» TOKEN MALE

How I Became A Househusband

I've given everyone a little insight on being a househusband, and now I'd like to share with you how I got here. It's kind of a long story but I'll keep it to a reasonable length.

I've always worked nights, either in restaurants or pubs over the years. As I've stated before, I'm not a morning person. When my son was born, my wife had a year off for maternity leave and since I worked nights, I was available everyday to help her out around the house and with our new baby. This worked out very well, as I would head off to work right around the time my son, Josh, was heading off to bed, and I'd arrive home just as he would be ready for a feeding (which, of course, worked only after he was on the bottle). So that was our routine for a year, with the plan being that once my wife got back to work, we would use a combination of my parents and daycare to care for our son because with working late nights, I needed my sleep in the mornings.

Then everything changed…

I was told that I had leukemia on my son's first birthday. That was November the fourth, 2002. I had been feeling tired for a few months before that, and it had being getting progressively worse the previous few weeks. I also lost thirty pounds in one month and was pale as a ghost. When my family doctor first saw me, his jaw hit the floor. I was sent for blood-work, and then sent to the cancer doctor at Royal Columbian Hospital, who after giving me a bone marrow biopsy confirmed my diagnosis. The first thing I asked was if it was treatable. He said, "Yes, but…" I had a long road ahead.

I wasn't scared. My only thoughts were of getting on with the treatment, whatever that involved, and just working towards getting better. I kept thinking that I wanted to be the one to teach my son how to drive when he turns 16, so I better get better.

I had a bone marrow transplant on March 14, 2003 after going through intense chemotherapy and full-body radiation, and am still cancer free today. Needless to say, work was out of the question for quite awhile, and I am now only able to work part-time. The road to health was not very smooth, and I still have a little way to go. I couldn't pick up my young son for over a year, let alone do much else.

Now I can take care of my son full time, and I am happy to do it. I get to watch him grow up and spend a lot of time with him like few fathers can, and I get to experience every new change in my son. I am truly blessed. My wife was strong and supportive throughout my ordeal. I am a lucky man.

Not everyone has such a dramatic story behind becoming a househusband. I never planned to be one, but life works in strange ways. I think I'm fitting into my new role quite nicely, and as my wife always says, it's good to be alive.