I don’t think anyone could dream about what was about to happen in 2020 at this time last year. We all thought that this was going to be the most amazing year in history. And yes, in one way it actually has but maybe not in the way we wanted. At least I would never imagine that I would be able to witness a crazy year like this. And for me personally it hasn’t all been bad, it’s been pretty good over all. So I’m going to do a little review of the year 2020.
January started a little dramatic. On January 8th mom had to be moved to hospice in Tyler after most likely taken too much medications and became unresponsive. It took her a couple of days to recover but after a week she was able to come back home. But this was also the beginning of the downhill for her. She had to be monitored much more thoroughly after this incident.
I worked my regular shift in Mineola and picked up a couple of extra shifts. I was able to work out as I wanted and felt pretty good.
E! Terrell had the pleasure to welcome Tajici to the stage and it was an amazing show she, her sister and pianist put on!
The month ended with the honor to sing at Mr. Joe Saucedas funeral in Terrell.
I had a couple of CERT events in February. Presentations and trainings. Met a lot of fun people. Terrell Chamber of Commerce had their annual luncheon.
Mom was pretty stable the entire month, thankfully. She was home and the nurse and aid came on their schedules which made it easier for me.
I went back to my hematologist for my quarterly bloodwork and was very happy to know that I wouldn’t need any treatment this round!
I worked my regular schedule at work. Had a hilarious thing happen… my medic and our probie forgot me and left me behind at the hospital! I am still laughing at that today!
I sang karaoke at Johnny Miguels and did pretty good. Got some excitement back for singing again, just that little sparkle that I probably needed.
This is the month when the world turned upside down! We heard about COVID-19 for the very first time. We had to start wearing masks at work and take special precautions when dealing with these sick patients. Covid also made my Heart Day, as I usually celebrate as my birthday, pass by unnoticed. I wanted to celebrate it but it was just when all restaurants and bars had closed so it was impossible. Social distancing became a new thing and Zoom meetings made itself popular. Basically everything got cancelled and the world came to a standstill.
Working EMS thou means that you are an essential worker and that part of the life went on as normal. Before all the covid stuff hit I was able to pick up some event shifts, worked a 15K race in Tyler for example.
Outdoor activities was not cancelled and my friend Jaylene and I went horseback riding at the end of the month, something I had not done for years since my own horses are not broke to ride.
Looking back in my calendar of april, it is just filled cancelled event marked with big X. We had to start wearing masks at work and the chamber morning mingle was now on Zoom. It was supposed to be a very busy month with events, instead I was having to refocus on more important things.
April 10th mom fell at home. Thankfully I had cameras and checked on her almost hourly so I realized what had happen. So from my ambulance I had to call Christus EMS to come and help her get up. I had the hunch feeling that something was not right with her and had to leave work to check on her. When I came home I found her with severe bruising over her chest. Her sternum was absolutely fractured. I contacted her hospice who came and did an evaluation and agreed that she needed to go back to inhouse hospice for a couple of days for pain management. I suspected that she had a TIA (minor stroke). Mom was back in hospice for a total of 10 days before she could go home. But her brain was not the same. She was now very confused and aggressive.
But April wasn’t just bad things. On April 17th we got an addition to the family when Twix came into my life. This little bundle of joy was going to be more important for me than I could ever imagine. I was so grateful that Homeplace Hospice let me bring him along one day so mom could meet him without any other dogs present!
The worst month this entire year. Mom declined and was for the third or fourth time this year taken back to hospice after going almost entirely unresponsive. It was now clear that what happened in April was a stroke. We now knew that she was not going to come back home. It was just a matter of time. I tried to spend as much time with her as I could but she was unresponsive most of the time. I brought Shannon with me one day so they could say goodbye. That was one of the most emotional things I’ve ever done.
On May 14th mom finally took her last breath and went to be with the Lord. She was now pain free and happy after a long hard fight with COPD. I thought I was prepared for this day but I was wrong. I took mom’s passing much harder than I anticipated. Thankfully I had the dogs and work that kept my mind a little bit in place. But it sure was a roller coaster. Covid certainly didn’t help since everything was closed and all events was cancelled.
I decided to restart this blog in May. A way for me to restart my life, channeling the new challenges faced with being all alone.
Trying to find a new normal. Trying to figure out how to live my life. It was a hard time. All the stress pushed my health to an extreme. It was time for another check up of my blood and this time it was no other way than another round of Iron infusion.
Work was quite exciting. We had a rescue operation in Mineola Nature Preserve with Mineola FD. It was quite interesting and the patient was after the circumstances okay with a broken leg.
Two coworkers wanted to put a prank on me and scared the shit out of me. Well… not knowing that I have heart problems and a syncope syndrome… they had no clue that I was about to go down fast and furious. The prank was fun, I am laughing at it still today, but their faces when I woke up was almost better… I think I scared them more than me. And that’s when I got my nickname The Fainting Goat.
We are now getting used to all this Corona crap. Realizing that it will not go away anytime soon. Masks and respirators are now a fashion statement.
I am working out again. Got myself a gym membership at Snap Fitness in town to help me bring some strength to my muscles.
Twix is growing like crazy. BamBam and him are having a blast. Shannon is also accepting him as a family member. He certainly brought a lot of joy to the family!
I am finding more of a normalcy to life. It was a roller coaster but I mostly felt at ease with my new situation. It was more tricky to figure out working 24 hour shifts with the dogs.
Can’t believe it is already August. The time since mom’s passing has just flown by. I felt so tired and exhausted. Had a hard time staying awake and had a lot of tachycardia that I struggled with. Nothing that really stopped me from doing anything but it was annoying. I tried to get an appointment with my cardiologist but they didn’t have anything within weeks so I turned to my PCP and got an appointment the same day. Well, that turned crazy when my body finally gave up at his office and I passed out. But thankfully that lead to a very fast appointment to the cardiologist and a new medication that made the world difference for me!
My horses got a new pasture on 50 acres that belongs to a coworker. I am so grateful to be able to keep them! I truly have some amazing friends!
We were busy with CERT! Robert and I had a presentation for a Rotary Club in Greenville that was both online and in person. It was very interesting to do.
Louisiana was hit by a hurricane and a lot of evacuees came to Texas. CERT was deployed to help with registering all this people and assist with different things. We were there for a couple of days in the heat. It was rough but a lot of fun!
September was also one of those months when you just can’t grasp anything. After working 24 hour shifts for almost 1.5 year I decided to move to another station and start 12 hour shifts instead. So in the middle of the month I said goodbye to Mineola and Hello to Athens. A move I will never regret. Not only was it easier with the dogs, but the stress was reduced significantly.
I had scheduled a vacation week so I could have some time to clean the house and find myself a little bit more. Well, at least I wasn’t working but I didn’t get anything done as I wanted.
I injured my right foot quite severely while out walking. As stubborn as I am, I never went to the doctor. I could walk on it fine but it looked miserable.
Dogs and horses was doing fine. Twix learned the wet way that he is not Jesus and can not walk on water…
I went back to the cardiologist for a follow up appointment. They thought I needed a stress test on my heart. Well, insurance had a different opinion and it wasn’t approved.
Me and the dogs took a couple of walks at Mineola Nature Preserve. It was beautiful and nice! Some of them turned much longer than I expected them to but it was nice.
Work involved a lot of interactions with the fire departments around Henderson County. Different organizations showed their appreciation to hospital and EMS staff paining beautiful messages outside the ER entrance!
Thanks to a bottle of mane and tail detangler I got the opportunity to help out with a couple of Friesian horses at a Chamber Ribbon Cutting! That day was the day of the month! Get the smell of horse and the trust to help out, as they didn’t know me at all!
I got a big spark to music and singing again after a karaoke night in town. Was able to do a home recording of The Rose that turned out pretty good. That also gave me the idea of two other projects that was continuous in November and December…
Covid is now something normal. After 9 months of dealing with it we now know to bring a mask as soon as we are in a public place. We all hate it but deal with it.
I needed something fresh and decided to change my haircolor to a more reddish brown than the blondish it was before. I love it! I cleaned out a bed in my office so the dogs could be comfortable while I’m working at the computer. Twix was also neutered in November so that was over and done with!
Challenged myself with working a 24 hour shift in Mineola. It was awesome working with Seth again but I don’t miss that long shift! While back in Athens our county won a challenge against the other counties in the company and for that got a pizza! Deeeelicious!
We had our annual disaster drill with CERT. It was a lot of good things learned and we got a good teamwork. I was honored with an Award of Excellence!
But I think it was musically that was the best of this month! I was able to go into the studio with Paul Piper and record my first song, Single City. The plans was that this project would be released before Christmas but yeah… that didn’t happen. I also invested in a keyboard to myself, something I wanted for a while. Now I can work on my music a little better!
The month ended with a fun friendsgiving in Gilmer! A lot of food, goodies and friendship!
December started awesome with the Athens Christmas Parade with work. It was truly so much fun. I really like those events. I was supposed to work the Terrell Parade with CERT, had taken off work for it and then it was cancelled.
But on December 8th I had an accident at work and got a concussion. After two days of severe dizziness and pain my body had enough and my heart went into SVT and would not go back to normal for almost 10 hours. I was taken to the hospital and discharged after 24 hours. That though had me to be on light duty for the rest of the month. A wakeup call of how much I truly love my job and my coworkers, both out in the field and at the office. The help and support I got was beyond amazing! The time at the office has certainly been interesting with two firealarms (one was an unintentional push and the other a drill). I was also able to dress up a little before Christmas! Good times!
The project Single City continued with two days of video shoot. It looked like we were going to be able to release it in time on December 15th but, as you already know, that didn’t happen. I was even able to go back into the studio to record the second song before it came out. But I am hopeful the video will be released within the next week!
I got a huge package from Sweden filled with goodies for both me and the dogs. It was amazing for the dogs to start Christmas Day with their own piggie treat! And I had Swedish Chocolate for the rest of the year!
So, yeah, 2020 was a weird year but I think, overall it was a better one than 2019. Weird but okay. I am excited about 2021, think a lot of fun and good stuff will come out of it! Something that hit me yesterday was that my lucky number is 21. I am born December 21st, I got my pacemaker on March 21… we are now going into the year 2021… this just has to be the best year ever!!! Right? So bring it on!
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