When death came knocking, this Soldier answered with cookies. Ret. SSG Randell (Scott) Adarme was one of the rare few who survived what is commonly known as a “Widow-Maker” heart attack. In this 2-Part episode, Scott and his wife Jennifer share the story of how Scott’s health scare redirected their lives from military family, to builders of a local cookie empire called Dadbod Cookie Co.
The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. For guest or sponsor opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com. This episode is sponsored by TK’s Pizza of St. Robert, Nexthome Team Ellis, Security Bank of Pulaski County, and Sugar Creek Farms.
— Automated Transcript —
This episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County, Next Home Team Ellis, TK’s Pizza in St. Robert, and Sugar Creek Farms, your home for farm fresh pork products. The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Oquinn Media, its hosts, affiliates, or sponsors. Content is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Enjoy and thank you for listening.
**Intro Song**
Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. Today, I have Scott and Jennifer Adarmi. Y’all are from Dad Bod Cookie Company. I’m so happy to have you here because I’ve been seeing all your stuff online and I have to say honestly, I have not tried your treats yet. I did stop in a local place one day to pick up some of your famous cinnamon rolls that I keep hearing about and they did not have any. So, I I’m excited to to be able to try your products, but usually won’t have a guest in unless I know more about their business or I’ve tried it and I’m like, oh, this is wonderful. I need to tell everybody about it or whatever.
But I just keep seeing so many great things about you. I know you recently joined the Chamber of Commerce, so I’m excited about that for you. And I just want to hear your story. So, with all of that said, tell me how long you’ve been in the Pulaski County area and how you ended up here.
Scott: I came to the Pulaski County area around June, 2021. I started off as a drill sergeant, that’s when I started my drill sergeant drill time, 35th engineers, Alpha company. Drill sergeant there. Um and then I had the unfortunate event of suffering a massive heart attack.
Jennifer: Wow. What age?
Scott: I was
Jennifer: 39.
Scott: 39.
Jennifer: 39. Did you freak out, Jennifer? Like were you just like
Jennifer: Well, you you go into a automatic survival mode. And when
Scott: In the field.
Jennifer: My heart hurts for you just thinking about it.
Scott: It was
Jennifer: Well, of course, then I’m going to cry because I cry about everything.
Scott: If you cry, I’m going to cry.
Jennifer: And, um, it was it was a couple days before Thanksgiving. So we were actually, my daughter and I, she had always went to a private school so she always had the week off. We were making pumpkin pies when we got the call that
Jennifer: And you said you were in the field?
Scott: Yeah, it was during, I mean, for those who listen that understand what, you know, the whole drill process is, you know, FTX three is like the final stage before the privates hit AIT, and we were in the field. It was like a three-day field exercise, and it was during a recon mission. And, um, initially, even the night before, I was feeling kind of weird. My body was not feeling right.
Jennifer: Was it like a feeling you’ve never felt before? I’ve heard people say that before. They have a hard time describing it because they’ve never felt that before.
Scott: Um, but the the so the crazy thing is, I’ll I’ll rewind just a little bit to when I was in Fort Riley, you know, a year prior. I had the same feeling physically during an event and thought it was just, oh, my rucksack strap is just too tight and my whole left side’s going numb. Fast forward, the day before the event happened, we were on a ruck and I was like, man, like I just can never figure out my ruck strap because it feels like it’s tight, but it’s cutting circulation off my whole entire left side of my body. So I really attributed it just to that or just me getting older, obviously, and you know, your body is just not performing the way it did like a decade before, you know. Um and then having to keep up with these young bucks, it’s like, you know, you have to like show up and not like show any type of weakness. So obviously I just kept grinding and showing up. The night before, I end up spending the night in the field. And I could not sleep, I felt restless. I thought it was because the burn barrel was within proximity to the door and the smoke was going into the the little hut that we were sleeping in. I thought it was like, oh my gosh, I have smoke inhalation. I’m dying. Yeah.
Scott: You know. Um, but then we were we had the opportunity to go home for a couple hours, shower, get breakfast, you know, take an hour nap and that’s what I did. I thought getting some breakfast, getting showered, changing my uniform out was what will help me feel better, but it didn’t. I tried to take a nap and Jennifer was still in bed when I, you know, slipped in for that hour nap and she was like, you’re so restless. What’s going on?
Jennifer: He he was, you know, obviously just battling, you know, something physically. And you think, well, you know, they work a hundred hours a week, especially on these heavier training type days and weeks and, um, he got up out of bed. He said, make sure I’m up in an hour. I got to go. We can’t be late. Um, and I nearly fell out our second story window.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh.
Scott: Um because he went straight to the wall, ripped the curtain off. I fell, yeah, like I felt kind of like got really lightheaded when I stood up. Like I blacked out for about maybe two or three seconds and exactly that’s what happened.
Jennifer: And of course the army in him is like, I got to go. I still got to go. I still got to get ready. And I’m like
Scott: And I was
Jennifer: Shouldn’t we maybe go to The maybe we should think about this. Is there a doctor maybe? Um that we could we probably should go. He said, no, no, no, First Sergeant’s going to kill me. I got to go. I got to go.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh.
Scott: Um and he and he did. He got up and he ended up going back out. I got there just in time for, you know, they had chow. And they’re like, oh, maybe I need to eat something. Maybe my body’s just hungry. You know,
Jennifer: That’s what I attribute everything to.
Scott: Yeah. And of course, you know,
Jennifer: Yeah. I was just hungry.
Scott: Hungry. Yes. Yes. So I ate like a sausage and sausage. I ate like sausage and eggs that morning before we stepped off for our mission. our first mission of the day. And I was like, okay, you know, carried on. So we started moving and I had just a little maybe a five-pound harness on just to it’s kind of like where I keep my notebook, where I keep my water bottle, my first aid kit, and it’s called a flick. Um for those who understand what that is.
Jennifer: Yeah, thanks for saying that because I don’t.
Scott: The vest that we wear to carry our notebooks, our pens, you know, snacks,
Jennifer: Maybe snacks. Mine would be full of snacks.
Scott: Snacks. Mine would be full of snacks. But the crazy thing was is like, I still felt that weird feeling. And I was like, well, maybe it wasn’t my ruck strap. Maybe I don’t know what’s going on. But then so I just carried on, continued with the mission, and we completed it. And then on the way back, I told the drill who was with me. I was like, hey, man, I don’t really feel good. On the walk back to headquarters, I was like, I don’t really don’t feel good. I got a headache. I’m feeling really lightheaded and dizzy and I got really bad blurred vision.
Jennifer: Mm.
Scott: And
Jennifer: His entire, I don’t know if he remembers some of those details. You know, that was share, maybe the lack of oxygen because there’s a really big gap in some of the memories.
Scott: Oh, really?
Jennifer: Um and I don’t think that he remembers or can recall, you know, really kind of that whole portion of that. He was like, my entire leg, my arm, my chin, my jaw, my mouth,
Scott: My jaw. I So now that, you know, that now that my wife has said that like my whole literally, I felt like I was clinching my teeth on my left side.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh.
Scott: My neck was like rigid. My whole shoulder was numb. All the way down to my fingers was tingling from like my hip down to my feet, I could not down to my left foot, I could not feel anything. So I told my senior drill sergeant. I was like, yo, still a senior, like I don’t feel good. And he was like, oh, man, you’re just dehydrated. Of course, it’s always the answer. He like, oh, you’re just dehydrated. They were like, just take a second to take a second.
Jennifer: Which which is really important and you know, we are really good friends with that.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Yeah. And they are he’s a good person.
Scott: He’s a really good guy.
Jennifer: His wife and I are very close friends and our kids were best friends and so it’s not the typical, oh, your leadership doesn’t care. It was not bad. And and of course, because he wasn’t that person and but it’s just funny, you know, that default answer is, drink some water.
Scott: Yeah. I was like, oh, it was the answer. You like, oh, you’re just dehydrated.
Jennifer: I have to laugh about that because in my family, I’m known as that person. It does not matter what you say is wrong with you. You say, you probably need to drink more water. And now it’s become this joke.
Scott: Drink water. Right. And so everywhere I go, I got to take a water bottle with me.
Jennifer: It’s become this joke, like, don’t listen to Tracy, she’ll just tell you to drink water.
Scott: And then so, you know, I I told him, I was like, is it cool if I take like my a quick spell real quick? I told my, um, my partner, my other drill sergeant that was with me on that on that mission. I was like, hey, I’m going to go to the talk or the headquarters building and just like sit for a second. He’s like, oh yeah, don’t worry, you know, we got to reset anyways and get re, you know, recclimatized and go over the mission again with these kids. Yeah, just go take like 10 minutes. And as I was sitting inside the talk, I was just like, I continued. like it it started getting like worse and I was like, I looked at my first sergeant. First Sergeant Centuri, he’s the one that saved literally
Jennifer: Mike Centuri
Scott: Mike Centuri. So if anyone here’s listening, who ever had him as leadership, he is
Jennifer: Is he still here?
Scott: No, I think he was, no, I think he left.
Jennifer: He he was up until, um, just about his retirement in 2024.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: And I’ll be forward in this too with his his phone. Because he he continually for those whole time of his whole recovery, he just showed up.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: You know, he was taking out my trash.
Scott: Cleaned our kitchen. Yeah.
Jennifer: But but more importantly, he he was there and he reacted.
Scott: Yeah. He was like, well, how how are you feeling? And I was like, I cannot feel my whole entire left side from the center of my chest over. And I was like, I feels like someone’s stacking 25-pound plates on my chest. And he was like, get in the car.
Jennifer: Wow. He did not hesitate. What if no one would have said, get in the car?
Scott: Yeah. So fast forward when we get to the ER check-in, the guy was he administered low dose aspirin and gave me some nitro and told my wife was like, if he wasn’t in here within 15 minutes, he would have been dead.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh. Well, and you know, the average response time for people with cardiac problems, you know, it has to happen within 15 to 20.
Scott: It’s why it’s a silent.
Jennifer: That’s why it’s a silent, not silent, but a a secret killer of women is because women won’t go.
Scott: Will not go.
Jennifer: Yeah. And and it wasn’t until we were at Cox the next morning and, um, they were doing all the testing and all the things that, you know, when the nurse looked at me and and of course it’s still very much lives frame my head. Um, she said, do you understand, Mrs. Adarmi, what your husband experienced? And I said, well, I don’t, you know, obviously, he’s a stud. He’s healthy. He’s never had a problem with his health. And she said, what he experienced was the beginning of a widow maker heart attack.
Scott: I was going to ask you if that’s what it was.
Jennifer: Um and she looked at me and she said, Mrs. Adarmi, do you understand why we call it that? And I said, no, but I mean, context clues I I can do. And she says, well, because, um, there’s such a small percentage of people that survive if they’re already in medical care. I think the number, it was
Scott: 50%
Jennifer: Even if they’re in medical care. Even if they’re
Scott: Even if they’ve already reached the hospital, they’ve even gotten low dose aspirin. Yeah.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh.
Scott: Completely.
Jennifer: Yeah. If if they experience that the survival rate is next to nothing. And she said they don’t call it anything.
Scott: I have some tissues. I keep them in here for this reason.
Jennifer: Shut up about my own. Um and because you simply don’t survive. Um and and and that heart and that heart attack, you know, comes from that big giant artery on top. Um and it is the big one, which is why, you know, they call those heart attacks that. Um and she said, is there someone I could call? I said, maybe a doctor? So of course, you know, what what could have happened was, you know, I could have indeed been a widow instantly.
Jennifer: Did they take you to the Fort Leonard Wood Hospital or
Scott: So I got so yeah, they initially sent me to the Fort Leonard Wood Hospital. You know, they and um administered the low dose aspirin. They gave me the nitro. They did some MRI with like with contrast, which is like they stick this liquid through my IV that helps them see better when the MRI pictures come through. So initially, the radiology tech was like, oh, well, you have you have signs of blockage in one artery. And so they’re like, oh, so it’s not really that big a deal, but we’re going to go ahead and just do a consult and outsource you to, you know, one of them.
Jennifer: We’re going to call. We’re going to call and see.
Scott: So they got the doctor that was in um on duty that day and they’re like, yo, you need to go. Like anything heart
Jennifer: Did the doctor actually say yo?
Scott: Oh, he didn’t say yo. He was like, he was like, hey, you need to you need to go. He was like, we we’ve called the lake. We’ve called Lake Regional, we’ve called Mercy, they have no beds.
Jennifer: Oh, wow. Yeah, and they had asked for a preference. You know, since obviously, you know, we have young kids and and I’m just like, here’s where we go. We go to Cox Health and because that’s what my aunt and cousin had both said and I have local family, so, you know, they’re like, go to Cox.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: And, uh, that that Gilock ER staff, oh my gosh, she, you know, of course, you see a lot of complaints, but
Scott: But a big one.
Jennifer: For for but a huge but they were amazing.
Scott: They were amazing.
Jennifer: Yeah. And and that nurse, I wish I could remember her name to this day. I ran into her forever at Walmart. You know,
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Because everybody runs and everybody at Walmart here. And cuz we know everybody. She never left. I don’t remember her ever leaving the room. And mostly because he’s allergic to Iprofen.
Scott: Number one thing that
Jennifer: The army gives.
Scott: Everyone gets in the army. Oh, you just need some Iprofen. Like, well, that kind of sucks because I could only do water.
Jennifer: Like I could only do water.
Scott: Iprofen and water. Like, well, that kind of sucks because I’m allergic to it.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Scott: And and so and so everyone just looks at me like, dude, how do you how are you alive in the army?
Jennifer: Um and so the nurse, you know, just sat there. Cuz I’d rather have you, you know, have to slap some Benadryl in your IV just in case. Right.
Scott: Right.
Jennifer: Yeah. Within a few hours, he’s in the back of, you know, Pulaski County ambulance.
Scott: Heading to Springfield.
Jennifer: And he he was he was out and, uh, of course,
Scott: Which I will also say, Pulaski County ambulance guys are the coolest people.
Jennifer: Oh, they are.
Scott: Like all we did was talk about softball and football back there. I had zero stress, which which
Jennifer: That yeah, that’s probably really good. That’s a good point.
Scott: That’s a good factor. I wasn’t I wasn’t I was perfectly fine, just chill back there. And I forget what the I think his name is Chris. And he’s like, oh, man, I travel I travel for softball everywhere. I go to Texas. I go to Tennessee for And I was like, oh, man, this is cool. This guy’s really cool. Which
Jennifer: Probably helped because like I wasn’t
Scott: I wasn’t initially before I went in there. I was like I was freaking out. I was scared.
Jennifer: What if you got somebody that was like, sports are stupid. And so are cookies.
Scott: I was like, Well, I was like, dang, I guess this is going to be a silent ride. I might as well just take a two-hour nap.
Jennifer: Give me some more of that aspirin. You got to sedate him back there. He was knock me out.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: And and it was a couple days of heavy testing and this and this and he spent his Thanksgiving so disappointed in a very low sodium.
Scott: Oh yeah.
Jennifer: Thanksgiving dinner.
Scott: Free. No sugar.
Jennifer: Thanksgiving dinner.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: And, uh, you know, however, you know, you’re alive, right?
Scott: I’ll drink the tea.
Jennifer: But he’s alive. But he’s
Scott: That’s what matters. That’s what matters.
Jennifer: Um and then that it was that next Monday. He was in, um, open heart surgery.
Scott: Oh my gosh.
Jennifer: He had a triple bypass. And Dr. Zolfagari in Cox Health, he just walked in and said, oh, it’s all good. This is what I do. What do you mean you
Scott: Open heart surgery.
Jennifer: That’s what the doctor said.
Scott: Yeah. He was like, yeah, this is another day for me.
Jennifer: He’s just I I do about 20 of these a week. Oh. Well, he can be as cocky as he wants, as long as he’s good, right?
Scott: Exactly. And and I’m the evidence that he is. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It’s like, all right, you deserve that.
Jennifer: And then it was months of recovery and rehab and another cardiac event and another stent and just
Scott: Months of recovery.
Jennifer: Wow.
Scott: So the triple bypass was only the first event when it came to like, you know, assessing my heart health because then a year following, like literally four days to the anniversary date of my first heart surgery, I had to go back in for another heart surgery because and again, for those medical people that are listening, know what the lad artery is, is that big major one? It was already the the new artery bypass that they had constructed was already failing.
Jennifer: Are you feeding him like tubs of shortening for dinner or what?
Scott: But we don’t we don’t even Even though we now owning a bakery, you think we would.
Jennifer: I do want to talk about that.
Scott: But even before the heart attack, we don’t we don’t eat like crap. We are healthy. We got our oldest son is an athlete, so we really watch A his protein and his macros cuz he’s a football player.
Jennifer: So he’s in the hospital. The amazing doctor is getting ready to work on him. How do you break this to your kids?
Jennifer: Our oldest, he was in eighth grade. Our daughter, she was in first grade. We have three kiddos, they’re exactly all four years apart. And so he would have been in about fourth or fifth grade. Our middle boy, he lives in Detroit with mom and he comes here and he comes back and forth. And Scott’s ex-wife, you know, is wonderful and she’s great. And, you know, on the way back home, you know, I thought, okay, I got a panic pack and if anyone’s ever done that, that’s interesting because I did I did have fruit snacks and I did have toothbrushes. Maybe like two pairs of pants and no shirt. Panic packing happens. I just get home and my son was there. He’d left him, you know, to supervise the daughter or maybe the other way around probably and told him, you know, look, something’s going on with dad. We’ve we we’ve got to get to the hospital. And, uh, my daughter did come back with me. And by the time I got back, they were like, hey, he’s got to go. So, you just go home and pack. We got to get him here and there and, um, and so on the way, you know, and my my daughter is way too intelligent for her age. And and first grade, she starts asking, well, what happened to daddy, you know, did one of his privates beat him up?
Scott: Yeah, that would never happen.
Jennifer: Did, you know, let’s be honest.
Scott: Even with a heart attack.
Jennifer: Yeah, no, I wouldn’t have got anywhere. Yeah, no.
Scott: For the record.
Jennifer: And so, you know, and so trying to trying to not dumb that down, but trying to make that to where a six-year-old could comprehend, but not scare the mess out of her. Um now of course, you know, my eighth grader, well my son then, you know, an eighth grader, he’s just always had a really great level of common sense with well everything outside the home. Not necessarily his bedroom, um or anything like that. But and he’s always so responsible. Um and he’s just so calm and he’s he’s naturally just, you know, one of those really good calm kiddos. We’re lucky.
Scott: You’d never think he’s 5’11 and 260 pounds.
Jennifer: When it came down to surgery, um, you know, Cox Health and and the Gilock case management team and everybody’s like, are you driving, you know, 180 miles a day back and forth, you know, and and trying to manage
Scott: Yeah, about two weeks.
Jennifer: That’s what I was gonna ask you, how long you had to stay.
Scott: That was about two weeks, right?
Jennifer: Initially, yeah, initially about two weeks. And and coming back and forth. If you can add another punch to just this horribly like, what is going on? Like, he’s healthy. Where this? Why is he? Um, you know, then, you know, that wonderful first sergeant will forever go down in history of being the best human on planet Earth.
Jennifer: Mr. Dehydration or is that who we’re talking about?
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: He says, hey, you know, this office is going to call you. Don’t freak out. And I thought, okay, you know, Get ready to freak out. Have you have you never met a woman in your all your life if I say don’t freak out. Um and he said it is casualty assistance. Um but they’re going to help you, you know. So, since he was in a critically ill status, the army immediately intervenes and does what they do best. And and there’s a lot that they did beautifully because I was taken care of. I you know, um Cox Health put us in the hotel inside the hospital.
Scott: Yeah, that’s pretty cool.
Jennifer: Um which is interesting, which we never did.
Scott: Didn’t know that existed.
Jennifer: Existed ever. And it was just across the the skyway on national. And so we were right there, you know, and we stayed and his leadership, his old commander, his outgoing and incoming commander, every single person, his battalion commander, which is also very noteworthy people. Um and his battalion sergeant major, they just all showed up.
Scott: No.
Jennifer: I love that.
Scott: Yes.
Jennifer: Um they arranged this. I had meals. I had laundry. I had his battalion commander grabbing a broom.
Scott: Oh.
Jennifer: In my house. And and that
Scott: That’s so good to hear.
Jennifer: And the first, you know, the the first night, you know, being in cardiac ICU, it’s it’s high stress. And, uh, that flight nurse, my daughter called brave because she had this beautiful long, uh, long hair, just like the brave princess. And she stood because it was a real one to one ratio. Eyes on 24/7 for X mount and of course those those medical folks, you know, they would know that and, um, so visiting
Scott: No, literally, they’re just to watch my chest rise and fall.
Jennifer: And and they just sat there.
Scott: They make sure I was still breathing.
Jennifer: And you And they they had 12-hour shifts with just one designated nurse and that was her single job.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: To sit by my bed.
Scott: And she sat there.
Jennifer: I don’t have very good eyesight. I would not be good at that job. Be like, is that moving? I’m like, tap him. Can I just gonna smack him. Make sure he’s not he’d be asleep and I’d be like, what?
Scott: I’m like.
Jennifer: He’s like, all right, just needed to cut that out. And well, and and through through all of that and and watching that. But that that nurse, that flight nurse, she just was there and there was no, you know, other emergent need. And, um, she watched him and she’s the one that brought me in, just, um, you know, it’s real short visitation. And it was horrifying. You know, and it’s so scary cuz cuz you think the strongest man you know, your hero, your husband, your person, you know, your lobster if you’re a a friend’s fan.
Jennifer: Obviously, you’re sitting here alive and well. That’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. At such a young age, is this something that’s happened in your family? Is there any kind of history there? Or what’d you find out about that? Anything?
Scott: So crazy thing is, I’m adopted. So I don’t even know. Okay. So I just lemme back up. My sister is the only one that here that lives in the United States. They’re in she’s she lives in Houston.
Jennifer: Oh, okay.
Scott: Um the rest of my family, my younger brother, my my younger brother and my mom and dad, they’re from the Philippines. And then my older brother is for those people that are Filipino know and understand, they’ll travel to different countries to work and send money home. So my older brother works in Saudi Arabia as a nurse and he sends money home to his family and then my parents. And I had just recently, here within like the last, you know, couple years, maybe for one or two years, I’ve actually just fully established a relationship.
Jennifer: I feel like there’s a whole another episode right here with this whole story.
Scott: Oh.
Jennifer: Oh, and it gets so deep. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well,
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: There is. Episode two.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: I don’t I don’t know if you’re willing to tell that or not, but you’re coming back for another episode if you’re willing to tell that story.
Scott: Well, I’m not I I to be to be honest, I’m an open book. And I don’t know their health history.
Jennifer: You haven’t asked?
Scott: I don’t know
Jennifer: We got a little bit.
Scott: So we got a little bit. And the only thing I could get out of my sister who I really don’t really talk a lot with, even though she lives here in the states, um is that they just have arthritis. My mom has a bad back, that’s about it. And then my dad is I don’t really know anything about my my biological dad, right? And the only thing I know that she’s told my oldest sister has told me is that my biological mother just suffers from arthritis and her back. No high blood pressure. No.
Jennifer: No dehydration.
Scott: No dehydration. No. Um there’s no hypertension, no heart problems, nothing of the sort.
Jennifer: Interesting. We’re going to save that for part two. Well, find find out before before part two, would you?
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Yeah, well and otherwise, you know, listed, you know, to to every doctor that came across him and even still to this day, they’re like, you had a what? You know, and and even going into the VA, the wonderful VA healthcare that he gets.
Scott: Wow.
Jennifer: It’s so good to hear you speak highly of the health care system. That’s not something you hear very much.
Scott: Oh, yeah.
Jennifer: And not just the military health care. I mean, like you’re just in general and that’s fantastic to hear really.
Scott: It is. His VA health care.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Scott: His his civilian health. I mean, every single person. How how like a lot of people, you know, they’re like, oh, I couldn’t get an appointment at the VA. Like, I don’t understand. I maybe I’m just the fortunate one or, you know, the blessed one.
Jennifer: It’s crazy.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Well, if so, I’m I’m happy for that.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: It should it should be an experience every night.
Scott: It should be.
Jennifer: It should be, absolutely.
Scott: It should be because, you know, what we do for our country and what we sacrifice, especially also my family, what they sacrifice too. What they have to go through. Some people think don’t think about that.
Jennifer: Right. I don’t want to run out of time without first of all, we’re going to take a break in just a second and I want I had you guys fill out a little questionnaire and I want to go through some of your answers on that. But before we get to that, give me the rundown of how this event because people are probably listening to this saying, okay, this is a really crazy interesting story, but how did that lead to making cookies?
Scott: Okay. So,
Jennifer: Where does it come from?
Scott: Yeah. So, tell me that story.
Jennifer: I I went home his first night in the CVICU and I said, oh my gosh, throw everything with salt away. It’s the salt. I took trash bags and my my five-day brined turkey that I never got to cook. Um I threw it all away. I threw I went through everything. Um and this was the same time that I caught my first grader YouTubing a cabbage procedure, which is a coronary artery bypass graft surgery, which was the surgery he had. Look, mommy, it’s daddy’s surgery on the TV.
Scott: Oh.
Jennifer: Wow.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Um while I’m emptying all the salt.
Scott: And you’re like, yeah.
Jennifer: In the house. And and you know, and and you know, entered, okay. All right, we’re starting over. We’re starting over.
Scott: Okay.
Jennifer: Yeah, but you started making cookies. Okay, so I gotta understand this. It’s not like you started making salad.
Scott: So. Right. During the recovery process, I spent a lot of time in the living room sleeping on the couch because I know the heart is far away from your legs, but you cannot walk upstairs. Like I could not go upstairs without like
Jennifer: So it wasn’t that she was mad, she had to throw away the turkey, so she had to sleep on the couch. Okay, got it.
Scott: No. But you know, towards my recovery when I was able to get a little bit more mobile and I was able to move around the house without, you know, her helping me move around or helping me off the couch because that in itself, I don’t think people understand how much core you engage and your upper body you engage just to get out of a chair. That in itself was difficult.
Jennifer: And you couldn’t do it for eight weeks.
Scott: Yeah, couldn’t do it for eight weeks. I had to sleep on the couch. But when I was able to move, I was like, okay, I can’t sit here forever. You know, so I’m on my phone cruising Instagram and I’m like, what can I do that’s
Jennifer: I wish my husband made cookies when he got bored.
Scott: It was interesting enough to like, you know, keep me occupied, but at the same time, you know, looking at cookie videos like, you know, people baking cookies.
Jennifer: I think it’s hilarious that you say, okay. So you have this big tough military guy that just survived all of this and you say that like, I mean, obviously, I’m going to look at cookie videos. I that is not anything that would ever occur to me.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: It’s so funny.
Scott: It’s like.
Jennifer: And and I’m going to go into the kitchen, you know, where my wife work.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: So you decided you’re going to make some cookies.
Scott: My wife usually holds down this fort. And does all this. And I walked downstairs one morning and he’s like, oh, here, try this. I couldn’t sleep. I want to go back to work. I want to go scream and train. I, you know, and I can’t but here, try this. And I’m like, well, what what might this be? And he says, well, I made a cookie. And I’m like, hold on, you know where the baking pans are?
Jennifer: So he had never done anything like that before.
Scott: No. We love cooking together and we barbecue together.
Jennifer: But as far as showing an interest in just like looking things up and doing it on his own, never.
Scott: Never.
Jennifer: That’s so interesting.
Scott: Yeah. And and enter, you know, of course me and me and my therapy. I’m like, oh yeah, bake more.
Jennifer: Good for you.
Scott: Do it more.
Jennifer: If they’re good.
Scott: And of course, you know, and then it was like, my kids are like, hey, try these real quick. And they’re like, oh my god, it’s so good. I was like, okay, I’ll make more then. You know, and then as I like watching videos, I’m like, oh, that looks easy enough. If I can figure that out, you know, I’m just like baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla. That’s easy. flour. Easy enough. Then I just started like and so what really intrigued me about it all was the chemistry of it. Is the mixology of everything and how you get this awesome yummy product.
Jennifer: So because I haven’t had one of your cookies. Are they like
Scott: Which next time we will bring some.
Jennifer: Oh, okay. Well, then let’s plan that for tomorrow. But so are they like chewy cookies?
Scott: Oh, yeah.
Jennifer: I love chewy cookies. Like with a little where they outside with a little
Scott: And they’re a bagel size. So it’s not like just your like little puny chips of.
Jennifer: Yeah. Oh, I’ve seen the pictures. They look pretty massive.
Scott: Our cookies are at 100 grams. That’s that’s the norm.
Jennifer: What was the first cookie you made that you had her try? Do you remember?
Scott: Yeah. I do remember because I have the first picture of it. It was a it was a fruity pebble vanilla cookie.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s right.
Scott: With a cream with a cream cheese frosting on top.
Jennifer: That sounds amazing. Do you still make that one?
Scott: Um, I’ve
Jennifer: No, because we can’t do cream cheese.
Scott: Yeah, we can’t do cream cheese. Yeah.
Jennifer: Oh, I’ve got you. But I do a good Lucky Charms one too though.
Scott: Yes.
Jennifer: Lucky. Well, and and, you know, the therapeutic part is him baking. And he’s like, you know, started with and then the cookies for us at the house and then and then this banana bread and, um, his old his old battalion commander, uh, which is, um, the head of IG now. And and she’s doing a great job over there. Then his sergeant major, everybody in his company, all his battle buddies, all drill sergeants, all what they call red cycle dinners. um when the guys are working real, real hard 20-hour days. The families take turn taking dinner. We did that even when he was in recovery and he was working.
Scott: That’s so cool.
Jennifer: Even when I wasn’t even ready to go back to work, I was still doing.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: So, who was the first person that said, or did you just think of it, you need to sell these cookies.
Scott: Of course.
Jennifer: Because the wife, yeah.
Scott: Well, so I was doing it for a year before I went live. And like I said, like for for fun, for people, family. Um, I know a lot of my company when I move so I move after I was doing my drill sergeant time. I move to battalion, I worked in the S-shop. S1, which is like admin, like data entering admin for, you know, and help them out. And I was like, hey, I’m gonna bring some cookies in one day. You guys want to try them? And they’re like, oh, yeah, sure, we’ll try them. And then I did.
Jennifer: That’s a good taster.
Scott: And that was the thing too. I was really making a lot just because I wanted to like, hey, try this one. I did a different I did something different with this one. Oh, hey, try this one. I threw a little bit more vanilla in this one. Tell me about it. And they’re like, oh my gosh, like everything is just so good. And I was I come home and I was like, hey, they liked it. They enjoyed it. And then
Jennifer: Oh, they liked it. Duh.
Scott: So that was I did that for about a year. Yeah.
Jennifer: And then, okay, and then
Scott: As retirement.
Jennifer: Just a little segue.
Scott: The banana bread part was my original. That’s my original. I I made that from scratch. That’s why if you look on our menu, it’s Scott’s original banana bread because I made that.
Jennifer: Is the word original real big.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Like like bold.
Scott: Yep.
Jennifer: On the labels. I think it is.
Scott: And then at that point, then my wife’s like, hey, you’re doing really well. Like, what do you think about maybe going live and like doing an event?
Jennifer: It was a little complicated. Oh my gosh, I have so many questions.
Scott: I was scared. I was so scared.
Jennifer: We we he he was retiring. We were moving off post. And I’m like
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: The more I talk to you guys, I need to split this into two episodes. Literally. Because we’re already at 40 minutes and there’s nothing I want to cut out of this and I still have so many questions. So we’re going to take a break and we’ll be right back with a lot more from Scott and Jennifer from Dad Bod Cookie Company.
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Back with Scott and Jennifer, Jennifer and Scott, I never know whose name to put first.
Scott: Always him.
Jennifer: From Dad Bod Cookie Company. It’s a local cookie company, but you do a lot more than cookies, right? Okay, cinnamon rolls, banana bread, cookies. What else? Did I miss anything?
Scott: Uh so my wife makes her version of Texas sheet cake.
Jennifer: Ooh. My mom used to make that. I haven’t had that in years.
Scott: Which is a chocolate based cake. And if you’re from Texas, you know what Texas sheet cake is. cuz a lot of people around here are like, well, what’s a Texas sheet cake? It’s just a chocolate cake.
Jennifer: It was originally meant for the cowboys, you know, working out in the fields and uh they had to feed a lot with a little. And and the history behind that is a really quirky history, you know, state specific to Texas. kind of like, you know, gooey butter cake is to St. Louis and we do our rendition of that. We got to be careful because of course, obviously we can’t do cream cheese. So, you know, learning the emulsions and a little more of that science.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: So how did you how yeah, how much of a I started to say an adventure, but that’s not the right word. How much of a challenge was it to learn everything you needed to learn?
Jennifer: Missouri is one of the states that really uh simplifies food cottage laws. And um it really is straightforward. Um, you know, and obviously if it goes in the fridge and you want to sit out and sell it, you can’t do that without, you know, being properly licensed and those things like that. But, you know, non-hazardous baked goods. Um once that bread is cooked through, once that cookie is through cooked through, um it becomes non-hazardous. Um which of course, a lot of those things fall within those cottage laws. And uh Missouri does make it really clear. Hey look, this is what you can and can’t do and, um, and so but learning and and the challenge for him was, I’m not offering garbage. You can buy garbage at any big box place.
Scott: And that’s the one thing too that we really pride ourselves on because we make our own brown sugar.
Jennifer: You make your own brown sugar?
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: And it’s it’s pretty easy.
Scott: Yeah, we make our own brown sugar. We make our own homemade vanilla. And then we also make
Jennifer: It’s amazing.
Scott: it’s amazing.
Jennifer: It takes over a year.
Scott: Takes over a year.
Jennifer: And doesn’t it taste totally different than the fake imitation stuff?
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: I’ve never made my own vanilla, but I I always use real vanilla. The one I get comes from, I think Mexico. Vanilla cake is my favorite. Just a vanilla cake with like either a buttercream or a cream cheese frosting, just plain is my favorite. I’m not a baker at all, but I will keep messing with it and when I use the imitation vanilla versus the good stuff, what I call the good stuff, people will say, what’s that flavor? What’s that? And it all it is is just real vanilla. But I can’t imagine the difference when you make your own.
Scott: Yeah, completely.
Jennifer: And and it is and powdered sugar.
Scott: Powdered sugar.
Jennifer: And if we feel like
Scott: Wait, do you don’t powder your own sugar?
Jennifer: We we make our own.
Scott: Do you stop it?
Jennifer: We we do we do have a little bit of drama going on with our with our mixer, our our blender.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Um but we’re we’re struggling with that a little bit. And but when we can, yes, it’s powdered sugar.
Jennifer: I would like to say, not that anyone has put me on the defensive side, but I would like to say in my defense of why I don’t script this podcast, because I’ve had people say, well, can you tell me what you’re going to ask? Well, no, what fun is that? This is why. This is why if I had a script and I just had questions put out that and those were the only ones I asked, I would not know any of this stuff that you guys are saying. You you make your own vanilla. Okay. Um you powder your own sugar. I don’t I don’t even know how that happens. You make your own brown sugar. Like I’m so amazed right now. So, do you ever get mad, cuz I know you’ve had this I’m gonna assume you’ve had this because I have quite a few food-based businesses that are marketing clients of mine and then I also have my own food-based business. And I know it never fails people go, well, their stuff’s too expensive. I said something one time to somebody and said, how do you know if it’s too expensive if you don’t know what goes into my product and what my costs are? How do you know? It may be more than what your budget will allow, but that doesn’t mean it’s too expensive. Don’t you want to yell at people and go, we powder our own sugar. Like like I cuz I know you’ve you’ve heard somebody say,
Scott: Absolutely. But everyone knows though like if it’s healthy and it’s quality made, of course, it’s going to cost a little bit more.
Jennifer: You say everyone knows that, but come on. No, they do not.
Scott: Yeah, you’re right. Okay.
Jennifer: And people are
Scott: I digress.
Jennifer: We we’ve never had um we’ve never had anybody, you know, once kind of say, oh my gosh, I could make that at home. Um which
Scott: Oh, that’s more.
Jennifer: Well, more power. More power to you.
Scott: Yeah, like of course you’re entitled to your opinion.
Jennifer: Of course, absolutely. But it still can be frustrating when you’re the one that’s putting in the financial investment, the time, and the love. I mean, you want people to like it or you wouldn’t be doing it.
Scott: But yeah.
Jennifer: And and that’s exactly and I think um I think once everybody has heard his story, they’ve met him. Um everybody loves him.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: How protective of him are you? Which now we’re gonna get to the part of that here. We don’t even have to bring up all the people.
Scott: Yeah.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Scott: The one thing that Jen will say about me, which my wife will say about me, is I am the same exact person in any room I walk into. You will always get my authenticity, my transparency, and my genuineness because I am the same person regardless if I meet you or if I meet another person down the road, I you will get the same exact Scott.
Jennifer: Okay, so because this episode is so long, I I am going to do something I’ve never done before. And I’m going to split this into two two episodes. So those of you listening, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to wait for next week for the rest of this story. But on next week’s episode, which you guys and we’re going to go ahead and hash this out right now, but they’re not going to get to hear it until later. We’re going to talk about the name, where it came from. We are going to talk about three things people might be surprised to learn about each of you. Your favorite thing about the Pulaski County area because you obviously decided you were going to stay here and make this home. The challenges of having a home-based business. And then we’re going to talk about some of the negativity and some of I don’t want to use the word attack, because it seems like a lot. So we’re going to talk about some of the things you’ve had to deal with and where you think that stuff comes from and how you deal with that because that is one of the reasons that I want to withdraw from life. Is I mean, and well, that sounded bad. That’s not I didn’t mean that the way that sounded. Not nearly as serious as it said. It’s one of the reasons I struggle with. Do I want to do this business and do I want to create and do I want to build this and do I want to be bigger and better? Or do I just want to go on my farm and ride my horse and stay away from people all the time? When I say withdraw from life, I could have been taken another way. Don’t call I’m fine. But I really struggle with that. And and I’m wondering if you guys do as well. I mean, sometimes it’s hard to have stick-to-itiveness when you feel like you just have to deal with negativity all the time. So, we’re going to talk about all that, but I’m so sorry. We are going to push that to next week’s episode. So you’re going to have to come back for that. So, as far as this part of this episode goes, thank you guys so much for joining me. I I’ve learned a lot and I I can’t wait to learn more.
Scott: No, you’re fine.