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Category: Sports and Diabetes

Rob Howe – Getting to Know Diabetes: The Interview Series

Chris Stocker

Please just type your answers below the question and send back to me.

Welcome to the sixth installment of a weekly series here on  The Life of a Diabetic called Getting to Know Diabetes: The Interview Series. Every Tuesday, I will be featuring an interview with a diabetes advocate and/or “influencer” in the diabetes community. These interviews will ask the same questions to every person.

Today’s interview is with Rob Howe. I first came across Rob from Instagram because Rob reminded me of a young me. Type 1, athletic, and driven to do something, whatever that something is. Please enjoy.

1 – Who are you? (Name, where do you live, what do you do for a living, favorite hobby, sports teams, etc.)

Rob Howe, Dallas Texas, Entrepreneur.

My favorite hobby is probably Diabetes advocacy, but I don’t really like hobbies. You put in hobby effort, you get hobby results. I have passions. I’m passionate about technology, innovation, health, fitness, creativity, mental health, advocacy, improv comedy, sneakers, fashion, cars, netflix series and the internet in no particular order.

2 – What is your connection to diabetes?

I’ve lived with T1D for 14 years.

3 – Give us the elevator pitch version of your diabetes diagnosis.

I was 16, woke up on New Years Day and vomited, after peeing no less than 30 times the night before while I was out with my friends. My mom took me to the urgent care where they tested my blood sugar (425) and told me to go to the hospital. I had a great diagnosis experience from there, and my doctor’s were very encouraging that all my dreams for my life were still within reach. I’m very fortunate to have started my journey in such a positive light.

4 – What made you decide to start sharing your diabetes? (For example, why did you start an IG account, blog, Facebook group, etc.)

In 2015 I was on a work exchange trip in Bogota Colombia, and I wasn’t allowed to leave my hotel room at night without my translator, so over the two weeks I was there, I had a lot of time to myself that I had set an intention to try to set aside time with a pen and paper to think about what I wanted to do with my life. My dad had told me years earlier that I was always happiest when I was helping people, so that’s where I started. But who would I help? Then I looked at my insulin pump which I had set on the little table in my hotel room and it clicked. I could help people with Diabetes! So I got to work and decided on doing a podcast (mostly because I didn’t want to write a blog every week) and Diabetics Doing Things was born.

5 – Obviously there are a lot of facets of diabetes, but what is your number one passion to share about diabetes? (For example, sharing signs and symptoms, mental health, eating disorders, governmental issues, etc.)

My number one passion is sharing the stories of the different interests of people with Diabetes. When I was diagnosed, my main concern was whether or not I was going to be able to play basketball with T1D. This was 2005, so internet searches were still in their infancy, but I was able to find stories about two people who were doing the “things” I wanted to do and that gave me a ton of hope and a blueprint of how to approach my life with Diabetes on my terms. Now, people can search for people with Diabetes who do whatever it is they’re interested in while they’re still in the hospital/doctor’s office/clinic, so I try to get as many diverse stories as possible so no matter what “thing” a newly diagnosed person with Diabetes is searching for, they can find it on Diabetics Doing Things.

created by dji camera

6 – What’s in your diabetes bag? (Pump, MDI, meter, syringes, adhesives, CGMs, etc.)

Let me just take this opportunity to say how happy I am fanny packs are back in style. I wear a Medtronic 670g insulin pump, with the Guardian 3 sensor. Since this pump is the hybrid closed loop system, I test less frequently than I used to with my old pump, so really I just carry my glucometer with me on a normal work day. But when I travel I stuff my fanny pack full of new sites, reservoirs, insulin vials, test strips, sensors, skin tac, sensor tape, and a syringe just in case.

7 – Where do currently get your diabetes news? (Favorite blogs, IG, FB, Twitter accounts, etc.)

Mostly through Instagram. I keep up with most everything there. BeyondType1 is a great resource for Diabetes lifestyle content as well.

8 – Share three blogs or IG accounts that everyone reading this should be following.

@yourejustmytype1 @t1dchick @insulin_and_tonic – all great.

9 – Let’s get real for a minute. What do you struggle with the most when it comes to diabetes? For me, it’s my weight. I can’t ever seem to lose weight. I lose it, then it comes back and being over weight creates stress and anxiety of not being around for my child in the future.

I pride myself in being very open about my life with Diabetes and not sugar coating (see what I did there) what I go through on a daily basis. I think my biggest struggle is the amount of Diabetes content we can find ourselves facing within the Online Community. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so grateful for the community and the support and friendship I’ve received from it, but I think it’s easier than ever to be overly focused on your Diabetes. There is more to life than Diabetes itself. I try to live and share my life in such a way that shows how Diabetes is a part of all the other incredible things I get to be a part of.

10 -What is the #1 myth about diabetes that just gets under your skin every time you hear it?

It’s a tie between people thinking that diet and exercise can cure Type-1 diabetes and that there is a “good” and “bad” Diabetes. All Diabetes is bad.

11 – What is your top diabetes hack? For example, before inserting a new CGM you do XYZ or you use syringes instead of pens because of XYZ.

I think my biggest one is re-using pump reservoir tubing. I use long tubes, so there are around 18 units of insulin in the pump tubing that I was just throwing away. I do around 110 site changes a year (2 per week) so I did the math in my head and decided that was a waste of insulin, especially when there are so many people out there who don’t have it. I still change the tubes after a while because they can get blocked or kinked, but that helps me save over 1,000 U per year. That’s substantial I think.

Editor Note – I did the exact same thing when I was on an insulin pump. I would change my tubing every 3 site changes on average, I would also re-use reservoirs 4-5 times.

12 – What is one thing you would like someone without diabetes to know about living with diabetes?

That some of us are really good at making this very complex, very difficult disease very easy, but that we still carry a heavy load and have so many things to consider when we do very simple activities like going to work, going to the gym, traveling, spending the night away from home, going to bars, going to college. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and yet so many people handle it with incredible grace.

13 – What is your favorite “healthy” food option?

Spoiler alert–I’m a mega health nut. Every day the first meal I eat is a giant salad for lunch that makes me so happy. Big bag of mixed greens, pulled cabbage, organic pulled chicken, almonds, organic dried cranberries, chopped bell peppers, organic sunflower seeds, topped off with generous amounts of avocado oil and salt. I don’t eat breakfast, a cup of coffee is enough for me.

Now we’re going to do a little this or that.

  1. Cats or dogs? Toughest question by far. I love both.
  2. Coffee or Tea? Coffee
  3. Fruits or Veggies? Veggies
  4. Sweet or Salty? Salty
  5. TV Series or Movies? Please don’t make me choose
  6. Mac or Windows? Easiest.
  7. Ice cream cake or regular cake? Regular Cake
  8. Pancake or Waffle? Waffle
  9. Book or eBook? Book
  10. Pineapple on pizza is great or pineapple on pizza is a crime –  (I’m non partisan when it comes to pizza) I too am non partisan.

Take this time to add anything else. Add more to your story, include all links to all of your social media profiles and blogs, VLOGs, websites, etc.

Website: diabeticsdoingthings.com

Personal IG: @robhowe21

DDT IG: @diabeticsdoingthings

Podcast on: diabeticstdoingthings.com/podcast itunes, spotify, google play, stitcher

Deep Sea Diabetes

Chris Stocker

Last month my parents were down here for a little vacation to visit their grand daughter. During this trip, my dad really wanted to get out on the ocean and do some deep sea fishing. We decided we were going to take out a large charter boat, even though we knew we weren’t likely to catch much because of the amount of people that were going to be on the boat.

The night before I got everything together that I knew I was going to take with me because we had to get up pretty early. I packed the cooler with:

  • Water
  • Gatorade
  • Regular Soda
  • Skittles
  • Sunscreen
  • Syringe, insulin, meter (packed in ziplock and kept on the outer pocket of the cooler)

In the morning I ate a bagel because I wanted a food that I knew would keep my BG levels above 160. This is one of the few times that I don’t mind my BG going over 160-180 and not doing anything to correct it. I knew that the heat and the activity level of reeling in fishing line would lower my BG levels naturally, so I didn’t want any extra help with the insulin.

Once on the boat, I actually decided to detach myself from the pump for a little while because it was very crowded and lines were being crossed so people were walking in and out and in front of and behind of everyone and I didn’t want to take the chance of the tubing getting snagged (no fishing pun intended, well kinda), on anyone.

Unfortunately, I was right about catching fish. My dad and I both hooked two fish, but it was at the same time we were surrounded by sharks and they were having a feeding frenzy on everyone who was hooking fishing. The good news about the trip is that I didn’t have any extreme lows. We moved to a different fishing spot 2 times, so during those 10-15 minute breaks I drank some water and snacked on a few Skittles.

This was only the 3rd time in the 11 years I’ve been diagnosed that I’ve been out in the ocean and all 3 times I’ve had successful trips.

Here’s to the next one being just as fun.

Dear Jay Cutler – Letter to Jay

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Some of you have seen lately that I have been tweeting about Jay Cutler and my dream and goal of interviewing him.  So here is an open letter to Mr. Jay Cutler himself.

Dear Jay Cutler,

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.  It is not very often that somebody considers somebody else close to their own age a role model.  I can honestly say that I am one of those people.  I am truly inspired everyday by your actions of being an NFL quarterback with type 1 diabetes.  Why is this so inspirational to me?  Here’s a little background.

I played QB my entire life.  Had scholarship opportunities to Rutgers before a serious knee injury and ended up playing D-3 ball for a year.  During that year, towards the end of the season, I had began to feel extremely tired and drained of all energy.  I was also drinking a lot of water and gatorade and just didn’t have an appetite.  I started to see a big drop in the output I was getting on the field and in the gym.  Long story short, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a few months later.

So, I understand playing QB with diabetes, but can’t understand doing it at such a high level of the NFL.  For the fact that I am a type 1 QB, and you are an NFL type 1 quarterback has intrigued me to have a goal of interviewing you since you were diagnosed.

I am a Jay Cutler fan, except when you play the Eagles because let’s face it, I’m from Philly and you know nothing comes between Philly and the Eagles.  I believe that the media judges and puts you out to be something you are not.

As “groupie” as this letter sounds, it is an honest letter coming from a guy who is inspired by your hard work ethic and what you do for the diabetes community.

So, I end this letter with, Jay Cutler, will you grant me an interview opportunity?

Thank you.

Chris Stocker

My Life Before Diabetes

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

This blog is obviously titled The Life of a Diabetic because I have a life and I just so happened to be diabetic.  But what about that life I had before diabetes.  I always hear people ask, are you glad you were diagnosed at 19 or would you rather have been diagnosed as a young child and not know anything different?  Well, I don’t have an answer to that because I’ve only lived through one situation.  But I will be the first to tell you, it is one hell of a reality check and a complete shock and change of lifestyle.  If you have ever heard me speak or talk about my diagnosis, you would have heard the story of me being a freshman in college and being rushed to the ER with a blood sugar level of 858.  And then life changed.  Let’s take an adventure into Chris before diabetes (kinda like Behind the Music).

Growing up, I was just like any other child.  I was very athletic so I played every sport possible, football, basketball, baseball, track.  I was always an outgoing person that just wanted to do something to make myself better at a sport to try and get a scholarship one day, that was my whole goal.  I was a fit, in shape kid. Hit 6’0″ in 8th grade and stayed that height through high school.  I weighed about 180 going into high school and got up to about 215 before graduation.  My life was starting to take shape.  I was all about football and basketball, constantly practicing to get better.  My parents supported me in anything that I wanted to do for sports.  Camps, clinics, late night practice sessions, driving me from place to place.  My dad always told me that I didn’t need to work through high school because my job was sports.

Towards the end of high school I started to see my life path and where I wanted to be in several years.  I had a scholarship offer to play QB at the University of Maryland during my junior year of high school.  I suffered a knee injury that required ACL, MCL, LCL, and cartilage removal (more on this later about how a doctor said this could have triggered my diagnosis).  After that knee surgery, Maryland ripped up the scholarship.  I was knocked down, but I picked myself back up and worked hard through rehab to get a full ride offer from Rutgers.  Well, there was the next step of my life, I was going to play QB at Rutgers and pursue my dream of the NFL.  And then a tweak to my ACL happened again, and my scholarship got taken away, because it was too much of a risk (kinda sounds like a pre-existing condition clause to an insurance company).  Once again, dealt another bad hand, but got back up and kept moving.

Finally, I decided that instead of going to a junior college that Rutgers suggested, I would go to King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA for a year and get better.  Second week of practice another knee injury set me back, once again.  These knee injuries are like high blood sugars it seems like.  I made it through the season successfully though.  After the season was over, I began working out right away to put myself in a good position.  Then I started to get tired, and even more tired everyday.  I started to lose weight because I was working out.  And then I started drinking a lot of water because my body was dehydrated.  Then I kept urinating a lot because I was drinking so much water.  Then I started losing an appetite because my body was getting worn out, so I decided to stop working out.  I couldn’t keep up with the workouts anymore so I had to quit something for the first time in my life, I had to hang up the cleats.  Fast forward to that night in college throwing up all day and night and being rushed to the ER.

That is a general summary of my life before diabetes.  My whole life was sports, so I wanted to relate the sporting events to diabetes.  So who knows if I would have had those opportunities to play division 1 football if I had diabetes.  Knowing what I know now, and seeing Jay Cutler, of course I could.  There were some obvious changes from my life before diabetes and my life now, but I am happy where this life sent me.  I would have never moved to Florida, which means I would have never met Amanda.  If it weren’t for diabetes, I would not own my own company right now.  I would not be blogging.  I would not have the opportunities now that I have.

That was my life and it made me the person I am today.  However, today, I am the person I am….today.

What Diabetes Games Do You Play?

Chris Stocker

This Saturday I will be going to the Phillies and Marlins game in south Florida because it is the last time that the Phillies come down here.  I will be watching the Virginia Tech game in the early afternoon and head down to the game directly afterwards.  I am so happy that football is back, college this week and NFL next week.  Anyway, on to what I’m trying to get to.  I will be going down to the game a little earlier to tailgate.  It is great to tailgate at Phillies and Eagles away games because there are so many Philly fans no matter where you go.  When deciding to do the tailgating, we obviously had to plan which games we would be bringing with us.  Beer pong table, cornhole, washers and of course a football.  But then this got my thinking.  What if it was a diabetes tailgate?

So, this post is going to end pretty fast, with a simple question.

What type of diabetes games do you play, and please explain how you play them?  I am interested in learning some d-games.

Football and Diabetes Cause Stress Also

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Yesterday I talked about the only real stress about diabetes that I get is when it comes to re-ordering my pump supplies.  Of course there is other stress involved, but I don’t allow myself to stress for very long.  Except when it comes to one major thing, football.  That is right, my Philadelphia Eagles stress me the f*ck out!  This year is going to be even more stressful because of all the off-season acquisitions that we received.  I am not going to speak too much about football here, but basically every year that football starts my blood sugars get a little out of control.

I go to the bar to watch the games and I am  constantly snacking throughout the whole game.  But not this year.  I am challenging myself not to snack throughout the game and I am also going to try and eat before I go to the game and then after the game in order to save money while I am there.  I am also working on my mental toughness that I had in high school and was very disciplined and not lazy and it was all about mental toughness.

I don’t ever bring my meter with me to the bar.  Once again, this is changing as well.  It will go into Amanda’s purse and I will test my sugar after the first 3 quarters and then the fourth quarter, well, it’s the fourth quarter and I am just going to have to tough it out.

Bring on football and bring on the stress!

Scary Low Blood Sugar at the Driving Range

Chris Stocker 3 Comments

Low Blood Sugar at Golf CourseToday was such a beautiful day and I was sitting at home just doing laundry and cleaning up all day, so I decided to take some time to go to the driving range.  I haven’t been able to golf for a few weeks and I have a golf tournament the second weekend of April, so I need to get back into golf shape.  Overall, not too bad.

Anyway, before I went there I had some chicken and pasta for lunch. I didn’t test my blood sugar before I went out to the driving range, not a good idea.  Once I got there, it was really hot out there, so I began to sweat right away and I could feel the blood sugar dropping.  I didn’t bring any candy or Gatorade with me, because I figured it would only take me about 15-20 minutes to go throw the bucket of balls.

I hit the first 10-15 balls normally, and then I felt it getting really low, so I didn’t want to exert too much energy, so I did a quick hit drill where I just lined the balls up and continued in a swinging motion.  This helped me get through the bucket balls a lot faster.  Now I had to drive home.  Luckily I live on the golf course and I didn’t decide to walk there like I initially was going to do. As soon as I got home, I drank some orange juice and ate a few cookies and then it was all good.

The blood sugar dropped quickly because I didn’t think it was that bad, and I just spent the money to buy driving range golf balls, so I didn’t want to just not hit them.  I know exactly what you’re thinking, because I thought the same thing, is a $4.00 bucket of driving range golf balls worth passing out from a low blood sugar?  Absolutely not!

I survived it, and sometimes I test my limits, but I know that I shouldn’t.

I am typing this at almost midnight Saturday night, and it is a lot more relaxing writing blog posts on a Saturday night then going out I think.

Tomorrow I’m going to tell you about a diet idea that one of my co-workers came up with because he was concerned about my eating habits and my diabetes.

Different Kind of Doctor’s Appointment

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

This week has been filled with different kinds of doctor appointments other than diabetes.  I did something to my knee in a co-ed softball league a couple of weeks ago.  The same knee that I tore my ACL on 9 years ago.  Seems like I may have partially re-torn it, or tweaked it a little bit.  But I had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor and it’s weird going to doctor’s visits that have nothing to do with diabetes.  I was impressed however, that when the doctor saw me, right away he said, “Ah, Minimed insulin pump.”  Made me feel good about this guy that he knew what an insulin pump was, and also the brand.

I had to get an MRI on the knee yesterday, but there were some issues so I had to reschedule it for this Saturday.  I haven’t had an MRI in a long time, but I hate them.  The worst part about this injury is that it pretty much has me doing no exercise at all.  I can ride a bike, but at a slow minimal speed.  I can’t play softball, I can’t golf, I can’t walk far distances or run.  I can swim, but I haven’t had a chance to get into that workout schedule.  I’m up when my girlfriend leaves for work, so I am really going to try and start going to the pool at that time and getting a few laps in for some exercise.

Well, until I hear more from the doc about the knee, I will just be worrying and hoping that I don’t need any sort of surgery.

Have a good day ya’ll

Sunday Blood Sugars

Chris Stocker

I haven’t talked about how sports affects my diabetes lately because the Eagles have been playing well lately and I have not had too many worrisome times with them.  Same with Virginia Tech.  There has been close games, but I have had full confidence so far this year.  Today brings a match up between the Eagles and the Giants, division rivals.  Also, rivalries with a lot of people that I know and I will not hear the end of this until next year if the Eagles get beat.  I have no doubt that they will win tonight, but it gives me that little added stress.

When I am watching an Eagles game, my heart starts to beat very fast and I haven’t really checked my blood pressure during the games, but I have a few years ago and there was a huge difference in my blood pressure between a blow out game and a tight game.  My blood sugars vary depending on where I am watching the game.  Since I live in south Florida now, the Eagles games are not on tv a lot, so I have to go to a sports bar to watch the game.  When I go to a sports bar, I do not take my meter in with me, and I kinda guess what my blood sugar is going to be.

If I am watching the game at home, like I am tonight, then I will test my sugar like I normally would so they are a little more under control.  But I do have a problem testing my sugar at home as opposed to how often I test it at work, but that’s a whole other story for a whole other time.

Well, today is Sunday so that means time for laundry and cleaning up around the house and relaxing with football. So have a great day everyone.