#732 Free Falling
David has type 1 diabetes and likes jumping out of planes.
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Dave 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 732 of the Juicebox Podcast.
Scott Benner 0:17
On today's show, we'll be speaking with David. He's had type one diabetes for quite some time, and he enjoys jumping out of airplanes. So obviously there's a lot to talk about here. While we're talking, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. We're becoming bold with insulin.
If you're a US resident who has type one diabetes, or is the caregiver of someone with type one, I wish you would go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Join the registry and take the survey, the whole thing should take fewer than 10 minutes. And once you complete the survey, you've done something kind for people with type one diabetes, you've done a favor to me, and you've done something that might help yourself. T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Well worth your 10 minutes.
Dave 1:32
Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod makers of the Omni pod five. Learn more and get started today at Omni pod.com. Forward slash Juicebox. Podcast is also sponsored today. By Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitoring system. Find out if you're eligible for a free 10 day trial@dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Hey, Scott, my name is Dave. See I'm 41 this year going to be 42 Very soon in March and I am a skydiver and a diabetic. Right now we're on to it. How do you find? How do you end up being on a podcast? One of my friends whom I skydive with, has a her wife was on your podcast, She's diabetic. And so we got talking about things. She says Oh, my friend has a podcast. You should really check it out. So I found you through her and here I am. No, that's cool. Yeah, we were looking for. I was looking for we Dave, I just said I just said we're like there's a big operation going on over here. It's just me. But um, but yeah, I was just trying to find people who do things. The other a little more exciting. outside the norm a little bit and I think flinging yourself out of an airplane qualifies compete. So well tell me first, you know, how old were you when you were diagnosed? So funny story, I was actually diagnosed at midnight on my 12th birthday. My mother was luckily a pediatrician. So she kind of caught all the signs. And the kicker the final breaking point was that I slammed three two liter bottles of water within five minutes. And she's like, You know what? I think I'm going to take you to the ER right now. So we went down and they checked me in and I got my diagnosis right at midnight on my birthday. When I was 12. Any other stuff going on? Or did the three bottles of water just like send your mom into overdrive? No. Three bottles of water and you know constant urination Of course. And I was skinny guy to begin with so I wasn't putting on weight. You know, right around adolescence. You're supposed to start packing weight on and changing. I was not doing any of that stuff. I was still a skinny, tiny little boy. I think I weighed 50 pounds. Wow. So something was kind of up. So they took me in check me out. And my blood sugar was astronomically high as high as the hospital had ever seen. I think I clocked in around 1200 That's pretty high. Maybe maybe 2200. So I'm like that was ridiculous. Wow. Did they sing happy birthday for you in the ER? Yeah, ironically, they did. See what I did there. Dave, you didn't say it. But I put myself in the minds of adults who were trying to imagine what kids want. And that's what I came up with. I would not have done that. If I worked in the ER for you. By the way I would have. I would have pulled you aside and said Hey, Dave. Well, this sucks, huh? Yeah, pretty much. I did get a lot of that. I did get a lot of oh my gosh, so unexpected meaning is it in the family? No, not at all. So my mother experiences some hypoglycemia every once in a while. But she just attributed that to diet. Nobody else in the family history had diabetes ever. And we went back generations. My my uncle Thankfully keeps all kinds of history on the family and everything. And it was pretty wild that it just popped up. Did you find any autoimmune aside from diabetes? hypothyroidism, celiac, anything like that? No, no. Wow. Dave, about rolling. I'm lucky. I'm pretty lucky. Yeah, look at you, man. Oh, wow, late winner, big winner. That sucks. How was it growing? I mean, you're, I didn't do the math, but you've had diabetes, like 29 years. Is that right? Yeah, for real. Wow. So it was very difficult. The, my life was just calm, pounded is crazy. So the year before I lost my older brother, who was he and I were very, very close to each other. And he passed away unexpectedly. So I was dealing with that. And then we got diabetes, the very next year on top of that, and that kind of sent me spiraling down a rabbit hole. And then the very next year, I lost my grandfather. So 11 through 13 was not my jam. I turned quickly to drugs and alcohol to relieve the stress of things. And, again, abandoned my diabetes for the most part, you know, I took insulin because I had to, but I wasn't keeping track. I was running three, four hundreds all the time. I once he was around 11. Okay, for most of my teenage years.
And I finally got serious with it and buckled down. Like to put things in perspective. Technology had come so far, but I was still using the old one touch meters with the very large test strips, and you had to put like, a gallon of blood on them, even up to 2004
or five. No, really? Yeah. Wow. It was a just, I was in a very bad
place. Yeah, it sounds. So I don't want to do I'm not gonna ask you to dig deep, but your brother, medical or something else. Now something else? Okay. It was just unexpected. It was like, Wow, that's crazy. And you're human. So it took a lot to unpack that all. And then I didn't really have time on packet or the proper guidance or net support network to do that. And then, on top of that I have diabetes to deal with too. So I can only deal with one thing at a time, you know, in diabetes was not it? Yeah, I hear you. Did you have other brothers and sisters? I did. I had an older brother. But He's much older. He was 10 years older than me. So we didn't really share any commonalities. Gotcha. So that, you know, made it even more difficult. David, your parents together? Yeah. All right, mom, dad, we're together. Not the best relationship and not the worst, for sure. But then, in my when I was, I wasn't even out of high school yet. And my father took a massive hit aneurysm sort of massive stroke. And so he was basically a vegetable for a very long time for at least 10 years after that. So I had the old dat and life. Just pass it on. You know, when it rains it pours. Dave, I like how you think you were coming on here to talk about skydiving? I mean, we'll get we'll get to it, Dave but you know, well listen to this all leads to it for sure. Oh, I'm already seeing the path in my head. But yeah, assuming you were trying to kill yourself at some point. But But okay, so when did the drug use start? How old? I think I was 16 or so. And a lot of it was just, it's really funny. Because high school started, I started smoking, trying to mess around cigarettes when I was like 1314. But it really wasn't my thing. And then high school started and I was in a car with a friend and riding home from school. I was going over his house to hang out and his brother in law's sparked up a joint in the front seat. I was like, Oh my gosh, the drivers on drugs. He's smoking drugs. And I'm like, waiting for it to get to me. I'm like, it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. And they pass me a joint. They're like, Dave, you know, thank you. It's cool as I could possibly sound and like, Okay, thanks. Yeah, whatever. It was, obviously, not a big deal. But I built it up in my head so much. I was like, Oh my gosh. So then being exposed to it and realizing, hey, this isn't the big deal. My elementary school teachers made it out to be you know, maybe I'll check it out. And so I had no idea what to do. So I found my nearest neighborhood drug dealer and said, Hey, can I get some weed? And the guy was like, Sure. How much do you want? And like, I don't know, I've never bought and he's like, this is your first time and he was so thrilled about it. He's like, Oh my gosh, it's great here. Don't worry about you have to pay for it here just any gave me I think an eighth of weed and no idea what to do. So I just smoked it all one day after work. And man, it was a lot for a 16 year old. They handle an entire eighth by himself the first time and I was just out of my mind, which was such welcomed relief. Like I couldn't tell you between work and then since my father was took a stroke. My mother couldn't handle it. Also, she He retired from being a doctor early, she quit, like just up and quit one day. So we had no money I was working two or three jobs, trying to, you know, help give my money to my family so we can live our lives and supporting my mother and my father and doing adult care for him. It was a it was a lot it was just a door to step out on the side one day and take a breath just nice fresh air, nothing three lakhs and it was very, very medicating my your mom worked, walked away from like a up and quit. Yeah, I got diabetes. Then my brother passed away. I got diabetes. And then my father took us right before my father took a stroke, maybe like a month. Before he did. She was like, I can't do this anymore. She was she was just getting slammed and taken advantage of by her hospital. Just very outright. And she's just like, I'm not there anymore. And she had enough to deal with everything else. So that was her breaking point. Wow, that's insane. Yeah, it's just it's hitting me kind of hard. How quickly it turned on you because I it escalates quickly. Yeah. I imagine that five minutes before your brother, you lose your brother, your your give three people. I was the happiest kid ever. Yeah, right. Your mom's a doctor and everything's good. And here we go. And just like that, and wow. Just like that. No kidding. All right. Well, so I imagine when you were diagnosed, they gave you I mean, 29 years ago is regular an MPH or lentil or something like that? Where were you? Yeah, they give me regular an MPH
at the huge needles. And I took the shots very well. Like, the nurse was like, here, you know, Practice Center origin, you can practice on me. And so I did that. She was like, I think you're ready. And I just, I was so excited. Thankfully, about taking a shot. I was like, This is so cool. So I just jammed it in my leg like, like stabbing a knife, you know, and just did it and I was fine with it didn't matter. And in plus, you know, being around my mother, she's around the hospital the whole time environment, I was very used to the medical environment. So it wasn't a huge step for me. But what about? So management back then just was sort of? I mean, would you shoot in the morning? And in the end before dinner? No. I just shot before every every meal you were giving yourself in some before every meal? Yeah, with the I wouldn't take corrective doses. Like if I had an apple or something between breakfast and lunch, I wouldn't cover for it. Okay. How did I mean? I realized it's a completely different time in management. But how did you see your care back then, like, I imagined was your mom involved? Or did she tried to be but she was a pediatrician on an endocrinologist. So she started attending conferences for diabetes and try to learn more about it, because she didn't really know much about herself. I mean, right? Because it wasn't her field. So she did the best she could dealing with everything and trying to learn a whole new field of medicine. But it was not sufficient at all. I mean, then she tried sending me to, I lived in a very rural part of Pennsylvania, northeastern Pennsylvania, and that we didn't have the best doctors there. So everything was kind of guessing and shooting, I mean, it goes down, shoot around, now you don't shoot from the hip, but it's come so much farther. Now it's more accurate. But back then it was like, Well, you got to take your shot, they've you know, like, well, let's try this amount, see how it works, you know, and, and I wasn't really interested in anything they data testing was the key back then they said, you know, touch yourselves as much as you possibly can. So you can know your sugars and correct and everything I just wasn't having that. I'd actually backlog my meter from so when my mom came home from work, she would check it. And, you know, and see the date and time that I checked myself all these times. And I was playing hooky a lot with that kind of stuff. Right? It's interesting, isn't it that while the management diabetes has changed so drastically over you know, 30 years that the doctors understanding of current management, the percentage of doctors is probably going up a little bit, but it's not overwhelming. Like there really isn't now. Yeah, there's still a I've had to I'm sorry, I've had to fire many endocrinologist. Yeah, well, I'd say it's a weird road we did the drug use escalate, or was it just weed? Not really. I mean, I kept myself in check because I it was one of those things where I'm like, I'm very aware I'm using this medicinally I'm not going to I mean, yeah, I get wrecked at like every morning before high school. So I could deal with the day but I mean, it was never anything more than you know, minor drugs and alcohol use where you manage it wasn't out there doing crack or anything. No crack, David night. No. Okay. Good for you. Like it's you. Everybody has to have their limit. Yeah. By the way, I just like to say here if you use cracking you have type one diabetes, please email me, I would love to have you on. So I'm not kidding. But um, okay, so the we are managing the are you managing stress with weed? Or Are you overwhelmed? Yeah. How does it How did it feel to not be high? I guess is the question. Oh, it was just awful, you know, because I didn't have it was like a nice constant massage. Every time I was high. I kind of felt, you know, relaxed, okay to deal with this and handling stuff. But other than that, it was up tense. You know, worrying about so much stuff. My mind was scattered when I wasn't medicating myself. And it was a tough time. Like, you had to face reality. My brother's not here. I have a incurable disease that's going to eventually potentially kill me. And my life was pretty much filled up bottom of the barrel right now. Yeah. And your blood sugars must have been high too. So Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I, I think I was tested 150 once and I felt super low. Right? I was like, my blood sugar is low. I need something and I tested this. I was 150. And I was like, oh, boy, this is not gonna
forget. Yeah, just, well, it happens to like, you know, happens to people now. It's gonna happen to you. If you if you've had significantly high blood sugars for a while your body gets accustomed to it. And then even a normal blood sugar could feel like you're 30. And right, yeah. And that's a real feeling. It's like, just because your blood sugar's 150. And you're not in mortal danger. Doesn't mean you're not dizzy or disoriented, or whatever comes with it. Right, you know, that varies from person to person, of course. But that's, that's really crazy. Wow, you just sound like you were all on. I really was. Yeah, you get out of high school. Okay, did you graduate? I did. Yeah, I went to a prep school, I graduated with a C, I think, and I ended up going to college out of state in New Jersey. And I kind of rethought things and stepped back a little bit and said, You know, I really need to get my stuff straight. So I did really good. My freshman year, I got a 3.98 and then GPA and then I found my social circle, and let it go. And my diabetes got the better of me and I started felt falling and old ways. And my next semester was a little bit less than than semester after that was point, nine, eight GPA 0.98. It was just a awful time. Yeah, it's struggling a lot with financial situations and diabetes, I remember I ran out of my regular insulin. And just not not for any other reason that I think I was just getting lazy and not caring about it giving the right attention. And I didn't realize I was running out. So my mother would ship it from the house to the pharmacy there. And, you know, we we didn't even think that, hey, why don't I get a doctor in our school? You know, like, my mind wasn't on that level, where I was able to focus on things like that to make those judgment calls. And so she would ship my insulin from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. And there was about a week I was living on just mph timing it right and overlapping my doses just so I be able to eat lunch and until dinner and stuff like that with no regular of what age should you start using faster acting insulin 2000. Was it around the time about when you upgrade your meter? Or was it prior to that? Not now? I think 2007 Okay, let's start using fast acting. Yeah. So I moved down to Philadelphia, and 2005 and for work, and I got tired of running home again, like my mind just wasn't right. So I was running back home to see my endocrinologist in northeastern Pennsylvania, two hours away, instead of just going to Philadelphia Doctor getting a Philadelphia doctor who was world ahead of any of these people that I was seeing and getting everything straightened. But one day I just had enough and I was like it clicked. I was like, why don't I just do this. So I pulled the trigger. I went down and I saw an endocrinologist and he wouldn't see me it was a top rated doctor of Philadelphia endocrinologist he made number one list on some magazine, whatever. He wouldn't see me because I was not on a pump. He only saw pump patients which kind of grinded my gears a little bit. But I'm sure my agency didn't have anything to do with it either. But um, so he pulled me off to his nurse, head nurse or whatever to see me and she was really she was sharp man. She was so sharp. She was much better than any of the doctors in back home that I had seen. Okay. And she she walked in she was like they this is trash Antonios and you got to get rid of it. Use this stuff. She gave me a bunch of free samples. She ordered me tons and tons of insulin saying I was taking like seven The unit today like prescription wise so I double up on my insulin and have backups and stuff and she got me all straightened out with everything and that's where I turn the page a little bit. She's been in Philly Yeah 2007 Right. Okay, so then I saw her and things started getting infinitely better but then she noticed, you know, a all my wicked ways are catching up to me. So I was spilling a lot of urine protein out of my urine. She was like, you gotta go see a kidney doctor. Go check get checked out. So I found out I had only one kidney working roughly because of my terrible diabetes treatments. And so I got straightened out with kidney doctor a little bit. I got screened out my eye doctor, I had to get my I started going so I got the the laser treatments I had to get injections of both eyes. And that was in like 2008 and because my I was getting severe retinopathy, but everything cleared up. They took care of it. I got my blood sugar's straight. And I have 2020 vision now except after hitting 40 something i
i It seemed like happen over the course of three days. I'm now farsighted. I don't know we're just old age stuff. You know, nothing crazy, but it's still messing with me. Yeah, I can't believe I'm getting so old did my so quickly. My sight was so perfect my entire life. I mean, like, hues and contrast and depth and sharpness at any distance. I just I saw like a razor. And then one day I saw these like, floating things. I looked up in the sky, my sunlight were having a catch. And I looked up into the sky, and I could see it looked like things were floating across the sky. And I of course, I immediately panicked. I went to my doctor, and I was like, I have eye cancer. I don't know if that's a real thing or not. You gotta get in there and find out. And he's like, Oh, Scott, you have floaters. He goes, it's pretty normal for your age. And I was like, fix it. And he's like, Oh, we don't fix this. I was like, Oh, yeah. So you just kind of learned to look through it and don't see it anymore. You know, and it's died down over the years. But then suddenly, the next thing that happened was like, I just couldn't see my phone in front of my face anymore. And I was just like, I can't, I can't focus on the on the phone. And I had to get glasses for reading. And just it was it's, I mean, it's a bummer how quick it happens. And you're but you're dealing with all this other stuff. So tell me first, how did they treat your kidneys. So they, they wanted to do a they wanted to see us going to Jefferson University Hospital is very respected in the community. And they're like, well, we need to try out all these. So it's very convoluted that the doctor they sent me to was just about to retire and move to Florida, like within like a couple of months. So he's like, I'm not gonna start you on treatments. If you're not gonna be my patient, he goes, here take this, like, it was basically a diuretic that flushed out all the potassium out of my system, because my potassium is very, very high. He goes, I'll put you on some pills and just slam this potassium three times a week, and you're gonna poop your brains out, essentially. And that's what how I managed it for three months until the new doctor came in and said, you know, we need to get you on a statin, we need to put a water pill on you, we need to mess around your dosing. And that was I think about a year long guessing game with treatment and dosage and pills and everything and my ankles, swelling up the size of softballs and figuring everything out. Mess around by diet, low sodium diet, no potassium, no bananas, potatoes, tomatoes. I'm Italian, you take that away from me, like I cry, cry about it daily. But we got it all figured out. And everything's been holding good. My kidney functions have actually increased from when I was checked in with it and diagnosed. So I have a little bit more than one kidney, but still pain in the ass. Okay, do you think you'll ever have to do dialysis? Yeah, I well. So as long as my, I asked my doctor, the same thing is, it's gonna happen because you're gonna get old. And that's a road that you can't avoid. Because people when they're 7080 started having showing the effects that you're showing right now. And they're, they're perfectly healthy and they're eating right and everything. It just happens because you're old. So the best thing you can do is just keep your diabetes maintained and put that off as long as you can leave it to your body to deteriorate it on its own instead of helping it. I see and that's what I've been doing. But I was I pay attention to a lot of that research stuff coming out and they're doing a lot the past presidential administration, President Trump had his wife working on kidneys disease was very near and dear to her heart. So she she was putting a lot of efforts and resources into developing research for that and The they made a lot of progress. And my doctor at the time said, you know, I'll be very frankly, David. The bright side of this is there's usually big developments in medicine every 10 years. They can bookmark it. So hang in there for another 10 years and we'll see what turns the page. So that's kind of what I've been doing. At what point did you or have you, I guess? I mean, you said you met the nurse and she she moved up to more modern insulin. Were you able to bring your agency down and get your blood sugar's more
Scott Benner 25:34
Oh, for sure. Yeah. So I got I got my agency down from guess what friends the Omni pod five automated delivery system is here. It's available. The Omni pod five is the only tubeless automated insulin delivery system that integrates with the Dexcom G six CGM, and it uses smart adjust technology to automatically adjust your insulin delivery every five minutes, helping to protect against highs and lows without multiple daily injections. On the pod five is currently cleared for people with type one diabetes ages six and older Omnipod five has the option to control it from a compatible smartphone. And it's also available through your pharmacy, which means you can get started without the four year Durable Medical Equipment contract that comes with most insulin pumps, even if you're currently in warranty with another system. Well, that's awfully interesting, isn't it? To get started today with Omni pod five go to Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. For full safety and risk information a list of compatible phones as well as clinical trial claims data, go to omnipod.com forward slash juicebox. And if you're not quite ready for automated insulin delivery, go check out the Omni pod dash at the same link because you may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omni pod dash full safety risk information free trial terms and conditions are also available at my link Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. My daughter Arden is out today. She hasn't been home for a number of hours. And I can see her blood sugar's while she's not here. I'm able to do that because Arden is wearing the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitoring system. So right now Arden has little device on her. It's talking to her phone, her phone is sharing her information and my phone is receiving it actually up to 10 people can share Arden's data, if she wants. At the moment, I'm watching a small Miss looks like she didn't Pre-Bolus quite enough for a meal, her blood sugar went up. I'm seeing it being taken care of. And I'm watching it come back down. None of this is stressful because not only does the Dexcom G six show me the number her blood sugar is, but it shows me the speed and direction that it's moving in with directional arrows between the arrows and the numbers and the graph, I feel very comfortable at the rate that Arden's blood sugar is coming back into range. Not only is this great for safety, but it's great for learning. We'll use this information to go back next time and make a better decision with insulin. You can get started today@dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. And you may be eligible for a free 10 day trial, the G six you can also find that out at my link. These are our results and yours may vary. But looking into Dexcom is a no brainer in my opinion. Let me just tell you the rest and then we'll get right back to David. Here it is. It's super simple. Supporting the podcast can be done in a number of ways you can share the show with someone else, leave a great review where you listen, subscribe or follow in a podcast app or other audio player. Or you can click on the links for the advertisers. There are links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in now. And if there's not, if your podcast player is like a reared woman, it's not there. You can also go to juicebox podcast.com and click on my links when you do that. You are supporting future production of the Juicebox Podcast omnipod.com forward slash juice box Dex comm.com forward slash juice box juicebox podcast.com. And don't forget to take that survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box. I appreciate you checking out the ads. Now let me get you back to David
Dave 29:42
I got my agency down from nine at the time in 2007 to I think I was like 7.5 Right? That's a big big decrease. Yeah, she gave me a new meter test you know all that stuff. The good pep talk that went a long way to what tech I want you to have right now. So I am up to date on pretty much everything. I don't have a pumped I'm still MDI multiple daily injections. Just, I just pumped up my thing. I've looked it over and done my due diligence and it's just not for me. But I have a Dexcom CGM.
And I have a, I forget what my meter is actually, I use it so infrequently.
Well, but I calibrate my Dexcom with it. And that's about it. Right? Is it a good is listen, as long as it's an accurate meter and you're calibrated? It is? Yeah, for sure. We get the G five or G six g six g six. Okay. All right. So you have a CGM, your MDI, your agency's in the sevens? No, no, it's in the sixes. 6.3. That's wonderful. Congratulations. I choose that a lot to my wife. I got married in 2013. She she's like, Listen, you stick around for a while. We're gonna be build a family. You gotta get your stuff together. Like all right. Deal. So she, I mean, so ironically, in 2010, I met my wife and on a date, and I was like, oh, sorry. I'm not doing drugs here. I'm a diabetic. Shoot my shot before dinner. And she's like, Oh, that's fine. My father's a diabetic. I'm like, really? So she she was a grandfathered in and the whole situation already, which was made it super duper easy. And she's like, Hey, take your shot. Did you take your long acting you take your time goes, Do you need tablets, like stuff like that? She had tablets in her purse already, like for her dad like? So it was like it was a nice transition. David, you're making me a little sad. I don't think you realize it. I'm, I'm seeing your I'm seeing your life like this. I'm seeing tragedy in your family. I'm assuming rock you and your mother. Then another tragedy comes along, hits you guys again, put your mom in more stress, she's probably got to make a decision for her own sanity and for what's most emergent, which I assume is your dad's care. And then she quits her job. And then your life gets I mean, you talked about interesting. You talked about prep school in high school, but money problems in college. So now I'm feeling I had money problems all my life. How did you? How did you get the money problems? So my mother was a doctor, the first year of prep, and then then I worked three jobs through high school to maintain the status of the school. Oh, geez, you should have dropped out. Yeah. But then you meet this woman in 2010. And she's kind of all the things that I imagined that young David needed. Yeah. 100% Yeah. Yeah, he bummed me out, man. We don't. Yeah, the whole thing was like a Hallmark movie to me for a half a second. I was like, Oh, I'm gonna cry. I don't want to I don't even know you. You don't even listen to the dude, you don't even listen to even know me, like, what am I into here? But that's, uh, I appreciate you sharing this. I mean, it's really. I mean, it can't be it just can't be said enough that your situation is more common than not. And I think that sometimes the people who are have been listening to podcasts for a long time her doing great. Probably think like, oh, this is what everyone does. But listen, I'll tell you if I could. If I got diagnosed today, my life would be easy street. I'd be like, Oh, okay, I have diabetes, no problem. My wife's there to support me. I have a support staff. I have the online community. Listen, back in 1998. Online didn't really exist, especially for impoverished David, not at all, who could barely afford lunch like, so we have all these good Facebook communities, you're very strong and very knowledgeable. If I want to find a diabetic, I had to go to diabetes camp. And that was just awkward at that age, you know, so like, it was more of a babysitting club than anything, right. Yeah. So now we have all this support. And yeah, if I would be in 100% perfect health. If I got diabetes today with CGM, fast acting insulin support, and the doctors knowledge now. Yeah, it's a different world. Everything that you need exists now. right not to say that it's not a battle. It's still a tremendous battle for anyone. Oh, yeah. And everything that exists now can get better and should. But I mean, compared. I'm saying specifically compared to 30 years ago. Oh, my gosh, yeah, lightyears ahead. Yeah. It's just it's a different world, really. And it's not something that got gradually better like bicycles, you know, they Okay, so they added a spring here, they added a software seat now, diabetes jumps like magnificent advances, you know, not not by kind of getting a little bit better here and there. So I mean, every five years, 10 years, you know, it's significant.
I like hearing somebody who's been around it for a long time having that perspective, because I think if you're more newly diagnosed or newer to it or not paying attention, you know, the advancements feel slower in the moment. But when you have the perspective of real time, like you do, you know, like, you know that one day it was insulin that was, and then it went to meters that were and then you know, suddenly the insulin got faster and the meters got better. And then CGM comes and I mean, the insulin genre again, you know, it's come a long way, in 30 years is a short amount of time. Unless you're living through it. And then it's your life, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's funny. Just on an aside, I saw I found this article from the Pew Research Center all the way back in 2007. When it said in 1998 41% of adults were online 57% of non internet users said that they worry not at all about missing out on something. It's by not going online like this 57 of the population was like, I don't need that internet. You know. And now, my family has definitely an on that fence. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. So when did you I mean, what led you to skydiving? So funny. It's very bizarre. I was. So I had just moved to Philly in 2005. And I, I just didn't know anyone. It was a, I had a very, very, very difficult breakup. Prior to that, and I was working at McDonald's as a manager with my bachelor's degree, and I'm like, I really need something. But there was just nothing out there for me at the time. So I was trying my hardest to find a job. And I finally found one in Philadelphia. So I just picked up and left. I'm like, you know, screw this. I'm out of here. This area sucks. I just need to change in my life. I need to distance my problems from my environment. So I moved down to Philadelphia, I didn't know a soul. And I started. I finally got myself a computer. I hadn't had my own computer. This is 2005 finally bought a computer. And I was like, I think I'm going to try this online dating thing ever. He's talking about. So I was on this date with this girl. If I met online, and we're talking at the bar, and they was going okay, it's nothing spectacular. And she's like, we started talking about bucket list items. And she brought up Skynet, skydiving and I was like, Oh, I always wanted to Sky she was really I never meet anybody that ever wants to do it with me. I'm so excited. I'm like, yeah, she's like, Okay, well, listen, it's getting late. So I'm gonna go home, and you and I are gonna go jump tomorrow. I'm like, okay, you know, I'm at this point. I'm like, six, eight beers deep at the bar already. And it's like midnight. And I'm like, Sure, you could have told me I'd write it off. And I would have said yes and agreed to it. Dave, did you agree to skydive to get laid? Is that what I'm hearing here? No, no, it was a genuine. I absolutely wanted to do it in the social lubricant, made it easier for me to agree to it. So I was like, Yeah, sure when I should. Okay, well, I'm gonna go home now. I'm gonna go buy my tickets online. And then I'm gonna text you and you're gonna buy yours. It will go in the morning. I was like, Okay, fine. She laughed. I was like, Well, I guess that that was a flop date. I'm like, whatever. So I haven't gone home. Literally, like 20 minutes later, I get a text on my phone from this chick. And she's like, I'm like, she bought her tickets. I'm like, I guess I have to now too. So it's one of those things I was like, alright, so I bought them and shut up next morning. It was about a half hour from Philadelphia. Big Big shout out to my home drops on skydive crosskeys in Williamstown, New Jersey. Amazing, amazing facility and company just run by the best people for all the right reasons, wonderful environment, safety first there, and just a really great experience overall, for anybody who's thinking about it. So I show up, and she brought a couple of her friends and we're all talking about it. And they're like, Oh, I think I'm gonna get a videographer and have a video of my skydive. And I was like, watching these people jump and I'm like, that looks really, really fun. And I am a dread adrenaline junkie, all the way I did motocross through high school and things like that, and rock climbing. I don't shy away from that stuff. And I was like, I don't think I'm gonna get one. Because I know as soon as I'm done jumping, I'm going to have to go again. So it won't be one of those things. It's one and done for me, right. So we got geared up and read the spiel. Got our safety checks, gotten the airplane. And if you haven't been skydiving ever have you gotten Scott?
No, I? I have not. Okay, well, yeah. I'll talk you through it a little bit. So you can come on my journey. Picture the very smallest airplane you can ever get into. It's half falling apart. Then you shove 20 people inside and everybody's sitting on your lap. And everybody is very hungover from the night before and very loud. And the plane shaking takes If you start going up to altitude and everybody's horsing around on the plane, then the pilot finally says, Okay, we're good, the door opens up, and you're about 14,000 feet up in the air. And it's a very large door, and nobody's seat belted in. It's really crazy. And you look at it like, wow, and then somebody climbs out of the airplane, jumps onto the wing and then skydives off from the wing, the whole plane shakes rocks back and forth from the weight distribution loss. And the guy looks at me, he goes, Alright, you ready? He clicks me in, and I'm like, Alright, and then we go out of the airplane, and it, it was just the rest is history. For me. It was absolutely the most your fork thing ever in the history of the world. There's a line in the movie Point Break that they talk about, you know, some people have to shoot drugs for sniffing coke, for this kind of feeling, we get it every time we jump out of the plane. And man, it's true. It's, it's so euphoric, and perfect. A lot of the skydiving, drive is for the views. Wonderful. You're above the clouds, man, you're flying, you're literally flying through the clouds. And it's absolutely wonderful to be by yourself and not trapped in an airplane or you have a device hooked to you, you know. And it, it's, I liken it to, you know, a lot of these monks, Tibetan monks, they do meditation for many, many years, decades sometimes to achieve that inner peace for just a moment. And where they don't think about anything, except their mind is just blank. And that is exactly what happens when you step out the door of skydiving, you. You can't think about the bills you have to pay. You're not thinking about what you're gonna do later tonight, your mind is strictly focused with laser sharp accuracy, in every moment passing before your eyes. It is the best feeling in the world not to worry about anything else and keep your mind focused. Because nowadays, you know, we're sort of torn between work or phones or kids or you know, jobs, stuff like that. Your mind is all over the place. When's the last time you were able to focus on one thing without getting distracted about literally anything else in the world for one minute? Let's admit it's very calming and peaceful. Yeah, how long does it last? So the sky is a freefall is about a minute. And then you open your parachute you have maybe depending on how big your parachute is, how small it is, your descent rate changes. So you could it could be anywhere from a five minute dive on your parachute to, you know, 1015 minute parachute ride. Wow, no kidding. How that's insane. It really is that you could be up there that long. It's great man. Some people do. As soon as they get out of the plane, they don't do freefall, they just open their parachute. And they do what they call a cross country jump, which is just the opening parachute immediately. And then you man, you have 20 minutes half hour up there if you want. Wow, really nice. Have you ever ended up in a tree? Yes, I have. So I was going through progressing through skydiving school. Because as soon as I landed that day, I'm like, Yep, I'm doing it like this is I'm coming back as soon as I can. So I signed up for the ground school and they teach all you know the science part about it and everything. ground speed wins, you know, stuff like that. And then the actual skydiving part comes a little bit later. And you have to focus on landing patterns and things like that. And they had clipped a, a, a walkie talkie on me and another student and they're like, they're like, Okay, when you open your parachute, we're gonna have eyes on you. And you'll hear from us checks like, I can't talk to them, but they can talk to me kind of thing. And we'll walk you through landing pattern. I'm like, Okay, fine. So I did that everything was great. And I I was just, again, having way too much fun up there. Like, David you're too low for landing pattern. We're just start doing S turns and eat up altitude and land right where you are. I'm like, I had no idea what they meant by S turns I was not briefed on that at all. So the men you know, make a left turn and make a right turn make a left turn right turn.
So so you don't travel too far forward, right? Because I was running out of landing area. So I was making very very large calligraphy S turns nice and short, a tiny ones. And I like I was coming right for a patch of pine trees. It was pretty thick. So I immediately fell back on my training and you got to protect your vital organs. So I put my arms in front of me and made fists in front of my hands and crashed right through the trees. I was fine. The branches slowed me down, no injury, except my pride. They had to come and fish me out of a tree and everybody took pictures and laughed at me and then I had to buy beer for everybody at the drop zone because it's my first time doing anything So anything in this skydiving sport is a first. It's a beer penalty. Gotcha. And the thinking behind that is you have to buy beer for the after party so that you debrief. Everybody talks about what you did. And they share their stories with it, right. And everybody learns that way from it, you know, and it's a nice, relaxed atmosphere. And it was it was productive. And I learned a lot about it. And so the next time I went up, I knew not to mess around. So I jumped out of the plane, and I helped my parachute. And I got my confirmation check. And I didn't eat up my altitude and get close to the ground before my landing counter started. So I started following the procedures on the walkie talkie. And the like, No, David, you're doing the wrong one. We're talking to this student. And I didn't know they had two students on the same line frequency. So I was following all the directions for another student. And I ended up landing off of the drop zone. In the last words they said to me were, well, we can't see any more so good luck. You're on your own. Like, oh, man, so I ended up landing in this development on this guy's front yard. And it was like right around when school that out. So all the kids came like pouring out of the house, cheering for me and clapping everything. I gave him big thumbs up. I was like, meanwhile, I was sweating. My you know what's off, and they thought it was all planned and everything worked out. And I got back to the drop zone. And I was like, oh, we'll do that again. How many times? Those are my only two real close calls. Yeah.
How many times have you jumped in? Do you know? Yeah, I have about three or four hours of freefall time. It.
So adding up every one minute jump? adds up to three or four hours. So I think I have close to 300 jumps. Wow. Does your wife do it with you? She did it once just to try it out. But her excuse was a she did it for the scenery. So if we go somewhere else, she might jump again to see the different scenery but we were in Hawaii for our honeymoon. She didn't want to jump. So I think she's kind of done with it. Yeah, no kidding. And do you have kids? I do I have a 18 month year old boy now and a four year old girl. Okay. gratulations. That's really cool. Thank you. Hey, did you say that? You did say that her father has diabetes. But was it type one or type two? Is type one. No kidding. Will you write madam? Will you do? Well listen, before I asked my question, I interviewed somebody yesterday, who met a kid in school, they were childhood sweethearts. She had diabetes growing up, they got married. And for years, then the guy gets diabetes too. And then they one of their kids does. So now I'm just like, I believe anything at this point. But do you consider or have you done trial net for your kids? Are you interested to know if they have the antibodies? I have not. It'll I don't want to focus on that. If it happens, it happens. I'm fairly religious guy. So whatever happens happens, we'll take it. Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I'm just interested. Yeah. So I wouldn't want to know when I'm gonna die. Yeah. It's kind of saying thank you. Yeah. Well, it's it's Yeah, right. Church. Wrong pew, though. I mean, like, you're not getting kids aren't good. Yeah. But although you have a it's interesting. You've lived more years struggling with diabetes than you've lived with it kind of the way you are now. So when you think of diabetes, it feels like a struggle to you. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Okay. Do you think it ever won't feel like that? No, no, I mean, maybe if I was 100%. But with these kidney disease issues? Yeah, it's, it's always gonna be struggle, right? What if I told you and this is not me selling to you. But what if I told you that there are algorithms now that if you were a pump, your agency could easily stay in the fives or low sixes with much less effort? Right? Yeah. Is it not not attractive? Now, okay. For the device, just just the idea of wearing the device or what else do you think you wouldn't like about pumping? No, I think it's the idea that device I mean, there's a lot of you know, I follow a lot of pump people pretty closely. I skydive with some people that were pumps and they're always talking about the line tangles, the bubbles in the lines, the the site, pulls out, yanks out of the sleeping or catches on a doorknob, stuff like that. It's just, it's not my lifestyle. Yeah, no, listen, I my daughter wears a tubeless pump. So I don't think we'd be up for tubing either. Right? Yeah, no, I listened again, I don't have any opinion about what you do. I'm just interested in your thoughts around it. Right. So I think I when the technology gets better, I might be up for it. But as of now, I'm gonna still watch on the sidelines. That's excellent. What was I gonna just ask you, oh, what are your you know, everyone listening is like, well, you should probably ask him Scott how he jumps with diabetes. That seems like an obvious question of what we're talking about. and it is what I was thinking first over everyone who thought how does he not know what the next question is? That is my next question. How do you like to have your blood sugar before a jump? And how do you manage the whole thing. So managing diabetes while Skydiving is interesting, because everything is affecting it. The adrenaline makes my insulin more effective. So I easily if I take four units of fast acting for a soda, I easily only need to when I'm skydiving, I have to be aware of also potential lows, on jumps, because last thing I want to do is be in the air with the parachute pack while going through a low blood sugar. I could barely do it on the ground, you know. So for that reason, like I keep tablets in my locker at this, my skydiving drop zone, and in the hangar and also in my pockets. Anytime I jump in case I again land off and have to walk back to the drop zone. Do you have? Do you have a blood sugar you'd like to be at before you go? Because it's interesting. I do. Yeah, I like to fly a little sweet around 160. Okay, yeah, I was gonna say it's interesting. Adrenaline spikes, some people, and it makes some people go lower. I've heard I've heard people talk about it both ways. Bizarre. So if you if you jumped at 160 By the time you get to the ground, you're much lower you think?
Not much lower, usually 10 points lower here and I usually have to sometimes, I mean, it all again depends on that day and my breakfast habits and stuff like that, which I normally skip. I usually skip breakfast if I'm skydiving so I don't have to worry about carbs counting and everything and getting messed up. So I go on fasting sugars, but because I feel it's easier to manage that way. But I blood test before and after every jump. And sometimes it varies. I'll go up 160 I'll land it'll be like 89. Wow, that's some and sometimes I'll have to take a couple tablets before I go up. Hey, is it expensive to skydive super expensive kind of. So at first, it's super expensive. And then as you progress through the sport, it actually gets a lot cheaper I feel. But I mean, a tandem skydive is roughly $200 Wow, I think that might include a video. Okay. And then. So you do three tandem skydive, and then you start skydiving on your own. But you have to rent gear it so it's like skiing, you have to rent the gear and pay for the lift pick it up, right. So the gears, parachutes, brand new can cost like 10 grand, but I got my first parachute for I think $1,200. And that was the full deal. parachutes are tons of little pieces and the nickel and diming for everything, your canopy that you fly above You is costs a separate price than the strings it's attached to. And then you got to buy the book bag to store everything in. And then you have to buy your backup parachute. And then you have to buy an automatic activation device, which is a safety device that deploys your parachute in case you're you can't do it yourself. And you have to have everything checked every six months, which is another fee. But all after you get all that squared away. It's the lift ticket is $26. So Scott, it was roughly 26 bucks for me every time. Gotcha because you have everything else at this point. Right? Yeah. You know, you said something earlier, I skipped by it. But I want to come back to it. You said you jump, you'd like to jump a little sweeter at first. I've interviewed like 700 people. No one said that before. Yeah. And it seems so obvious when you said it is like a euphemism for having your blood sugar higher for something. And I was like, I think it was like How has no one ever said that before? So that's funny, fun terminology. So you jump with other people who have type one. I do. Yeah. rant. I was I was at my locker and this other guy. So my skydiving drop zone is a very large age. Let me refer to in the industry as a tandem factor. Dave, let me stop you skydiving school. Headphones set up. So very tandem friendly son, Scott, I've dropped zones are literally an airplane hangar in a field. That's it. And it's just for what they call fun jumpers, people who already have their license, go out on the weekends and bang out a couple of jumps. But this one is set up for students and 10 people who just want to try it once. So it's very large and people come from all over the country to it. So I was at my locker one day and I noticed the guy next to me fumbling with his insulin pump. I go is that an insulin pump? Yeah, I'm diabetic by walking. Yeah, I mean, so he's like, No way. So it was really funny. That entire world we have two diabetic skydivers lined up next to each other. Did your headphones come? Disconnected? Can you hear me? Scott you there buddy? Yeah, your headphones do they come? unpaired Oh, Scott, you there He's got Hey, how are you? Hey, there we go. Good. Good. Sorry. No, you started talking about I asked if he jumped with other type ones. And your voice changed. And I thought, Oh, his headphones disconnected because you were suddenly coming through a different microphone. I didn't know from where? Then I started realizing you were in your car didn't know if it connected to your car or what happened. But yeah, I think it went on safe driving mode. I think it just technology got the better of us. It was just, and then I'm like, he can't hear me. So I started texting through the app. And I was like, I don't even know if he's seen these or not. So, no. Anyway, we worked that out very nicely. So okay, great. Actually, you're so yeah, your story came right through, but go over it again, just for me. So, yeah, I saw a guy messing with his pumping. I was like, is that an insulin pump? He goes, Yeah, I'm diabetic. And he gave me the whole spiel. And was like me, too. It was very funny in the entire world. You know, the two diabetic skydivers have a locker next to each other?
Yeah, no kidding. You know, I have a similar feeling at the grocery store. I don't know if anyone's ever noticed this or not, but you park at the grocery store. And then you go into your thing, when you come back out. The person who's also coming back out is always parked next year. I guess it's just like an average time. And the funny thing. Do you ever notice that or No, I don't have to pay attention, though. I feel like there's like some synchronicity going on that we're generally unaware of. I don't know. I'm just telling you watch out for it. You pull in somewhere, somebody else pulls in, you know, there's no one else there. You get out. And the next thing you know, you come back out and that person's there. I'm just saying either I'm in the matrix, and there's a glitch or I noticed this a lot. One of the other that's funny. Yeah. But yeah, that is crazy. That that's that you just be I mean, there's not like there's that many people there, right? No, no, for sure. Yeah. It's really wow, you guys are you do know each other. So? Oh, yeah, for sure. We're friends. We jump all the time together. He lives in Maryland, I think. So he comes up to jump and we always check each other to try to meet up. And we joke we're doing a world record skydives together to diabetic largest diabetic skydive in history. Wow. Just three more guys, you set a world record? For what I saw, I feel compelled to ask you I mean, obviously your answer is going to be no. But if you can give me kind of bigger picture and how you've thought through it in the past, do you ever think like, I'm going to jump out of this plane one day, and I'm just gonna push into the ground. For sure that is always something in the back of your mind. But with skydiving, it's a it's a very, very unrealistic picture to what the media portrays, and what you know, the television shows show and stuff like that. There's a lot of science and safety behind every single job. And it's a whole thing. So with my parachute, I could probably shove it in my book bag and 10 minutes package up on get on the plane and go jump. But my reserve parachute takes two people three hours to pack they have to check every line set and go over every stitch and record everything every fold, and things like that. And then we also have what they call a these automatic activation devices. So if you're going faster than a certain speed at a certain altitude, it will automatically deploy your your backup parachute. And that is it's happened a couple of times to me but I deployed myself not that I wasn't able to for one reason or another because malfunctions in skydives are, are fairly common, but it's nothing that you can't work through. It's very rare that you you actually face this real emergency up there. And a lot of it is just through horsing around or not being aware of your surroundings, things like that. Do you remember the first time you pulled your main chute and it didn't work? Oh, yeah, totally. So it's your your main parachute is basically on a string. And it comes out the bottom of your book bag. With a hacky sack tied to it, that's your handle. So you pull on the hacky and you literally pull out your parachute out of your book bag, and it's got a mini tiny parachute on the end of it that catches the wind and pulls the rest of the the main parachute out. Okay. Once your main parachutes open, the mini parachute collapses automatically. And then you could steer your parachute through whether you still have forward movement in the air. Because you can dance up there if you want, you can put your body in any kind of positions and move around like a bird and you are in complete control of your direction and where you're going. And if you want to be upside down or face down or up, whatever. So if you still have forward movement during your deployment, you can tangle up your parachute lines, you know and that could lead to a very standard malfunction called the line twists and some people don't even consider that a malfunction because it's so common. So it's essentially, if you were to, have you ever sat on a swing at a playground and put yourself around a couple times I have, that's, that's what it looks like when you look up, your lines are all crossed together and tiny. So to get out of that, you just have to essentially move your body twisted around and do a bicycle kick, and your lines come apart, and you fly your parachute. But sometimes based on the size of your parachute, you lose altitude. So if I have a whole lot of fabric above my head, and I'm flying a very large parachute, it's less of a problem than if I'm flying a little tiny napkin, the parachute going very, very fast. So I can lose a lot more altitude based on a bigger parachute. So then that's where the issues come in. Yeah, you know, it's like, you can drive a Winnebago, you know, you'll, you'll be pretty much accident free. But
if you have that same kid jump in a Ferrari, he's probably going to cause an accident relative and you know, like, so it's this equipment that you use, and that so my malfunction happened because I still had forward movement in my skydive when I should have just been hanging out not doing anything and just deployed my parachute. I had some line twists. And I was like, Oh, I have like, twist again. Okay, let me try and work out. And then I tried working them out. But then I started getting more aggressive, they started getting more aggressive to the point where I was like a pendulum. Instead of being straight up and down, I was sideways and I could see the Earth in the ground, the sky and the ground spinning above and below me and I was like, I'm sideways right now. This is not good. And I checked my altimeter and usually open your parachute around 5000 feet, a little bit below the clouds. And then you have until 2000 feet or 2500 to figure stuff out. I was getting close to that 2500 I'm like, Well, I guess I gotta try out this extra parachute I always have. So I said my prayer and I yanked on my reserve and it opened up and it was perfect. It was instant. I had perfect parachute above my head instantly before my other one was even departed from my parachute setup. It felt very relieving. And when I got to the ground, like, hey, congratulations on your first reserve ride. We need a case of beer from you. And how was it? And I'm like, I didn't really fly it like everybody's like talking me like I'm test driving a car. And like I very delicately made turns and inputs into the parish to get me the ground. Like I didn't want to mess with it, because it was my only one left. And I have Do you Have you ever known anyone who's who's died doing it? Yeah, we do lose a couple of people in the sport. It's not often. But I've had about three close friends pass away. One Most recently, she was on a very large group skydive. And when you're in a very large formation, you got to hang on as long as he can to make the formation. So your open altitude is much lower, they open a lot lower for but there again, these people are all professionals. They're not just some Joe Schmo excited to take a parachuting, you know. So she opened up low, she had lion twist, she was flying a very fancy small parachute. They got more aggressive. And she couldn't get out of it. I'm not sure if she had her activation device on because again, sometimes sports parachutes professionals, you're you're flying your parachute at the speed that your activation device would open up, you know, my right because they're, they're so advanced. So sometimes they turn them off and she wasn't able to recover from the spin. Let me choose from sir. She was older she was I think 65 I was gonna ask you about the adrenaline. Two parts of it, actually. So the one part is, does it ever, like diminish or get old? Or do you? It? Does it hit? You know, it's wonderful. I mean, you learn to management, it's like, you can be drunk, you know, 100 times, but your first drunk is much different than the last drunk, right? So you'll learn to manage the feeling and enjoy it more rather than just experience it. Okay? And then this is a little morbid. And if I'm off base, just tell me so but no, no, God does it in what's the word I want? Does it increase the intensity knowing somebody who's past doing it? Does it act? No, not? Not at all. I mean, if, if anything, it just makes you step back. And you know, instead of just throwing your parachute rig on and jumping on the plane, you walk through your safety checks one more time and farther in depth, you know, right? Because you're like, I just want to make sure it's not going to be my fault. If I mess up or screw up, you know, you get hurt. Can you insure yourself against that? Against Well, like I would imagine if you're like a frequent skydiver, like getting like life insurance might not be easy. Oh, yeah, right now. So the we belong to an association through our skydiving sport that everybody has to join up in sign in for it and they provide hospital billing stuff like they, they assist with that stuff. If I fly my parachute into a parked car in a parking lot, they will pay for it. Stuff like that. So they do help. But yeah, I'm not looking for life insurance for anyone, anytime soon. What some people have floated the idea of some entrepreneurs are trying to do skydiving, insurance, life insurance stuff companies, but I'm not one for life insurance anyway to begin with. So no, don't really affect me. My, my consideration, there was just, you know, thinking about the kids, and that was one I'm thinking about my kids actually, I was like, I wonder, right? If I, if I left to do this, if my wife wouldn't be like, Hey, you're not doing that. You know, but it's just, it's a fascinating thing. It's very different to me, the idea of doing it is, I mean, it's outside of what I would consider doing. And right, you know, so it's just interesting to hear about, honestly.
It is, I mean, it's one of the reasons why I enjoy the sport so much. It's not everybody does it, and the people that do do it, you connect with them immediately. And especially connecting with people who have diabetes and do it like it makes it even more intense. So there, I block to a very small Facebook community group of skydivers that have diabetes, and there's 26 of us so far in the known world. And it's a really close knit community. It's really cool. What's the name of the Facebook group? skydivers with diabetes maybe is diabetic skydivers. I'm looking see if I can find it I'm trying doesn't it doesn't like what I'm doing type one diabetic skydivers. There you go. 26 people? Yep. Maybe you'll get more. Yeah, from this. There's a there's one guy posted a picture of him doing a blood test under his parachute. It was really cool. While he's coming down. Yep, that's excellent. He taped his meter to his hand and checked his blood sugar was cool. Yeah. Dave, listen, when I was younger, I used to ride motorcycles. I've been 160 miles an hour on a motorcycle. So I'm not judging you. I'm just there's something about off the ground. That is it's my bridge too far. Like I also if you told me you wanted to go on a small plane. Like there have been people on here like, I don't know if you know, Oren Lieberman, he's a CNN. Reporter, he also has type one, he was on here. And he's like, he's like, we, it turns out, we live pretty close to each other. And he's like, you know, I'll take you up sometime. And so yeah, thanks. Guess All right. And I know that's funny. Dude, I grew up in the northeast, outside of Philadelphia. So right, yeah. And I'm still pretty close to you now. And if you were like, Oh, it's okay. I don't know. Do you think people either know right away that it's something they always wanted to do? Or they have zero interest in it? Yeah. It's really funny. No, it's It's, uh, it makes a lot of sense to me, actually. Anyway, I would see a therapist is my therapy. It's great. No, I hear that. You know what I wanted to ask you that I never did. And I was just wondering, did the the weed smoking continue through life? Or did you let go of it at some point? No, I let go of it. It just wasn't fit my lifestyle anymore. Also, I moved to Philadelphia, I lost a lot of contacts. And it was just I I had my life for it was just a immediate band aid that I needed. Yeah, a crutch to get me through. But you know, again, you're not on crutches your whole life. Right. So it was I use it for its purpose. And I mean, if it's at a party, yes, for sure. But I mean, very, I can tell you last time I spoke right. I should name this episode. Dave can't find weed in Philly, because that'd be pretty fun. To imagine it's pretty available. I'm sure. Is there anything that we didn't talk about that, that I should have asked you about? So some fun little facts. The FAA recently alluded that having a low blood sugar amplifies hypoxia. And for everyone out there, hypoxia is you know, your brain doesn't get enough oxygen. And you start acting funny. It's the closest thing that a non diabetic can feel to being low blood sugar. If you Google videos of military going through hypoxia training, it's like watching somebody with a blood sugar at 50 It's ridiculous. They can't put the the block in the right hole or they're giggling They don't know what to do. They can't touch their face, they can't touch their nose, right. And you know, as skydivers, that's something that we have to be very aware of hypoxia happens roughly above 14,000 feet, right? And we skydive at two and a half miles above the Earth, which is about 13. Five. So we kind of flirt with it. So if my blood sugar is anything but perfect, it's just added to the danger, which I avoid, like the plague. But two and a half. It's really interesting. Yeah, where's the where's Where's low orbit? Like, when do you leave? You know, when do you leave the planet? The atmosphere? We fly planes at jumbo jets. It's like 30,000 feet, right? So it's got to be higher than that. Huh? That's interesting. Would you ever do? I mean, this is kind of fanciful, but you know, would you would you do space travel
if it was available to you? I tell you what, I think be cool. Okay, so, yeah,
Felix by monitor is a skydiver. And he jumped from the outermost atmosphere of the Earth, there was borderline space. And that really opened up it was very significant because it proved that skydiving could be integrated in spaceflight. And that astronauts if something were to go absolutely wrong up there, they could technically skydive back to earth as long as they got within the orbit of the Earth. I hope we never have to test that but it's incredibly I agree. Yeah. Would you would you want to go higher like where you would need oxygen assistance? So no, because I I've heard a lot of nightmare stories about that people passing out an airplane. I mean, they give you a can of oxygen for the halo jumps high altitude low opening. It's it's not something I want to I don't need to play with fire and then add more fire to it. You know, play with fire and add more fire to it. That's hilarious. All right, man. Well, I really appreciate you coming on and doing this. It's, it was really wonderful talking to you. I enjoyed hearing your story very much. Yeah, I even did some extra added stuff I'll throw in here. Even though I'm not on a pump, my pump, skydiver friends. Were telling me that it's standard practice to take pumps off for skydives, because some doctors warn that the lower atmospheric pressure may increase delivery of insulin, so they can get like a double dose of it. And T slim actually has an altitude bladder warning and it's only approved to an altitude of 10,000 feet. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, we have an episode about how to fly with a pump and that's around all that stuff. pressurizes the line and push it like you have to pump and it pushes the insulin through. People get experience lows and that highs when they're flying for reasons that are that are to do with the altitude. So that doesn't surprise me. No, I'm, I'm amazed you took notes. You don't seem like a note taker to me. Therefore, this was, um, secret note taker. I appreciate you being prepared. Yeah, I really did you have a good time? I did. I had a great time. I really appreciate you inviting me on. Excellent, nice. It's my pleasure. It was really nice for you to to reach out. And if you're looking for another Facebook group with people with diabetes in it, I have one with 20,000. So I'm on it. You're in there. Yes, sir. I like you. You're in the Facebook group. Don't particularly listen to the podcast, found the show through a friend. Will you say your friends first name? Ashley. Ashley. Well, Ashley, thank you for Ashley. Yeah, thank you, Ashley Tracy. All right. It just gonna blow up completely. Totally. Now, I really appreciate you doing this very much a happy new year. It's just just barely into January. So do you think you'll jump this year calendar year? How many? Yeah, just rough guess. About 50 times. That's a low number. Is it a warm weather activity. So I actually have a scouting event coming up on the 12th of February called freeze fest. And it's a little party that drops on puts together. We go out it's mainly to keep our licenses current because if you don't jump into a certain amount of time, you have to retake your license and everything. Okay, so they offer that and it's a huge dodgeball tournament for everyone. And we get together and have a good time playing dodgeball and skydiving. So February 12. I will be having my knees in the breeze again, and then I'll probably saddle it up until the warmer climate like May You dress differently in the cold weather.
You betcha. Yeah. I was gonna say it's gotta be so cold up there. Right. So cold so it's two
Scott Benner 1:14:37
degrees colder every 1000 feet you go out. Oh, and add a windchill of 120 mile an hour. It's a lot. Yeah, I'm not good with a cold on the ground actually. Honestly have a uterus a little snowy today. And I was I was already irritated. I woke up I was like, What is this when it's spring? It's my first thought. January. I'm wondering when spring is coming. Oh boy, you got a long winter how to do that. Yeah, I'm not going to enjoy the law anyway. All right. Can you hold on one second for me? Yeah, sure, thanks. A huge thanks to David for coming on the show and sharing his story with us. And a big thanks to Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitoring system, see if you're eligible for a free 10 day trial@dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. And of course, on the pod five, and on the pod dash are available at Omni pod.com Ford slash juicebox, you may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the on the pod dash. Go find out. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon. You know what I hope you're having a great summer I haven't said that. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you're listening in a podcast app, like Apple podcasts or Spotify, please follow or subscribe to the show in that app. If you're listening online, please consider listening in an app. And if you love the show, and you just can't hold it inside me longer. Go tell a friend, a neighbor, a doctor, a nurse somebody else who you think might appreciate it. While you're at it. Don't forget right there in the podcast. If you're listening then right now, you can probably leave a five star rating and a review for the show. Already Thank you for listening, so I should probably just stop the recording. You know, ok... yea.
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