Diabetics Doing Storytelling with Neil Greathouse

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: Welcome to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast. We're back with new episodes in 2017 telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics across the world. I'm your host, Rob Howe, and if you'd like to get involved with Diabetics Doing Things, all you have to do is shoot me an email or reach out via Instagram. Hey everyone, before we get started, I just wanted to say thank you for listening. We had a great first year of the podcast, but none of it would have been possible without you and your support. I love getting messages, emails, and comments from type 1 diabetics all over the world. It really makes my day. So keep sharing, searching, and commenting, and I'll keep tracking down the people behind the amazing type 1 stories out there. Now, let's get back to the episode. Hello and welcome to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We're back with new episodes in 2017. Today, very, very excited to introduce our guest to you. ladies and gentlemen you might know him as the Beetus i know him now as neil greathouse neil welcome uh to diabetics doing things thanks for coming on the show and let's do this we're ready

[00:01:05] Neil Greathouse: to go i'm fired up i might even take my shirt off at some point but i know this is just a podcast

[00:01:09] Rob Howe: so we'll just settle everybody down it's gonna be fine as much as i wish that would boost viewership uh you know i i got i got no visuals over here so your whole listenership just tanked i apologize

[00:01:20] Neil Greathouse: but it's going to go down a notch once they hear this.

[00:01:24] Rob Howe: Well, I'm really excited to have you on the show. And you kind of know how it works and you know the drill. Let's give it some background. I know you're in Conway, Arkansas, which is just outside of Little Rock. Let's hear the story. Give me the background. How did we become from Neil Greathouse to the Beetus?

[00:01:43] Neil Greathouse: Oh, dear Lord. Okay, so let's see. I got type 1. it's about almost 25 years. I was in the military. I had incredible, an amazing job, flight status. I was flying on board AWACS planes. Those are those planes with a massive dish on them. A little fun fact about AWACS planes. They have no weapons on board. They just have that giant dish, but it will sterilize. The reason why they're not afraid of an attack, I guess I'm probably telling trade secrets. Vladimir Putin does not, he doesn't, he's not listening to this i didn't realize i'm actually telling real secret so this uh these planes they don't have missiles they don't have any weapons or anything like that but what it would do is it would that that radio signal that comes out of that plane would sterilize and fry any incoming missile any guidance system so they were never under fear of attack but no other fighter pilot would fly close to it because it literally it's the it'll it'll it'll cook everything that they have inside of them so they wouldn't they would never come anywhere near so we were never in any major danger. But during training, during flight training, all that kind of stuff, my pancreas just shut down on me. I have no history of it in my family. It just came out of nowhere. And after about a week in the hospital, went blind. My blood sugar was about 1600, had full on DKA, didn't know what was going on. I'm like, why does it, why does it hurt when I pee? You know, I mean, it's just like, I had no idea what was going on. And they, I'll never forget, They came in on the fifth day of being in the hospital and they said, hey, listen, your flight status is revoked. You have two choices of job. You could be a bus driver or a garbage man. You can take your pick. And I'm like, I just went through four years of ROTC. I went through flight training, went through all of it to have you come in. I'm like, I don't know. Bus driver just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[00:03:36] Rob Howe: Yeah, it doesn't have that big satellite that will fry missiles on it either.

[00:03:40] Neil Greathouse: No, like I want to fry something. Can we not – I mean, is there – I want to cook somebody else's – anyway. So it just didn't pan out. So I actually – I got out, went back to school, went in college for computer tech, and just – it totally changed everything. So I did not even really understand what this meant. You know, type 1, what is it, whatever. I just – I couldn't wrap my brain around it for probably seven years, just in a downward spiral of depression for seven years. and I finally at some point you know what it's like like at some point you go okay I need to own this thing because I can actually feel my kidneys yelling at me on a daily basis so I was like we have to change something and then just started to own it but then when we moved from northeast Ohio down here for my job we we moved down to central Arkansas and it was a brand new group of friends brand new group of people that did not know or understand type 1 I had a pump but you know the first couple rounds of people that came up to me and said why do you have a pager I was like all right this we're gonna we're gonna play we're gonna play this game that's how we're gonna do this and so I just made a video it was just it's just a the stupidest video I just kind of vented but I actually just explained to a lot of people I said hey this is what this is it's a pump it's whatever and I I was kind of shocked by the response because a bunch people started emailing me and that might be, that's probably nine years ago. And they just said, Hey, um, that really helped. It was kind of funny. I didn't really know anybody else out there had it. And so I just kind of made a few other videos and, um, a few people locally called and their kid, like, you know, their high school son just found out he had type 1 and they, And they said, this is very helpful. So I just kind of put that on hold, Rob. I wasn't like trying to do anything. But about two years ago, maybe three, I don't really even know when, I said, hey, I wonder if I could post a video a day on Instagram. And it was only 15 seconds then. I said, I wonder if I could do a video every day with my phone, with a GoPro, with a camera, something like that. and either encourage somebody or show them how we're actually going to win or we're going to beat this or we got this. And it just started, man. I was shocked by the response. And it just kind of took off from there.

[00:06:11] Rob Howe: Well, you bring up an interesting point, I think. And I've talked to a couple other people during my, I'm calling it the 2017 resurgence of interviews, of how inclusive Instagram is to the diabetic community. It's different, I think, than even Facebook or other mediums of social media in that people are following hashtags and there's multiple people who have large followings and have done a lot of notable things. And there's great organizations like Beyond Type 1 and JDRF and then some of the medical device companies like Medtronic are active as well. And I think that community is very surprising. And I think how the openness and the willingness to share either the struggles or to ask for help or to offer assistance or, you know, whether meal planning or exercise, it's almost overwhelming at times. And I just really think it makes a difference for, you know, young people today who get diagnosed and they've already been living in these these sort of universes on these social media platforms. And then, you know, they find that there's this whole undercover community that they didn't even know existed.

[00:07:20] Neil Greathouse: Right. Yeah, it's huge. I didn't know that any of that even existed, but all of a sudden you just click on a couple of hashtags and all of a sudden you go, oh, wow, I'm actually getting better understanding and medical advice on Instagram than I am from my own endocrinologist. And that's just kind of mind-blowing. But it wasn't just what you learned. It was how you learned and the conversation that was out there that kind of floored me. I never saw it coming. Just didn't realize that I was going to have a better connection there than I had been struggling with in the previous 15 years of having type 1. So it's – yeah, that community of connected people through something that is bringing everybody together. And it not only did it blow my mind, but it also showed me that you can have a bad day and somebody can be there to encourage you. Or you can have a good day and you can encourage somebody else all right there on Instagram. So that's how it started.

[00:08:21] Rob Howe: It's fantastic. And I want to back it up a little bit because you have a very unique story around your diagnosis. I think that, you know, definitely different than mine and a lot of people that I've talked to in that in the military, especially type 1 diabetes is almost a it's a it limits you, like you said, to bus driver or garbage man at that point. Yeah. And has real consequences. Talk a little bit about, you know, what that was like and kind of like really legitimately having to totally alter your life path.

[00:08:54] Neil Greathouse: Yeah, it was it was it was, you know, I mean, I had a group of people that we were we were going through training together. We were flight status, all of that together. We had gone through a lot. So you get this really tight knit community of people that are actually flying in the military. And all of a sudden it's I mean, type 1 was a dream killer is really what it was. I don't really know any other way to say it, but it was like, there are some people that their body would check out in other ways. You know, if you were doing Navy SEAL training and you, you blow out a shoulder and they can surgically repair that. You can try and give it another go, but you're probably not going to be able to. But this was one of those things where it's just off the table. There's no chance that you continue on that path. And that was, it was, it wasn't just hard. It was like, okay, now what? I had planned for this. I went through four years of training for this. And then you're back to square one. And that's probably why I circled the drain for so long, because I just didn't know what to do next. Even though I was in school and studying a totally different profession, it wasn't what I thought I was going to be able to do. so the the military they actually have made big strides since then to actually um they have more options now than what they did when i was in but it was the nature of my job that didn't allow for type 1 to you know if all of a sudden i start you know i start getting low blood sugar high blood sugar i all of a sudden turn into you know debbie downer i'm like super crabby and I don't know why I'm on this plane. There's no way they have the patience for that. So I get it. Like, it makes sense. But I just didn't anticipate it. So it was a very life-altering moment for me. I had an understanding of the fact that everything was going to change. But what I didn't understand was type 1. I had no clue. Rob, this is going to sound terrible. But when I got out of the hospital, they literally gave me a glucose meter. and they gave me insulin and syringes and on a note a piece of notebook paper they said if you check your blood and it's between this and this take this much insulin we'll see a sport like that was that was it so it just wasn't there was not this sense of of hey we're going to educate you it was hey um if you start to get low you might want to eat some crackers and peanut butter i mean I'm not even joking. That's actually what they told me. So I was thinking, how is it on Tuesday? I was flying in this piece of equipment. And now on the following week on Wednesday, you're talking to me about crackers and peanut butter, but it's just, I don't know. So you just wrestle with it for a while.

[00:11:42] Rob Howe: I mean, it just says a lot for the power of notebook paper. I think.

[00:11:47] Neil Greathouse: Thank God I didn't lose that piece of paper. Like, I don't even know what would have happened. I didn't memorize it for sure. I just stuffed it in the meter and just, all right, here we go. Buckle up, kids. We got type 1. I don't know what that means.

[00:12:01] Rob Howe: Well, and you bring up a good point. I think, you know, being in Dallas, I had, you know, a 1% diagnosis experience. Like, it could not have been better. I was at Children's Hospital, and to me, that was all I knew. And so I was just like, okay, well, this is how it is. And then, you know, over the years meeting other type 1s and talking to people, you know, through diabetics doing things, just realizing that not everybody's diagnosis story is a smooth sailing. You know, some people, we had a guest that came on and said that all she got was a DVD. She didn't even go to the hospital. They gave her a DVD and it was in Spanish and she and her family didn't speak Spanish. So, you know, I think that there's, there's so much variance in, in the experience and that can, you know, like you said, make you circle the drain for a little while if you're not really prepared to deal with that type of thing.

[00:12:53] Neil Greathouse: Right. That, I believe, is one of the biggest motivators for me. About a year and a half ago, I had this idea. And it's not a unique idea. It wasn't brand new to me. I'm sure a lot of people think about this. But that first day when someone tells you, hey, you've got type 1, what are most people going to do? And this is just the reality of it. You're going to get online and you're going to start researching and you're going to see all these symptoms. But I mean, that's what we all do. You get a mosquito bite and don't go to WebMD because you're going to be convinced your leg is going to fall off. So it's a little unnerving sometimes when you just jump on the internet and just start looking at stuff where you get on social media. And if you don't know what you're looking for, it can be a little scary. And I had started to develop this back and forth with beyond type 1 and they had messaged me back and forth and and sarah lucas um mary some of the the people that were on their team they just they reached out to me i reached back out and i said listen i had this idea i thought about what if we made a short film less than 30 minutes that doesn't have every bit of medical advice in it but what if it was just a way to encourage somebody that they go home from the doctor's office they sit down and they get on their their phone or whatever and they literally type into youtube like i just found out i got type 1 what if we could make some some sort of a video and and just to be totally transparent the idea was almost like what was that movie it was the movie was um it was uh is it 50 first dates i think it was adam sandler and drew bear yeah yeah and it was that concept of if you had to put a VHS tape in the VCR and just click play. And you have to remind yourself, okay, I'm going to be all right. This is what it is. That's what we did. And I said, I said, beyond type 1, do you want to make this together? And that started this relationship with them. And it, it, it evolved, you know, I'm a, um, a council member with them and helping them with a lot of different projects, but it just started out of this combined unified thought of, we want to encourage people, but we also want to educate them. And then how can we advocate for some kind of let's, let's go get a cure. Because I feel like I've been hearing that for the past, you know, 20 plus years and I'm going, okay, are we any closer? I want to believe we are, but I would, I'll be a part of the solution and not complain about, Hey, we don't have flying cars and we don't have a cure. So, you know, I don't, we'll just give up on humanity. I've seen, I've seen

[00:15:32] Rob Howe: We've had some pretty promising jetpacks, so I feel like we're getting close on some stuff.

[00:15:36] Neil Greathouse: The cure is right behind that. It's like self-driving cars, jetpacks, and a cure. Yeah.

[00:15:42] Rob Howe: And it's interesting as well. I was just recently talking to someone whose doctor was very, I guess, sort of on the short-sighted, maybe more pessimistic side of the cure and told her outright that there would not be a cure in her lifetime, which is the total opposite of what my doctors told me. So it's like, you know, I guess it just depends on what school of thought you go through. Right. And, you know, I want to believe and I'm willing to do whatever I've got to do to help to make sure that we get there. Because you know what? Nothing would be more fun than to be a part of a group of people that used to have type 1 diabetes. I think that would be obviously ideal. Former diabetics doing things. That's a podcast that I would listen to.

[00:16:22] Neil Greathouse: Man, I'll listen to every episode. I've already listened to all of yours, but that one I guarantee you I listen to. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a mindset. I think the longer you have type 1, the more pessimistic you tend to get. They did a study, I want to say it was last year, and they showed that people who have a diagnosis of less than five years are drastically more hopeful than someone who's had it longer than five years. And it's just because the longer you go with it and you see, okay, are we making strides? Are we not? I actually believe we have made so many improvements in the last two or three years that it's just you're going, OK, we're going to do this.

[00:17:00] Rob Howe: Well, and, you know, in the medical field, it's so difficult to see that sort of incremental progress just because of the length of time that particular drugs or treatments stay in human trials. We're talking about like a seven year cycle there before it even gets cleared. I do a lot of work with the JDRF here in Dallas. They are an awesome chapter. Big shout out to them always. And participate in their D101 program, which is when about twice a month they get all of the recently diagnosed teens and children at Children's Hospital together. And they go through a full day of education and you get everything from nutrition and you talk about highs and lows and all your terminology and your bolus thing. and your sliding scale and, you know, the endocrine system and all that. And at the end of the day, JDRF comes in with a couple other people, and I just sort of stand there and wave and say, hey, I have type 1, and I'm just fine, and I'm doing great. Because it really does help at the end of the day to see somebody living and thriving with the disease that news was just delivered to you. And I think it really does help parents as well, especially when they have younger children where they see somebody who has lived with it and they look and they seem normal. You know, I'm thankfully I seem normal enough.

[00:18:21] Neil Greathouse: You're selling it. That's good.

[00:18:23] Rob Howe: I'm really selling that you can be normal with type 1. So, yeah, I think it's I think it's really important. And, you know, but it's hard to see those that that progress sometimes and you don't feel like you're making progress. And then also it's very tough to get involved where you actually feel like you personally can make an impact.

[00:18:39] Neil Greathouse: Right. Yeah, I think it's almost gotten to the point. I was sitting at a table with a few people. Two of us at the table had Type 1. We had Dexcom on, and I think we both had a pump, but they were different pumps. I wasn't sure. I think they might have had an Omnipod, and I had a Medtronic. And what was crazy is one of the ladies at the table, she actually said, you know what's amazing about the state of type 1 and the level of technology that goes along with it? I'm sitting here at this table, but I promise you I wouldn't know that you have it because of how you're managing it. It's almost like you're hiding in plain sight. And so to be able to go to a hospital with a bunch of people who just got a diagnosis and say, listen, I'm probably stronger than what I was before. or there's something I'm aware of. Yes, it is a wrestling match, and sometimes Hulk Hogan wins. Sometimes Hulk Hogan doesn't win. I don't know, but there are days that I have that aren't great, but I'm just telling you this is not the end. You can do this. I think you're right. Standing up in front of those people is awesome.

[00:19:46] Rob Howe: Well, and I think it's really important, especially for when you're in a position of being a public figure or there's a lot of really inspirational people out there like you said, sometimes Hulk Hogan wins and then sometimes The Undertaker comes out of nowhere with a chair, you know? And you just have to react and just know that one high, one low is not the end of the story. I talked to a group at the TypeOneNation Summit here in Dallas last year. I was on a panel of people that spoke to a group of teens and a little girl spoke up and she had a Dexcom and her parents could monitor it. She had them added on it. And she said, what do you do if your dad is an engineer and doesn't have high enough EQ to know the difference between a 70 and, and, you know, just a monitor during the day. And I was like, I just wanted to hug, I just wanted to hug this little adult who understood that, you know, sometimes people's brains aren't wired to understand what you're going through, but, you know, and so, but I also feel for parents, you know, the technology is so great, but also, you know, as you're learning about these types of this disease and how up and down it can be sometimes. It's tough to trust your 13-year-old daughter who's an hour away from you at school during the day in traffic to monitor when she's got a lot of stuff going on in her life.

[00:21:08] Neil Greathouse: Right, yep. My wife was able to watch me. I mean, we've gone to Peru multiple times over the past few years just doing some mission work there and helping to build a school out in the middle of the Amazon. And what's crazy to me is that she, sitting here in central Arkansas, is able to pick up her phone at any moment. And while I am out there, I'm miles away from another human being that speaks English, and she can see, oh, wow, his blood sugar is this. He's going to be okay. It's just crazy to me. So it is reassuring, but it can also be a little overwhelming. It's almost like there is no veil of hiding what you really are anymore. You know, it's like, did I eat an entire six-pack of Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies today? Well, you're not going to be able to fly under the radar on that anymore. So it's a little bit of owning it, too. Like, it's just right out there. So it's kind of wild.

[00:22:07] Rob Howe: Well, talk to me a little bit about that. I think that's a really interesting subject. You know, as that technology sort of has been released here in the last, like, four or five years or so, how did that process go with you and your wife? and she obviously can log in and monitor and see how you're doing. Give me a little bit of insight into what that process was like.

[00:22:26] Neil Greathouse: Well, I think it goes all the way back to when the only real way that you genuinely have to tell the truth with somebody is when you go to the doctor and they take that A1C and you're sweating it out because they're looking you in the eye and they're saying, so hey, how's your control been going? You're like, man, it's incredible. I just did what man smooth sailing and then they walk back in with the real number and they're going you want to tell me how it's really going you know I mean I had years of that but now it's gotten to the point where it's actually it's more of an accountability than anything else nobody can manage type 1 or a lot of things nobody's able to tackle something alone we just weren't meant to do that but having somebody else who is in it with you and they don't have a condescending tone. They don't have a, well, so it looks like today wasn't, you know what I mean? But they also know that you're looking out for them over the long haul. That's what my wife helps me do. You know, I've got kids and it is a constant reminder that I'm not just taking care of myself for today. I've got to, I've got to do this. It's a marathon. And today, you know what? Yeah, today wasn't great or whatever, but tomorrow we'll just say that's day one again. We'll start this all back over again, but you can do it. It's that, it's the encouragement side of it as well. And I'm not doing this just for me. I'm doing this for, for my family and for their future.

[00:23:52] Rob Howe: So I'm trying to think of the big picture. Definitely. And I think, you know, you really hit it right on the head. You know, when you start to, you know, a lot of people are diagnosed, uh, young, obviously, but, uh, I think, you know, whatever, 50, 50 split every year of the, 40,000 new diagnoses are young, but eventually they grow up and they start to have families and they realize, I think it changes a little bit of the perspective of this is a daily thing. And it's not just a daily thing for your family or for everyone around you, but also for you. And I think our culture is so, everything is instant gratification. I can yell and I can activate Alexa. She'll play whatever song I want. She can order me food or an Uber if I really want to right away and I don't have to do anything else. And so that instant gratification becomes kind of second nature, especially for people who are growing up and are very young today. And, you know, this is such a, you know, there's great technology and great advances, but everything comes down to just not being too hard on yourself, preparing that one extra step, whatever that is, whether that's going to on a mission trip to Peru or whether that's just going to work for the day and maybe having to change your pump site. and just having that one extra thought and making sure that you're ready to go for the day. And it's an important thing and it's an important skill. And I was so surprised and just really in awe of how fast type 1 diabetics have to grow up after that because your parents can't be with you all day long. And to that as well, your family can't be with you all day long. You have to take care of yourself. And that independence is really inspiring.

[00:25:34] Neil Greathouse: Yeah, you got to own it at some point. And that's, like I said, it actually took me seven years. And it wasn't like I acted like I didn't have it. It wasn't like I acted like I didn't have to take shots. It's just I literally ate whatever I wanted, did whatever I wanted. And it's not until you get, it's almost like you have to get to the point where you go, okay, listen, enough is enough. I've got to make a change. But you can't force that on anybody. They have to at some point say, okay, this is what I'm going to do. because if I'm ever going to accomplish something with my life, if I'm ever going to do something that is not strapped in by this thing, then I've got to learn how to just flat out own it. And that, you know, it could be, but I mean that same concept is true for, you know, exercise. It could be the way you eat. It can be all that kind of stuff. So it's a lot of, it's just self-discipline, which is not the most fun thing to talk about. But at some point, you're going to have to own it.

[00:26:29] Rob Howe: isn't it funny how all the things that everybody wants like healthy life happy relationships you know fitness blah blah blah are all like self-disciplines it's like yep you know like

[00:26:40] Neil Greathouse: oh gosh you can't get away from it but that's the thing is i mean at some point self-control is really what it comes down to and it's more mental than anything else you're gonna have to push through the wall you're gonna have to keep running you have to keep doing whatever so there's a there's there's a group of people that are they're doing this this bicycle ride across the U.S. I think it's called Bike Beyond, and we're actually going to document it. I think we start the second or third day of June. It's with Beyond Type 1, and they are starting in New York City, and they're riding their bikes all the way across the U.S. They'll finish 10 weeks later in San Francisco. They'll stop at a bunch of major cities along the way, but what blows my mind is they all have Type 1. There are 22 or 23 people that are doing it, all the way from Miss America, you know, contestants all the way to regular people that might be a mom, and they're going to go do this thing. But that's where what you just said is the key, the self control, the self discipline of on a daily basis being able to do this. And that's what I'm looking forward to. We're going to document the whole thing. We're making a documentary a full length feature film on what it was like over those 10 weeks, there will be days where they break down. There will be days where you just have a total meltdown. And it's almost like that's, I mean, that's life. You're going to have days that are better than others or days that are worse than others, but don't let today get you. Like today, this isn't going to get me today. You know, I've had those moments where you're going, listen, you know, the AAA battery in my pump going out today. No, not today. I'm not going to let this one own me. So I'm going to be really curious to see what that is like over the long haul to 10 weeks of that how does that play out

[00:28:24] Rob Howe: this is going to be interesting that's actually uh first of all bike beyond is so fantastic and actually a one of the writers i believe he's from france his name is sid sid sharma he actually reached out a couple weeks ago and he and i are going to do an interview here um very soon to talk a little bit about it raise a little bit of awareness but that's such a cool idea and uh and I can't wait to, obviously, I'm privy to, I'm a little bit more plugged into that world than the average person. So most people are like, oh, I had no idea that's going on. But it's going to be very cool to watch. I'm really glad you guys are doing that documentary. That sounds super awesome.

[00:29:00] Neil Greathouse: It's going to be good. I can't wait. I'm actually, it's almost, we're going to be there filming. We're going to be the guys doing the camera work. And there will be drones and the GoPro sponsoring the whole thing. So these guys will literally be uploading video feeds daily. so you'll be able to follow the whole thing but there's a part of me that i'm almost jealous like i don't know that i would actually be able to do it like my my rear end hurts just thinking about being on a bike that long but they're gonna they're gonna pull this off man and it's gonna be it's gonna be crazy but there's a part of me that's just like man they will be able to tell people for the rest of their life there is nothing that should be able to stop you from doing what you want to do and definitely type 1 can't it shouldn't stop you uh that's incredible i really

[00:29:44] Rob Howe: can't wait to see and kind of follow that story. Really fantastic. Just another great thing that, you know, Beyond Type 1 is doing. And also, congratulations. That's going to be a fantastic

[00:29:55] Neil Greathouse: creative undertaking to make that documentary. Hard drive space alone, Rob, is my biggest concern. This whole thing. You film for 10 weeks. Oh, gosh. Yeah, it's going to be good.

[00:30:08] Rob Howe: Yeah, it's going to be all those giant terabyte drives that slide in and out. They all suddenly makes sense now. Yep, absolutely. It'll be good. So let's talk a little bit about technology, because I know you also have some videos that you talk about, Hack the Beetus, where you're using every piece of technology that's available and sort of like trying to link them all together

[00:30:31] Neil Greathouse: to create that sort of closed loop system. Yes. Skynet is going to happen. Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to come back from the future at some point for my pancreas, I guarantee. I feel like I've kind of sold myself over to it, but I just kind of had this mentality of, you know what, I'm willing to do anything. I will try, it's just short of breaking the law. I feel like I would, I would try almost anything just to be able to get some kind of a, a leg up on or, or make life easier. And so there is a crazy community of people out there that are developers. They might be parents, they might be students of, you know, they've got somebody in their family has type 1. And so Katie DiSimone is the first person that reached out to me and said, hey, my daughter, she has type 1. We have figured out this loop system. Now, if you're interested, she said, go look at these things. And it was just her Instagram. And I cannot tell you the amount of phone calls, the amount of texting back and forth that I've been able to do, not just with her, but other people that have helped figure out how do you close the loop? Because that is the ultimate goal. You know, if you could, if you could have this thing thinking for you, would you be willing to do a little bit of extra coding? Would you buy a couple extra pieces of gear? And so I just said yes, and kind of went down the rabbit hole. And I took the red pill. And I'm just telling you, I haven't regretted it one bit. So I have a little, it's called RileyLink. It's just this little tiny bridge and it's a communicator between Dexcom, my Medtronic pump and my phone. So I'm taking insulin and counting carbs right on my Apple watch. I'm doing it right from my phone. I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I bolused from the pump itself. I just don't do it. It's just sitting in my pocket. There are Google docs that they have out there. There are videos that they have out there that will explain every part of it. And I think it was like, maybe it might've been Rob, I want to say like 140 bucks to buy the RileyLink. And I went to the container store and bought this little plastic contraption that I put it into my pocket. It's small, but every day it is catching me before a trend goes too high or too low. Like I'm literally looking at my watch right now and my blood sugar is 88, but it caught that it's 645. I didn't eat dinner and not yet. And it's no big deal. So it slows down what my pump would have given me anyways.

[00:33:09] Rob Howe: Now that's fantastic. Uh, and I'm that, I mean, it sounds incredible that it, that it works just like that because I mean, as a, even if you're even the most disciplined diabetics, right? Like it's six 45, I'm waiting to eat dinner. I'm about to fry up. I'm about to get in the kitchen right after this and fry up some food. Um, but you know, I, I, I didn't go and, and adjust my basil for this time. So, you know, I'm feeling like I'm probably going to be dipping a little bit, probably in the seventies by the time that I get to dinnertime and you know, that's, uh, that's incredible that that technology is out there. And, you know, after we get done with this conversation, I think we might have to chat a little bit more about RileyLink, uh, and, and, you know, and And we'll obviously continue to follow your progress with it on how you hacked the Beetus. But I think that's the – you talk about – or we talked about a cure. I'm willing to go as close as we can get until there's some sort of operation or whatever the case may be, medication. Exactly. I'm telling you, if those firefighters in Dubai can use jetpacks to put on a bridge, I'm cool putting some extra in my pocket. You know what I mean?

[00:34:18] Neil Greathouse: I would, we're not asking too much. Like if I just have to put something in my pocket, that's great. Until the nanotechnology comes to where it's, I've got little who knows what rolling around inside of me taking care of everything. I will, I will try and program something on my phone. And with a lot of care and making sure that your endocrinologist knows what you're doing, I say it's worth it. It's, um, it is definitely within reach. This is not too far out of reach of just a normal person doing it. The biggest test for me is going to be, we've got the Little Rock Half Marathon. It's coming up on the first weekend in March. I've done a bunch of these, but every time I've done them, it is an absolute roller coaster. It's just bonkers because your body does not know, even in the training mode, but you get out there, the adrenaline kicks in, and then all of a sudden you dip down. And the biggest test is going to be this, this system of just keeping my blood where it's at. But so far after a couple months of training, I have not had a low after running for, you know, an hour, hour and a half. So,

[00:35:22] Rob Howe: so far so good. We'll see how it goes. That's fantastic. And you bring up a great point and I, you know, I don't want to, I don't want, I'm sure we could come up with two hours of, uh, content for one of these interviews, but, um, you know, exercise is something that everybody struggles with myself included. I think when I, when I played sports, uh, I would get super hyped up and adrenaline rush before a game and my blood sugar with, you know, on a fasting blood sugar, I could go from 80 to like 350 with no, with no food, no nothing, just easily. And, you know, had to come up with a way to calm myself down before games to prevent that. But yeah, I mean, just, just to think that there is a, you know, with enough, you know, discipline and enough data and really in timing, you can not have a low after a run for, you know, a nice long string of time. And like you said, I think, you know, talking to your endocrinologist is obviously crucial to every, you know, diabetic success, but that, that, that opportunity exists out there. I think that's, that's encouraging. That's the best news on, on the cure front that,

[00:36:23] Neil Greathouse: you know, somebody could hear. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking about that the other day with you and basketball and the tip off, it's got to get your adrenaline going at some point. So how do you work through that? Cause I can't change what gets me completely fired up. I just can't do it. I I don't think about stress that way. I don't think about adrenaline that way. But my body still feels it, even though I may not be aware of it. So how do you find a workaround for it? Well, I'm willing to do just about anything.

[00:36:49] Rob Howe: Absolutely. And, you know, every day is a roller coaster, like you said. And you can train and your body can be ready. But your body doesn't take into account, you know, your diabetes can't take a break just because you get hyped up for a race that you prepared for for however long. and you know that can that can derail you I think some of the I the first time it happened to me I was probably 15 and a college coach from a school that I wanted to go to I somebody told me he was in the gym and I maybe had the worst game of my life because I couldn't stay I couldn't stay on the floor because my blood sugar was just going so nuts yeah and I felt kind of defeated afterwards but then you know years later I was thinking man like I just didn't know what I didn't know and your body can throw you a curveball every now and then absolutely yep so uh so when's this

[00:37:40] Neil Greathouse: half marathon what uh when are we working towards that it's the the very first sunday in march i believe it's march 3rd let me i got my app here with the countdown on it and training and everything yeah it's march 3rd in little rock um i've done full marathons i've done a iron man i've done a bunch of halves but i'm just telling you once you've done a full marathon you just have a way of convincing yourself never, never again, never ask someone right after they've run one of those, Hey, would you think you'll do this again? Because my answer is always absolutely not. I would rather, I'd rather you hit me with a train than do it again, but a half marathon it's doable. It's, it's not the end of the world. So looking forward to it. Well, uh, this episode will definitely air

[00:38:21] Rob Howe: before, uh, before you race, but we'll have to do like an edit afterwards to make sure, uh, that we tell how you did and how you felt. So best of luck to that. Thank you. Neil, any last thoughts? I always ask somebody or I always ask my guests if there's one thing that you could tell somebody who was recently diagnosed other than check out the Beetus on Instagram and on YouTube videos. What's the one thing that you would want them to take away from somebody who's lived with type 1

[00:38:49] Neil Greathouse: for 25 years? You know, the, the, the, the danger of finding out that you have type 1, what happens is it's almost like mentally, there's an immediate battle that starts off and you think you are by yourself. It's just this mental fight. And you will probably, if you, if you stay there for too long, you're going to be convinced that you are different from everybody else and you can go through this list of things that you're not able to do. But this reality, ultimately, it comes down to you're not alone. There is really no limit to the things that you are able to do. Other people may set a limit for you, but I just say, kick them, kick them, whatever, get them out of the way. They should not be able to tell you what you're not able to do and you're not alone. That's the The ultimate encouragement is that when I finally realized that I am not by myself in this race, in this fight, in the balance, in any of that, there is some amazing encouragement that is out there just on social media alone. But I would say this. Don't just go out there and look for some of that encouragement. I promise you there is a way for you to be able to encourage somebody else and just kind of help pick them up. It could be somebody who just found out they have it, or it could be somebody who is having a rough day. But the encouraging side of social media has been there for me, so I'm just doing everything I can to help somebody else out. Maybe laugh about it. It's not the end of the world. Don't think this is the end. You could actually be an encouragement for somebody else and at the very least make them laugh a little bit because it's not over.

[00:40:38] Rob Howe: Definitely. And I think there's so much negative energy out there on social media. It's so great to be a part of a community that is the total opposite and is just very encouraging and that you can really make a difference in somebody's day and somebody's life. And that's really important.

[00:40:54] Neil Greathouse: What you're doing is amazing, man. This is inspiring. When I went through and listened to every one of these episodes, it just continues to show that there is a – that misconception of type 1 and what you're doing and this group of people that you're putting together and the effort and energy you're putting into it, man. It's worth it. So it made an impact on me. So I'm just – I'm thankful to be on here, but I'm also thankful that you're doing this. So it's huge.

[00:41:21] Rob Howe: Well, I feel the same way, and thank you very much for saying that. And, you know, when I was starting this thing out, I had to look to see who was doing it. And, you know, you were one of the first names that popped up. And I just felt like, you know what? We can all do this in our own way and, you know, really, you know, hopefully help people out. And I'm sure you felt the same way when you started out. Like if one person says that this helped them, then it was all worth it. It's good.

[00:41:47] Neil Greathouse: It's good. Yeah. Yep. That's a goal. That's right.

[00:41:49] Rob Howe: So I'm happy that we're going to we're keeping on doing it. And we're all in this together. But thank you so much for coming on the show today. And, you know, it was a fantastic interview and I can't wait for it to air.

[00:41:59] Neil Greathouse: It's awesome. Thanks for having me.

[00:42:02] Rob Howe: Thanks for listening to Diabetics Doing Things. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly emails and behind the scenes content. And if you or someone you know has an amazing story to share, send an email to rob at diabeticsdoingthings.com.