Rexatronic

That's what my friend Carrie calls my dad.

My dad, as you may or may not know, has diabetes. He also has Parkinson's, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, and who knows what else. He hasn't let it interfere with his cookie consumption, though. We Johansens have a SERIOUS sugar addiction. Don't think I haven't eyed my dad's insulin syringes a time or two and thought seriously about mainlining some high fructose corn syrup. Let's hope it never comes to that.

As a consequence of not managing his diabetes, my dad's feet are almost perpetually swollen. Recently this swelling led to cellulitis in his right leg, which led to septicemia, a.k.a. blood poisoning. It's a long scary story that involves 911, a week in the hospital, and a 2 week stay in a rehabilitation center. He is home now, and doing well.

So...my dad's recent health scare has forced us to take a look at our lifestyle and make some changes. We've been eating very healthily these days. Lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, blah blah blah. It's freaking miserable. I could absolutely murder an eclair right now. But my dad's blood sugar is under control, and he's gone down a few pant sizes, so that's good. He's more active than he was before, and he's much much happier. However, he still asks "Have we got any treats?" about 6 times a day. And whenever I check his blood sugar, no matter what the number is, he always says, "Wow. I could probably use a little bump, don't you think?" That last one cracks me up. I had no idea my dad was so street.

Up until now, my brother-in-law had been staying with my dad during the day while I went to work. I would come home and take over the night shift. When I started my gig as sous chef, we made pastries for a retail bakery, a catering department, and 5 restaurants. In the past year and a half, we've added 5 more restaurants and a small retail bakery/cafe. I just kept working longer and longer hours, which didn't leave me very much time to take care of things at home. Last month I decided to quit my job and stay home with my dad full time.

I do miss making pastries for a living. I might go back to it in the future. But right now, I feel like this is the right thing to do. There may come a time when my dad needs more care than I can provide, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we are having a good time, hangin' out and enjoying each other's company. I am also making good progress on my Netflix queue.

And that's what's up.