Diabetics Doing Tattoos with Chris Clement

[00:00:07] Rob Howe: Welcome to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast. We've been telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics all across the world since 2015, and we have over a thousand years of living with T1D on the podcast. The interviews range from incredible feats to everyday victories, and we celebrate them all just the same. Thanks for listening, and if you want to get involved even further, just send me an email at rob at diabeticsdoingthings.com. Hey, I'm Stacey Simms, the host of Diabetes Connections, a weekly podcast. Diabetes Connections is the radio news show I always wanted to hear. Conversations not just with inspiring people, because, you know, that's great, but also with newsmakers, a place to ask hard questions and learn what makes companies and groups that we rely on really tick. I started the podcast back in 2015 because I had had enough of my regular radio news job. I was in local radio and TV for 20 years, and I was really ready to do something more meaningful than news weather and traffic on the 10s. My son was diagnosed with type 1 as a toddler 11 years ago. And while I do share personal stories on the show, Diabetes Connections isn't really about us. I am not going to tell you what to eat or how to dose, but I will share incredible stories, everyday stories and news and information that makes a difference in our community. Tune in for a new episode every Tuesday on every podcast app and at diabetes-connections.com. Spend an hour a week with people who get it. Thanks for listening. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We are telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics from all across the world. And my very special guest this afternoon is Chris Clement. Chris, welcome to the show.

[00:02:21] Chris Clement: Thanks, Rob.

[00:02:22] Rob Howe: Well, I'm super excited to chat with you. It's rare that I get to do a sort of like pre-interview chat that we had a couple weeks ago, but I'm really glad we did that. It was good to meet you, and I've been looking forward to this interview.

[00:02:37] Chris Clement: Likewise. Me too. It's going to be fun.

[00:02:40] Rob Howe: So, Chris, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about you and your diagnosis story, and let's kind of dive in from there.

[00:02:48] Chris Clement: All right. Well, I am about 20 years – well, actually a little over 20 years into diabetes now. I've lived in Utah most of my life. My family moved to Utah when I was about seven years old and just had a normal, fine upbringing and everything. In high school, suddenly I just started getting really sick. Like anybody with type 1 diabetes knows how it feels and what goes on. But, you know, I think I kind of went downhill for about a month and really started showing up for about two weeks before my actual diagnosis. So I'm a senior in high school. I thought I was just depressed. I thought I was malnourished. so I you know for the last couple weeks of of getting sick I was I was trying to eat a lot more um like I was drinking tons of juice trying to just get a lot of vitamins and things um and I you know my school was suffering I uh I remember particularly one time when I I had a class that was down a long flight of stairs in the high school and I you know I would walk I would walk down the stairs. I'd be the last one in there. I'd pretty much just put my head down and couldn't focus on anything. About 10 minutes, like, no, maybe five minutes before the end of class, I would leave the class just to start getting up the stairs. Bell would ring. Everyone would pass me, you know, and then I'd finally get to the top of the stairs. I was just so slow and sick. I weighed about 145 pounds in high school on a normal day. But at the end of it there, before diagnosis, I actually got down to 114 pounds. And that's with eating a ton and loading up on sugar. I should have been gaining weight.

[00:04:49] Rob Howe: Did anybody that you came in contact with, because obviously those are strange symptoms. there it's funny you think a little bit an overly emotional sort of depressed teenager might exhibit those exact uh those exact symptoms just maybe not as heightened so did anybody ask about you was it you know what how did how did your friends teachers peers you know parents family react

[00:05:18] Chris Clement: That's a great question. I did have a couple of really important interactions. So my mother at one point actually asked me, like just sat me down and gently asked me if I was on drugs. She asked me if I was like doing heroin or something. And I, of course, you know, I had the high blood sugar rage and I kind of flipped out of her and went on my way. and then the day before my diagnosis a good friend of mine named nick he came he came up to me and just said hey man something's wrong i really think you should go to a doctor and i i i mean i was so unrational i i laid into him i told him where to go and how to get there i mean i was really mean And so that night I'm home and my mom comes into my room and says, I'm really worried that you might have type 1 diabetes. And it turns out I didn't really realize it until she told me that day, but her father actually had type 1 diabetes. So she said, I scheduled an appointment for the doctor tomorrow and you're going whether you like it or not. And I just kind of broke down in tears and said, okay, I'll go. And about a half hour later, there was a knock on the door, and it was my friend Nick. He'd come over to tell my parents that it was really important to take me to the doctor. So that was a really interesting interaction. Other than that, other kids at school, I think, wondered what was going on, but nobody really confronted me.

[00:06:56] Rob Howe: Matt, shout out to Nick, first of all. That's a really good friend. Yeah. I don't often hear many stories about friends like that so that's there's a lot of people I think out there with a lot of type ones with really good non-type 1 friends who were their friends either before or just in general and I think that's the surefire sign of a good friend in a tough time even after you told them off still coming back

[00:07:26] Chris Clement: absolutely and we're still friends to this day we occasionally play music together

[00:07:31] Rob Howe: Oh, that's awesome. So, so, uh, you're, you kind of have this, uh, rubber meets the road day, uh, and then you go to the doctor and you, uh, what, what happened next? What was the, uh, you know, senior in high school that was about, I guess two years, uh, after I was diagnosed. So I kind of know some of those teenage angst, high blood sugar rage moments that you go through.

[00:07:56] Chris Clement: um what was next for you well so next the next morning um i got up i ate breakfast i actually ate toast and bottled peaches it was you know a pretty high carb breakfast uh we drove to the doctor and it's just the family doctor um by the time i i just walked out to the car we drove there it was about a 10 minute drive from the from the car into the doctor's office um my mom had to kind to take my arm. I was just losing my steam. Um, then we had our, we, you know, went in and they, he, he tested my blood, took a bunch of blood, walked out. I kind of, I kind of saw it coming before he came back in just because of what my mom had told me, but the doctor came back in and just said, you have type 1 diabetes. Um, and we need to get you across the street to the emergency room immediately because I was fading fast. My blood sugar was, I believe, in the 700s. And he gave me a little insulin shot, I think. I was starting to kind of have vague memories after this point. But I just remember taking a moment to just sink and then kind of catch myself. And I turned to the doctor and I said, all right, how much longer do I have to live? I didn't know anything about diabetes. I thought that what he was telling me is I was going to be dead, like, in a couple years or something like that.

[00:09:25] Rob Howe: And because those moments after diagnosis are very, I think, critical to the development of a person with diabetes, of a type 1 diabetic. So I know your memory, you said, was a little bit hazy. Do you remember what the general rhetoric was of the doctors? You know, were you going to be okay? hey, what was the rest of your life going to be like? Do you remember what they told you?

[00:09:50] Chris Clement: Somewhat. He did turn to me and say, you're not going to die, meaning not like I didn't. It wasn't a two-year thing. Yeah. He said a lot of people, because of technology, the way it's going these days, and I don't really remember off the top of my head when home glucose monitoring really happened, but that was in the 80s, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, this is within a decade or so. Anyway, but he said that people live, you know, long, healthy lives with diabetes these days. And that was reassuring. I had known one person with type 1 diabetes before that, which was a friend of my sister named Wendy. And, you know, she had had it since she was a kid. So she lived through a lot of the times when, you know, monitoring at home and self-care wasn't really well established. And so that was kind of part of what got me worried is she was kind of in poor health for a while. So from there, my mom, I basically threw me over her shoulder and we walked back over to the car and drove across the street, like to the hospital. And from the car, just, you know, minutes later into the emergency room, she drugged me, and she was dragging me in there. I couldn't walk. I was fading so fast. I could hardly see. My vision was beyond blurry to a point where I just could not see. They checked me in, threw me in a wheelchair, and rushed me up to a room, and I started passing out. I remember them shoving needles in my arms, trying to find a vein that wasn't collapsed to put an IV in me, which they finally did, and then I fell asleep. Woke up, I don't know how many hours later, but when I opened my eyes, I could see more clear than I'd seen in at least a couple of months. My vision was back, and it was really cool.

[00:11:48] Rob Howe: For somebody who, because I don't really remember my vision being very affected, But what was that like, you know, that that sense of because for me, when they gave me that shot of insulin in the hospital and filled me up with a saline bag, which my body just drank like like a sponge. Me too. And I just remember to see this there. They all every nurse or doctor commented on how fast the bag was being absorbed, which was a weird thing to me. But I just remember feeling so much better that I knew I was going to be OK. or at least that this was what was wrong with me. Did you get that sense when you opened your eyes?

[00:12:31] Chris Clement: You know, I think I did. It was a huge relief, you know, surviving it because I really thought that I was, I kind of got a feeling that I was checking out, you know, but, you know, I got there just in time. So being able to come back from that and open my eyes and see and remember what it was like to actually see because it was so bad visually. Yeah, it was reassuring. It was kind of, you know, a big deep breath.

[00:13:02] Rob Howe: Yeah, I mean, it's literally a second chance at life. You know, what a gift. I think it's interesting to me, you know, how fast you gain your strength back or at least how fast I gain my strength back from the diagnosis. I was talking to someone on another interview the other day, and I remember not practicing basketball. Like, they kind of held me out of practice the first few days after I was back. But, like, somebody threw me a ball. Like, I was just in the gym during, like, a passing period, and someone threw me a ball, like, four days later. And I just dunked it really hard. And, like, I was just like, oh, my gosh, like, I feel so good. I feel so much better. So, for you, what was that like? Like, you know, you were down almost 30 pounds, which is a big percentage of your body weight at that time. As you left the hospital, moved on with your life, went back to school, you know, what was your outlook like?

[00:14:03] Chris Clement: Oh, it was so good. I mean, so much clarity. The thing is, is when you're stuck in that cycle of high blood sugar and it's been eating you away for so long. And, you know, at the time I didn't realize it. But since then I can identify how that works with my brain. But after all that time and all that struggle with my brain, having normalized blood sugar, I kind of didn't even realize how much energy I was missing. And outlook on life was tons better. I started actually excelling in school, which I'd never really done. And I guess I had a new appreciation for life and for, you know, all the aspects of it that I hadn't really paid attention to before.

[00:14:50] Rob Howe: That's really interesting. And I don't think I don't know if I've ever had a conversation with a type 1 who said that to that extent, you know, that they, you know, personality really changed. Because I think, you know, from all of the, you know, almost 100 one-on-one stories that I've heard now to this point, yours is really the closest in terms of, you know, you felt like at least you saw a light at the end of the tunnel and kind of came back from that or definitely came back from that. So, you know, that's a different, that's a very unique perspective that you, you know, actually, you know, stopped, you started applying yourself more in school, started to, you know, really push things forward. Where did that, where did that take you?

[00:15:39] Chris Clement: you know i i was i was kind of like bullied as a kid i i mentioned this to you last uh time we talked but i had i had tourette's syndrome undiagnosed so i had all kinds of other things going on and that i didn't even really know about but really i think the experience um it really just it boosted me uh to a i guess i don't know how to explain it but it did change me it made me more it made me more aware of life you know wasn't it wasn't just

[00:16:13] Rob Howe: coasting like I had been before and that's such an easy thing it's such an easy thing to to do right to just coast especially when you're especially when you're a kid oh yeah I lost a little bit of uh I may have lost my recording here oh nope still good okay good um that's such an easy thing to lose sight of as a kid, even a young adult. I think like, um, maybe, you know, if I'm going to sit on the get off my lawn, uh, type of perspective, I think, you know, that's a really big challenge for young people today is that it's so easy to just coast. Uh, and there's so many options that you can just kind of get by and do fairly well for yourself, um, without having, you know you know a definitive goal or opinion or anything um so you know that be that awareness um you know that being that moment and you know you talk about you hear a lot about near-death experiences or ndes that people talk about where they you know they wake up and their whole life is different afterwards their whole perspective has changed and it seems like that was a little bit like that for you but more of yeah absolutely yeah no it absolutely was like

[00:17:29] Chris Clement: that for me i mean i was almost gone um they told me five more minutes and i would have been in a like in an actual coma and it's hard to you know i don't know how you come back from that i

[00:17:40] Rob Howe: don't know what that's like so yeah yeah and and you know what what a gift what you know what an awesome thing and you know and i think you know it's interesting too your your parents and your and your friend nick like they were sensing for some reason i know they were sensing that right they had come to the end they were they were intervening uh absolutely because they knew

[00:18:04] Chris Clement: absolutely and you know it wasn't just my friend nick i mean he was the one that was vocal about it in school but you know when i was actually i was in the i think you had mentioned you were in the hospital like three or four days i was as well and i was there you know i one cool thing was being diagnosed at age 18, I was kind of treated as a youth, which has more benefits as far as diabetes education than adults who are diagnosed. So I was kind of treated as a youth in that situation, but then moved right into being an adult. But my diabetes educator was there every day. I believe, I strongly believe in inpatient diabetes education. I think you can really, hit the ground running when you have that opportunity.

[00:18:50] Rob Howe: Oh, I totally agree. I was in a similar boat. I was diagnosed on New Year's Day. So not only was I, and I was 16, and a pretty mature 16 in terms of the way I looked at the world and my dreams and things. But I got the pediatric diabetes education, and I was also during the holidays. So there weren't that many people there. Uh, and so I had the whole holiday crew to myself basically in the endocrine wing. And so they would just spend a ton of time with me. And I, I still remember, you know, a lot of the different interactions. Um, and I think of people today, you know, you hear horror stories, like my doctor gave me a DVD that was in a different language and just said, good luck. Uh, and you know, it's like, man, like no wonder these people are in a tough time. And so, you know, I think now, you know, when I meet type ones who are diagnosed, you know, in their mid twenties or even further later than that. And then, you know, yeah, my doctor gave me prescriptions and kind of told me what to do, but then he sort of sent me on my way. And I just, you know, remember the benefit of, you know, having to count my carbs with someone while I ordered my food and ratios and all those different

[00:20:03] Chris Clement: things. You know, my, my sister, my youngest sister actually was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I think it's, I think it's five years ago, maybe six, forgive me sister, if I got that wrong. But I was, uh, you know, this is, this is so recently I, I was, no, I guess it would have been, it would have been five years ago. She was diagnosed. She had her fifth anniversary this, this fall. Um, but she didn't get any of that. She went into the, to the doctor like on her own because she had recognized some symptoms because of my experience that she remembered. She went in, asked to be checked. They kind of looked her over and said, you don't have diabetes because they diagnosed based on stigma a lot of the time for type 2 diabetes. So she kind of pushed them on that, and they eventually said fine. They took her in. the doctor said, okay, go home and I'll call you and I have results. And a couple hours later, the doctor said, you have diabetes, go pick up these prescriptions and take them home. No explanation. So she ended up going home with a pen of Lantus. That's what they gave her. And her blood sugar was, I believe, at least in the 500s, if not 600s. So adults get treated differently. She had to, she had to go demand it. And I ended up going out to her, meet her that night. And I actually just gave her some of my humalog because she needed it and taught her how to inject herself with this scary needle, you know? What was that, what was that like for you guys as brother and sister? There's something about having a sibling that you can relate to in this way that's quite an incredible i you know it's it's sad that she has to go through it i i know very well what it's like after all this time and it i'm not excited about that nor is she but you know with that positive outlook that i guess my family tends to have it was kind of a at least i have you you know yeah we've been really close because of this we were close anyway but we've

[00:22:14] Rob Howe: become even more close because of it. It's funny, like even people who aren't family, and that's why I'm curious. And, you know, I really hope that my brother or sister don't get type 1, but absolutely. Um, the, just the, all the things I have in common and like the camaraderie brotherhood, sisterhood, whatever it is with someone who has type 1. Um, I always wonder how much more magnified that would be with somebody who's your family. so that's why I always ask

[00:22:46] Chris Clement: you know if it's a family where a couple of children are diagnosed you know there's a lot of oh I can't even imagine having two kids with type 1 diabetes in a home that you have to take care of and you know just the expenses alone let alone the life experience for those children you know and those parents are real heroes, you know, as far as we're concerned, we're adults, so we can handle our stuff. But that, I guess that camaraderie and that support system is extremely helpful.

[00:23:24] Rob Howe: Oh, I often think, you know, I just try to put myself in the shoes of parents of young type ones, whether, you know, whether they're three years old or, you know, newborn or, you know, seven or eight or even teenagers, you know, kids are hard enough as it is. diabetes as hard enough as it is, you know, throw both of those in the mix and you got yourself, you know, a tough puzzle. So like you said, I totally believe what you said, you know, type 1 parents are definitely heroes. Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit more. Let's kind of fast forward more to the modern day, to the present day rather. And talk a little bit about diabetic ink

[00:24:08] Chris Clement: Cool. So yeah, Diabetic Ink is something that I started for a couple of reasons. One was to clear up some misinformation about diabetes, which is that people with diabetes can't get tattoos because we don't heal properly and things like that. And the other is to encourage people struggling to own their diabetes because there's something about wearing it that, you know, has helped me with my mental health. So I mentioned to you a little bit that ever since, you know, my diagnosis, there have been periods of, you know, ups and downs where I'm feeling motivated, feeling great, and then feeling just defeated. but I would say for the most part I felt defeated I've put on a good face but I've always kind of felt burdened by it I felt burnt out for years I actually went a whole year once where I didn't test my blood sugar at all I just when I'd feel awful from high blood sugar I would take some insulin and take a little more until I felt okay and then chase a low you know like it was a really really dark times um and of course i've had great support from family from my wife she's she's been amazing but i didn't really let her in i didn't let anybody in um eventually i started to let people in like my especially my wife and she's she she knows as much about diabetes as i do now i mean she's she's dedicated but uh you know that's what's kind of helped me hang on but where I started to really flourish is I started working in diabetes. I've been, I was social media manager for a website called Diabetic Connect for about four years. And through that, I've connected with people online. I've learned a lot about, about diabetes that I didn't even know existed. I didn't realize what I didn't know, you know. But one of the things I came across was an article on DiabetesMine. I believe the guy's name is Wil Dubois. It's Dubois or Dubois? Yeah. So he had written an article about diabetes and tattoos. And so I read through that, and I'd always been interested in tattoos, but I was under the impression I simply couldn't do it. And after I read his article, clearing a lot of things up and finding out about Darren Brass, who was on Miami Ink, I was, I kind of made this decision, like, I've always struggled with my diabetes. I, it's, it's on, it's on the back burner. I could die at any time from it, but it's on the back burner. That's ridiculous. So what I kind of decided was I'm going to go get a diabetic tattoo. I'm going to do it so that I'm wearing it. So that it's a constant reminder. There's no hiding from it. You know, I don't want to hide from it anymore. So I made the decision to do it, and I went for it. And one thing I noticed was that I couldn't really find a great place to find examples that I could look at. I didn't know much about tattoos. I didn't know about the different styles and things like that. So I did a whole bunch of research, figured out what I wanted to get, where I wanted to get it, and the artist I wanted to do it for me. And then I went for it and kind of kept going.

[00:27:32] Rob Howe: That's so cool. So Diabetic Ink is just the sum of all your sort of searching and research and kind of destigmatizing the rumor that, you know, diabetics can't have tattoos.

[00:27:47] Chris Clement: Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted it to kind of be a hub for people who are looking for ideas, people who are interested in the idea, so they can find good examples and, you know, make good informed choices about it. And also to kind of – I wrote an article for Insulin Nation a couple years back talking about my experience and sharing some tips for people who want to go and get a diabetic tattoo. People with diabetes who just want to get a tattoo really. Kind of some safety things to think about. And I also kind of use it as a platform to share my thoughts on diabetes. And, you know, when technology comes up, I like to kind of dig into that a little bit. recently I don't know if you've seen it I'm sure you have but there's been a video going around it's been pretty viral on social media about some color changing ink yep you know and when I saw it I was like oh that's an interesting idea so I dug into it and the further I looked I realized it's just a research project by some people at MIT it's not something that's going to market they say they have no intention of really doing that but it's been it's been funny this there's been a huge flood of people coming to diabetic ink to ask me like send me direct messages to say where can i get

[00:29:04] Rob Howe: this ink where can i buy this ink yeah it was it was funny like the amount because that that went pretty viral i guess what nine months maybe a year ago and like uh i had four or five friends in that sort of period of time where they would just drop it on my facebook wall or something like hey have you seen this this out yeah same thing with like the the apple watch was going to track your blood sugar article which which is basically just like hey Dexcom has an apple watch app which is yeah which is awesome and yeah and amazing but it was just a little bit of that

[00:29:36] Chris Clement: like clickbait false advertising type thing absolutely and it it's it sets unrealistic expectations that people kind of latch on to it's it's unfortunate I in my opinion that that thing you know even got made it's an interesting project it should have been released as a paper maybe but

[00:29:54] Rob Howe: I don't know it's strange yeah because they turn in that cool video and then everybody was sharing it and now it's like oh maybe we can have this thing and we don't right exactly we were maybe never really intended to to know exactly so yeah I like to kind of use Diabetic Ink to to clear

[00:30:13] Chris Clement: things like that up and you know some people wonder like if they should get something elaborate or get Like a medical or, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of back and forth debate out there about whether or not it can be used as a valid medical or in place of medical jewelry and things like that.

[00:30:33] Rob Howe: So how many tattoos do you have now?

[00:30:36] Chris Clement: Oh, let's see. I just finished a bunch of new ones a few weeks ago. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six.

[00:30:46] Rob Howe: Nice. So, you know, that journey for you not only, you know, kind of has taken you somewhere from a mental and an acceptance perspective, but also, you know, changed you, you know, from a tattoo perspective.

[00:30:58] Chris Clement: Absolutely. And, you know, something else I'll say about that is I hear a lot from people with diabetes that there are a lot of, like, body issues that people have, meaning the way they perceive their bodies, the relationship they have with their bodies, and how they see themselves, you know. there are, there, I don't know. It's, I just, part of, part of this for me is like owning my body, doing things that, that I like so that, you know, I guess in a way it kind of deflects some of those negative self-perceptions. Well, I think, you know, you, you spend so much

[00:31:36] Rob Howe: time focused on your body. Like, and, you know, I think for us even different than, you know, women, I think is even more, uh, even more the case, but as a diabetic, you know, you have, it's, it's kind of like what we talked about with kids and diabetes. Kids are hard enough anyway, like body image is hard enough anyway. And then you throw a couple extra things on it. Um, and you can really get in trouble. And also, you know, diabetes is gross, you know, like it's, it's funny to say that because like, and so, and I love diabetes Instagram, like it's, it's where I live, but, uh, it can be gross. Like we, you know, we got a sticky, you know, stick ourselves and there's always like needles and blood, needles and blood and like skin tack and, you know, you know, and, you know, pinching and weird, you know, weird places to stick ourselves. Anyway, that's fine. And I, and I accept it and I, and I don't mean that those posts are gross necessarily. Totally. It's a gross disease, right? So, um, you know, I think that those things are certainly, in play. And I like that, you know, you're looking at this as an opportunity to also talk about those issues. It's, you know, really going into, you know, body acceptance and self

[00:32:48] Chris Clement: love. Yeah, absolutely. That's what it's done for me, to a large degree. I'm also glad that

[00:32:55] Rob Howe: because I have two tattoos. And I'm really glad that there wasn't as much googling that took place 10 years ago when I got them. So I, you know, didn't even, I think my mom brought it up. She's like, are you like, are you going to be good with that with your diabetes? And I was like,

[00:33:11] Chris Clement: yeah, I'm not even worried about it. Right. Do you, do you happen to remember, I guess, what your A1C was like at the time when you started getting yours? Uh, yeah, I think I got my first

[00:33:22] Rob Howe: tattoo when I was 19. So my A1C, I was probably still a little bit honeymooning. I was like in the best shape of my life athlete wise so i was you know in the in the six range in the in that

[00:33:34] Chris Clement: six 6.5 range awesome that's one of the one of the things i put out there and in my um i guess my list of things to think about is you know try to try to go when you have a good a1c it's gonna you know lessen the risks and things like that with infection i think that goes almost for

[00:33:55] Rob Howe: everything that's sort of on the line, right? Yeah. Um, do you, uh, do any of your tattoos like symbolically illustrate part of your, uh, diabetes journey? Yeah. Two of my, two of my, um,

[00:34:11] Chris Clement: tattoos, I specifically are specifically diabetes tattoos, like actual diabetic ink. So my first tattoo, um, I sent a, I sent a picture over, um, I don't know if you've seen it or not, but my first, my first tattoo was kind of the the profile image on on my facebook page and on tumblr and everywhere else it's it's actually a diabetes tattoo it represents the um the uh you know the snake and the staff type of thing that's on the medic alert and it's it's an american traditional style and it has banners that say diabetic type 1 so that's my first one and my second one is one of the most recent that i did that i just got finished and it's actually a it's a bison And I wanted to get that to represent survival, you know, like against the odds of survival. You know, the idea of how quickly things can go wrong with diabetes. I wanted to get something to kind of signify 20 years of survival and hopefully 20 more at least.

[00:35:16] Rob Howe: Yeah, no kidding. I think that's an interesting comparison, an interesting metaphor, like the bison, sort of a resilience in the face of extinction. I'm on your Tumblr right now. I'm looking at the tattoo. Really cool, really cool work, the diabetic type 1, the snake and the staff, very neat.

[00:35:37] Chris Clement: Yeah, the artist did a really great job with it. And the bison I haven't really put out there much. I put it on my personal Instagram, but I haven't put it out on my Diabetic Ink channels.

[00:35:51] Rob Howe: Well, I look forward to when you do. I'm sure it's also great work, really good. You know, there's nothing more, you know, I will say this too. There's a lot of, and I try not to sound snobby when I say this, but like poor design choices for some diabetes things, whether it's t-shirts or logos or whatever it is. and so it just makes me feel so good whenever I see somebody make a really cool design very artsy, very well thought out project so congrats

[00:36:21] Chris Clement: well thank you

[00:36:25] Rob Howe: you mentioned that you're going to post the bison on your personal Instagram what's a good place for people to get in touch with you whether Diabetic Ink or for you personally

[00:36:37] Chris Clement: well I'm on Twitter my handle is Twitchybetes I like to consider myself a diabetes advocate as well as a Tourette's advocate it's another very misunderstood disease I'm Twitchybetes on Twitter and I'm pretty easy to find anywhere you go to Diabetic Inc on Facebook, just facebook.com slash diabeticink and then diabeticink.tumblr.com. Those are probably a couple of the best places to find me.

[00:37:17] Rob Howe: And I'll absolutely include links to all your sites in the show notes. Cool. As we start to wrap up, I always ask this question, and I know you've listened to some episodes, so I'm sure you've maybe heard it at the end. And my context is always the same. So you're in an airport and your gate's about to close in 30 seconds and you run across someone who has either been recently diagnosed or is struggling with their type 1 diabetes. What's the one thing you tell them? And I think for you, coming back both from a diagnosis standpoint, being very much on the brink, and then also dealing with the highs and lows of emotionally living with type 1. What's the one thing you tell them?

[00:38:09] Chris Clement: The one thing I would tell them is, and I've actually told people this who have been recently diagnosed, not in the airport, but I've found people at the airport. but as far as people recently diagnosed is absolutely find community, whether that's people in real life, whether that's the online community, which is fairly easy to find and start digging into. Find community. Having people who truly get it and have experience are such a valuable thing to have in your life. There's a great Twitter chat called DSMA, which is Diabetes Social Media Advocacy. It's hashtag DSMA. That's on every Wednesday night. I don't get to make it to that very often because of my schedule, but I do every time I have an opportunity. It's a really great place to be to network with other people with diabetes.

[00:39:07] Rob Howe: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think getting involved has been the biggest thing that's helped me with just – And, you know, I wasn't necessarily struggling or I wouldn't consider myself struggling with type 1, but I didn't realize how much easier I could make it on myself if I just got involved with the community. Yeah. And it's just been so great since then.

[00:39:29] Chris Clement: Yeah, I've made some great friends that I've met in real life since I started engaging with the Diabetes Online community. some of them are very close friends of mine now who have changed my life changed my diabetes management um introduced me to to techniques and tools that i didn't even know existed

[00:39:50] Rob Howe: it's very cool and i think you know the the community itself there's so much negativity going on uh online these days but uh you know the diabetes community is one for me that uh It stands out as sort of the anomaly, which is really great.

[00:40:08] Chris Clement: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:40:10] Rob Howe: Well, Chris, thanks so much for coming on the show, man. And, you know, you made time for two separate interviews for us to kind of talk through things and then today. So thank you so much for giving your time and for being such a great voice in the community. And I just really appreciate it.

[00:40:28] Chris Clement: Oh, absolutely. Thank you for reaching out, Rob. This is a pleasure.

[00:40:34] Rob Howe: well it's my pleasure and I uh you know this is this is my favorite thing so uh you know I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep doing it as long as I can that's for sure please do