said, I had a great support system. My wife has been amazingly supportive. Like as, as horrible as diabetes is a lucky one. And just kind of realizing that it's, it's the hand you're dealt, and you just got to do what you like the best you can.

Scott Benner 53:23
So there's nothing to point to then you can't say that you had an epiphany or you employed a certain thing. I think that's important for people to know, like, you recognize that. And then you just consciously said, I have to change this. Yeah, right. It's not there's no, there's not a book to read, or, you know, a seminar to go to or something like that. You just you, you have to be an adult and look and say, you know, the alternative is not good. If there is going to be long term consequences. If I keep going like this and short term, I'm cheating myself out of the things I'm trying to do. totally right. So but

Galen Hensler 53:58
i think i think there's a there's a power that comes from recognizing it yourself. Versus, you know, like reading a book and changing your behavior because of a book. I think that's fleeting. I think it's, you know, you can watch an inspirational talk and you know, want to change your life, but until you like, internalize it until it's like coming from you. Yeah, it doesn't stick. And, obviously, you know, I've gone through ups and downs where I've taken better care of myself, and not so great care of myself. But at the end of the day, it's like these little periods of, of burnout. They don't last long. Because I know, you know, like, especially now having kids, it's like, I have to take care of my better care of myself. And then just knowing like, you feel so much better when you're in control. And the time it takes to be in control is worth worth taking that time. So I'm not sitting there worrying about, you know what my blood sugar is doing.

Scott Benner 54:57
Well, I think that you by about it like this. I think that's as helpful as anything because you're a person that did it. Like, it's easy to, like, it's easy to say, you know, oh, I read a book, this guy has all these ideas or there's quotes or inspiration that's bold. That's not somebody that did it. That's somebody who's saying it like you did it. And just because you can't exactly quantify how you did, it doesn't mean that that's, that's not inspirational. I mean, just the idea that it can be done, I think is is really more important than anything else. And I have to tell you that while I don't have type one, obviously, the idea of burnout seems reductive to me. Like it seems like an oversimplification of something. And I don't know what it is, but I keep hoping that through these conversations, we're gonna find out. Yeah, you know what I mean? Because, I mean, I don't have, again, I don't have to take insulin, right. I don't have that pressure, that stress in my life, but my life has not been particularly terrific. Along the way, you know, at every step. And there's something about that persistence, that I know I have that persistence, like, I don't give up. Yeah. And and I don't know why that is. And I mean, like, emotionally physically, if things don't look good, I am internally hopeful person. Yeah. And, and I don't know why. But if that's not your case, if you're more pessimistic, and it's funny, I'm incredibly pessimistic about most things, but not the big things. Sure. It's, it's strange, like on on a low level, like, you know, I see something happened, oh, my God, this is gonna go to hell. You know, like, like, I don't see anyone. I don't see any way this is gonna work out. But, but I think overall, it can work out. Yeah. And so the moment might be bad, but I don't think that the journey is a failure. Sure. And I don't know how to tell you that either. Like, I don't know why I felt like that most of my life, other than to say that, you know, knowing you're adopted early on, is it's a little rough to hear, like somebody had you and when whatever. Like, that's, that's hard. But then you meet a family who cares about you? You're like, oh, okay, well, that's good. And then that family gets divorced. And you're like, Oh, well, that's bad. You know, like, and it's just, you know, and then, and then I didn't really have like, stick to itiveness in school. So I had no prospects, like, yeah, coming out of high school. But, and I took a job that was terrible. I worked in a sheetmetal shop for like, six years. And every day I was there, I was being paid nothing. I was killing myself physically. And it did not seem to be a pathway to anything except showing back up the next day and doing it again. And, and it was horrible. Because I felt like, I felt like a, like, I wanted to write a book, I felt like I had all these ideas of things I wanted to do, I'd sit around with guys, they were all lovely. I want to say seriously, that a lot of my life lessons came from those men that I worked with, they all had something about them. Because you don't have a father. There's no way to know how to be a sense. So what I would do is I would look at the people around me. And I would pick out what I thought were their just their best traits. And I'd pay attention to them. There was one gentleman who was just incredibly honest. And there was a guy there who worked really hard. And there was a guy there who had an incredible sense of humor, like I did, and he wasn't afraid for people to see it. And you know, and like, they all had these different kind of bits about them. So being there was an incredible part of my life like to see all of that. And I would just sort of like, I used to joke that like being adopted, it's great, because you it's not even a joke like because you get to decide who you are. No one really tells you who you are, you know? Yeah. So you get the look and you go, you know, this guy over here. He's an earnest, son of a bitch. I like how earnest he is. Yep. Maybe that's a good thing. Instead of watching your parents and just soaking up whatever it is they put out into the world, you know? Yeah. But, but and so maybe that built into it. And that's a long way of saying that not everybody gets to have that experience. So when some other person has, you know, oh, my parents got divorced. They don't go, I bet you we can get through this. Some of them just go well, that's the end. Yeah, you know, and then that it blankets them for a long time. So I don't know the difference between someone like you, and someone who still has that is living with an eating disorder that yeah, that never breaks free of it. Or who doesn't realize I can't do this with my blood sugar because I'm trying to have a family and I love these people and I want to be an attorney. By the way, how the hell did you go from being an attorney to marketing?

Galen Hensler 59:45
I got like halfway through law school and realized I didn't want to be a lawyer. But at that point, you can't drop out of law school you're halfway through so I just stuck it out. And actually got an MBA while I was finishing law school.

Scott Benner 59:58
Yeah, moved into marketing. There you go. See? Yeah, so you just never you never took the bar. Is that how that works?

Galen Hensler 1:00:02
never took the bar. But graduated law school just

Scott Benner 1:00:05
Yeah, you're just like whatever.

Galen Hensler 1:00:06
Yeah, pretty much. It's a good fallback option, like in five years if I'm like, Oh, yeah, I want to be a lawyer now. Yeah. I am one step closer, I guess. But you're not.

Scott Benner 1:00:15
Yeah, yeah. No, no, I understand. I just told that. I just told a story on the podcast recently, I had a counselor in school who's like, I think you'd be a great attorney. And I was like, oh, then I'd be an attorney. Yeah,

Galen Hensler 1:00:24
yeah, exactly. I was like, I like my wife. And I like my kids. I want to hang out with them. So

Scott Benner 1:00:29
yeah, I just couldn't imagine doing it every day. Like, I love the talking, and the rationalizing, and the arguing, but the writing wouldn't be for me, like I that would throw me off,

Unknown Speaker 1:00:39
I think.

Galen Hensler 1:00:40
Yeah. And, you know, I want to actually touch on something that you were just saying, getting back to being able to like, pick and choose, you're saying, Yeah, people around you. And I think one thing that, like, helped me through loss was i'm just i'm very logical, and very black and white. I don't swing high or swing low, usually. And so knowing that about myself, and being able to look at having type one, and dealing with this for 15 years, there's just been so many points in my life, where I'm able to see like, it sucks to have type one, like I've said, Everybody knows that. Yeah. But I think when you get past that hump of like, this sucks. And you can start looking when possible at points in your life, where it's like, okay, it sucks to have type one. But when I was diagnosed, I was in the Children's Hospital. And there were kids, you know, one, two years old, they were having to get their fingers poked. And I know this now having to do it to my daughter, but it's like, they don't understand what's going on. They're just getting poked by their parents. But it's like I was old enough to at least know what was going on. So even though it sucked. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The context was available, at least Yeah, and going throughout my life and seeing that. It's, it's giving me an outlook of, oh, man, like, I'm so lucky that I was raised in a house where I was able to have the support system where I had insurance, you know, where I had the financial ability, like, pay for these things. Even now, it's like, I'm lucky enough to have a have a great job, to be able to get supplies and everything to keep me healthy. It changes your outlook. So it's like as shitty as diabetes is, when you're able to take a step back and kind of change your channel and adjust your view.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:46
It it.

Galen Hensler 1:02:48
For me, at least, it's made me a lot more compassionate. It's given me a lot of just ability to see like, people aren't as lucky as I am. And what can we be doing to basically help those people that, you know, can't afford insulin or are unable to get their insulin or, you know, can't afford their supplies?

Scott Benner 1:03:09
Did other people's situations that were worse off than yours give you the feeling like you can't waste the opportunity that you have to do better with the tools you have? Did you so not thought

Galen Hensler 1:03:20
not just with diabetes? I would say almost not necessarily with diabetes. It's just kind of, you know, hippie, parents. Social Work, mother. Yeah. It's that it's been instilled in me for a long time. GALEN, there are starving kids somewhere your beans. like pretty much. I mean, it's basically like you're given this opportunity. You were like, I wrote my law school. Like application essay. I'm basically like, I'm an upper middle class white male, like I'm starting, like a step away from the finish line. And it would be a disservice to me and everybody else if I didn't try and do as much as I can, right?

Scott Benner 1:04:01
So half assed your way through them exactly. Like I did it. Yeah.

Galen Hensler 1:04:04
Yeah. And diabetes, I would say, gives all of that an extra layer of like, you know, people starting off like, there's there's still things that people deal with. So like, how can we just like what can I be doing to help people?

Scott Benner 1:04:24
Not here? Well, that's a good message, man. It really is. Wow, that was a lot. I didn't expect all that. Good for you. Nice. Well done. Thanks for having a great microphone. So actually, your microphones so great, that are at times when you're quiet. I feel like I can hear a one year old and a three year old trying to kill each other is that Yeah,

Galen Hensler 1:04:41
you probably could. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:04:46
I feel like the one year old was yelling, your blood sugar's low. Get away from me. Don't pass out on me. I see all this. Yeah.

Galen Hensler 1:04:54
Oh, my gosh. That's why I'm in the closet.

Scott Benner 1:04:57
Are you in the closet office right now?

Unknown Speaker 1:04:59
Yep. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:05:02
well, things have fallen apart. I haven't. Seriously, I don't know when we're going back to work. I'm starting to think like, it's not gonna happen this year. Just you know, I'm

Galen Hensler 1:05:11
feeling the same way. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:05:13
I don't know if I I don't know if this will come out months from now. I'll think I'll listen and think, Wow, it was right. Or I was I hope I was wrong. But yeah, I just saw some things. recently that made me feel like there's no way this is gonna go away. Right now. It's just people have gone back out. And there's just I don't know, like if if being distant and covering your faces is truly important than what I saw is troubling. So yeah. So we'll see what happens. I don't know. It's just it seems, it seems to me like I'm not as hopeful as I was. Maybe four weeks ago, four weeks, guys, like this is turning. I can see it turning. Yeah, I'm like, Oh, well, maybe not. I guess we all had to get back to five below. Very important. cozy. Yeah, we needed a squishy ball. And now everybody's gonna think again. Anyway, just you know. Anyway, fingers crossed. And hopefully I'll go back and listen to this and be like, I was really wrong. And our lives are all normal couple

Galen Hensler 1:06:11
weeks now.

Scott Benner 1:06:14
We'll see. Again, not. Thank you very much for doing this. Isn't it funny? I just did exactly what I said it was going to do in the short term. I'm not hopeful in the long term. I'm very hopeful. I'm like, this is a disaster, but it'll be okay. Eventually, eventually.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:29
Fingers crossed.

Scott Benner 1:06:30
Would you hang out for a second? I just want to say goodbye to you like a real person. Of course. Thanks. Thanks for doing this.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:36
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Scott Benner 1:06:45
A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, g Vogue glucagon. Find out more about chivo kebo pen at GE Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. you spell that GVOKEGL Uc ag o n.com. forward slash juice box. Hey, really consider going to T one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box and adding your voice. And of course Thanks so much to the Contour Next One blood glucose meter for being a longtime sponsor. Check them out at Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box.

See this gallery in the original post

Please support the sponsors

The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here. Recent donations were used to pay for podcast hosting fees. Thank you to all who have sent 5, 10 and 20 dollars!

See this donate button in the original post