Who Am I?
So glad you asked. My most important role is that of a grandmother to an amazing 6-year-old. That little girl is the light of my life and is what keeps me going on days that I just want to give up and call it quits.
I live on the north shore of Hay Bay in Greater Napanee, Ontario. I find looking out at the water very relaxing. It is what I focus on when my chronic pain is at its worst.
I Am A Warrior And A Survivor
I have survived for decades with multiple autoimmune diseases including limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (previously known as scleroderma CREST) and Sjogren’s. In 2014, I made the mistake of taking a full-time position at an organization that did nothing to prevent “bullying” by a supervisor. This eventually led to mental health issues including anxiety, panic, severe depression, and symptoms of PTSD. In January 2015, I was rushed to the hospital from work after a particularly stressful incident with a suspected heart attack. It was just a very severe panic attack.
Unfortunately, work would not support me and I was unable to get the help I needed. The mental health issues triggered my immune system to go into overdrive and I went from living an almost “normal” life with my diseases to getting extremely ill. LCSS and Sjogren’s attacked my lungs and my heart. Fatigue was so overwhelming that I pretty much became a couch potato. Even breathing hurt.
I am hoping that through this blog I can help other people with my stories of survival, navigating the medical system, tricks I’ve learned to help myself, and just some “fun stuff” to get away from all the doom and gloom.
What I’m Doing Now
It has not been easy getting back on track. I’m not there yet but I’m working on it. I have a lot of people in my corner and I’m doing everything I can to help myself. I will be writing about these things. Who knows, maybe they can help you as well!
You don’t have to be as sick as I have been to benefit from my stories. Just take what applies and leave the rest. I have learned some tricks that have improved my quality of life. My goal is to pass these on to you, hopefully, to improve your quality of life also.
Working Now (Well, Sort Of)
I am doing the best I can to get off disability. I won’t ever be able to work as a network engineer again, and I doubt that I will ever be able to work in an office since being under overhead lights is like being under a strobe light due to issues with my vision.
To overcome this problem I spent a lot of time thinking about all of my skills and how I might be able to apply them to be able to work from home. I finally decided on designing websites that are affordable for small businesses. This is the website for my business MTech Services. If you own a small business and need to get on the web so that customers can find you, don’t like your current site and want something new, or you just want your own blog site like this one, please check it out and consider me as one of your options.
Building a new business takes a long time and it is difficult to find new customers when your target group is not likely to be on the web to begin with. If you know someone who could use my services please let them know about me. I’d really appreciate it!
This site might take a while to progress since it will have to take a backseat to other priorities but I’m going to make it happen. Please come back regularly to see my stories. Eventually, I will put a subscription link so that you can sign up to be notified of updates if you wish.
Thanks
Thank you so much for listening. I hope to see you again soon and really hope that my ramblings will help you to deal with whatever you may be going through!
If you’d like to help me please Like my Facebook Page and visit my business website.