Anything Goes - March 11, 2014

Helloooooo Out there!

By now you probably thought I had disappeared for good and was a possible figment of your imagination. I can assure you, all those years of "me being me" were real and it is indeed, me, Jamie visiting you in your inbox!

I have appreciated all the emails asking me how I am and wondering if I was coming back. I tried to answer as many as I could, but failed miserably at times. It would take me a year of columns alone to go through everything that has gone on and the way I look at it, why bore all of you, when it actually bores me???

What I will share, however, are a few things that have happened which has caused me to be away longer than I ever expected or wanted...

My health...

This was the bulk of the email that came in wondering what was going on with me and unfortunately, the past two years haven't been too great. I did quit smoking off and on and as soon as I would feel much better, pick up a smoke and start the cycle of deterioration all over again. I have no excuses for it other than being stupid...crazy...idiotic...etc.

I kept trying however and had a longer time under my belt and was able to be off the 24 hour a day oxygen, go out, travel a little and start enjoying life again...

UNTIL...

Last April, we lost our beloved Ginger. She got sick and went into kidney failure. The thing about it was she got sick and failed so quickly, none of us even had time to "prepare" if there's such a thing. She was only five, young, even for a Great Dane...

Moosie was so distraught she let out a blood curdling howl/scream the day Flyboy took Ginger to the vet for the last time. She seemed to know she would never see her sister again, and never did. She spent the next month looking for her, going outside, sitting on the patio and staring for hours looking for her sister. It broke our hearts as you can imagine. Our big 'ole goofy, playful Moosie changed the day Ginger left and has never been the same. Her heart is broken and it shows...

Uh...So I admit, during that time, I picked up the smokes again and feel free to sing along with me...

stupid, crazy, idiotic...

Sooooooo, fast forward to a month ago...

I was not feeling well, not unusual, but something didn't seem "right". Flyboy was due to go to work that afternoon and asked me if I needed him to call in sick and stay home. No matter how sick I have been, I never asked him to stay home because I usually can handle whatever it is and I told him, "nahhhhh, I'll be fine", (but this time I was a little worried and wondered if he should stay home)...

I was on the couch when Flyboy came out, all handsome in his uniform, (no matter how many years I see him in it, it still does something to me hahaha). He took one look at me and saw something in my face that freaked him and he went back, changed, called in sick and had me in the car in under 20 minutes off to the ER.

Alrighty...my face scared him. Hallmark should make cards for that!!!

I had my portable Oxygen with me but I was still having a hard time breathing. I was taken immediately so I guess I did look like doggy-doo! The "fun" started when the nurse had me get into a wheelchair and removed my Oxygen hose. Before she could "hook me up" to theirs, my Oxygen level plummeted to a level it had never gone to and although I have no memory of it because I went down like a ton of bricks, when I came to there were 3 doctors, two nurses and I think even a janitor and gardener working on me...

UH-OH I thought, did I just die? I saw a bright light but it was the doctor shining a freaking spotlight into my eyes. I didn't see any dead relatives, which is OK with me because I didn't like visiting most of them when they were alive!

Did I have a heart attack? Nope

Did I have a stroke? Nope

While smoking is never a good idea and the reason for some of my health problems, believe it or not, what made me so deathly ill and almost "bought the farm was the FLU!!!

No, never had a flu shot, never believed anyone could "really" die from the "stupid" flu, and would never believe, a month after I'm still not 100%...

The good news in all of this is...

I no longer smoke, I no longer WANT to smoke, and the smell of smoke makes me gag...Go figure!

I have had tons of stresses that have come and go since I quit and for the first time of quitting, I never used it as an excuse to smoke. Flyboy and I quit on Valentine's Day so it's not that long, but every day I don't smoke is a victory!

Right now, I'm battling an upper respiratory "thingy" that I caught from Flyboy and because of my weak immune system, is keeping me down longer than I would like, but I'll be patient and look at it this way. I didn't get sick overnight, I won't get better overnight...

So that's why I have been gone for a while and I would love to promise I'll be back regularly because I missed all of you! If it's at all possible, I think I've become more opinionated than I was before!

I guess I better get going and give some of you a chance to wake up! I promise you will hear from me within a few days again because I have some news I know you will enjoy and smile about...

I guess that's what the TV networks call a "Cliffhanger"...

:-)

Questions? Comments? Email Jamie

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