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My Battle with COVID-19

My Battle with COVID-19

Anyone who really knows me knows that I play things close to the vest. This is especially true of anything to do with my health because things can change very quickly for the worse. Historically that has been the case for me. This time last year I had just gotten out of the hospital after an asthma exacerbation.

This year I was in due to both COVID and an asthma exacerbation and I was scared shitless. After 2 1/2+ years of being extra vigilant, being fully vaccinated and boosted, wearing N95 masks everywhere, including two trips to L.A. for work, I was exposed on a work trip to Miami. I was in the hospital within 3 days of testing positive. I left my quarantine bubble to go to the hospital, not knowing if I would ever come back. It was the most sobering and terrifying experience I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot.

I was in hospital for four days, released back home still COVID positive to quarantine, and continue treatment. All with the Damocles Sword hanging over my head that I may develop COVID pneumonia, and to come back if I did. Statistically, based on my medical history, I shouldn’t have survived. But I did.

I’m dealing with Long-haul COVID and residual asthma issues, but I’m here. Oh, and something no one tells you about COVID until you talk to others who’ve had severe symptoms…the hallucinations… Yea, let that one sink in for a minute. As always, I’m grateful for the team at Methodist West for taking great care of me.

This selfie below was taken the day before I tested positive for COVID, but two days after I experienced anaphylactic shock at a team dinner. Nothing like being escorted out of a 5 star restaurant by EMS and security, in front of 100 of your coworkers to make you super popular at work the next morning.

 

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New Line – TND Bespoke Haberdashery

New Line – TND Bespoke Haberdashery

Hey Bling Lovers!

Things have been hectic since Hurricane Harvey wrecked havoc in August and the entire region has been trying to recover and resume some sense of normalcy. While my ability to ship out orders was delayed things got done, orders were shipped and received and all went well. But it was during this time that I’ve been MIA on my blog that I was putting that time to good use. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on October 16, 2017 in Work Life

 

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The Freedom to be Restrained

Happy Sunday my Lovelies! 

The 4th of July holiday weekend is coming to a close and some  inconsiderate people in my neighborhood still shooting off fireworks at 2 AM!  Let them tell it they are free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as they are not physically harming anyone.  It never ceases to amaze me how people in general feel and think that their wants, desires and personal freedom to do as they please trumps the personal liberties of others.  That these rights are ingrained and owed to them by birth.  I have had this blog posting brewing in my head for quite a while and have been waiting for the right time to unleash it upon you, the unsuspecting public.  On the 4th seemed too cliché and not the right time to stand on my soap box.  Today however is more mellow and I normally post off the wall things on a Sundays, so here goes.

Time and time again we as people, human beings, force our will upon others in the name of many things: God, religion (which is wholly separate from God), work, politics, etc.  We, as His creation, were endowed with the gift of free will.  We have the ability to choose exactly what we want to do and not do, go and not go within our preconceived boundaries.  In America we have more liberty and freedom than most across the globe, freedoms and liberties granted and guaranteed to us by The Constitution.  Yet some of us take advantage of these noble and fragile freedoms and take liberties that border on offensive and then hide behind the protection of said Constitution. 

Recent memory recalls the POTUS being called a monkey, a derisive and pejorative term that sickens me, and the perpetrator and those who agreed with and propagated the usage, hid behind the First Amendment.  I was raised in a way that said that even though I may not like the person who holds the office, I will respect the office itself.  I couldn’t stand Bush or anything he did or stood for, however he was my President and I respected him as such.  The disheartening thing is that people feel that it is their God-given right to say whatever they want, that just by being born they are ingrained with the ability to do as they see fit.  Not so!  The freedoms that they espouse are in no way free, they are not doled out just because you were born in or live in this country or its territories.  Many, many, many people have laid down and died just for the notion of freedom, never experiencing it themselves.  Go to any other non-democratic country and spew off some of the caustic, disrespectful and asinine things that you say and do and see if those same freedoms you hide behind are still in force.  You will end up disappearing, never to be seen or heard from again.  If I see one more “Sceed” bumper sticker I literally might pitch a fit on the freeway!  Take a page from our country’s history and that of other nations when they chose to pull away from the union. All those things that you take for granted: driving on paved and maintained roads, eating cereal on Saturday morning, PBS, Unemployment Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, county hospitals that won’t turn you away when you can’t afford private private care for non-emergent issues, travel to other countries with the protection of the Consulate, will be no more.  Only then will you realize and appreciate that which you dogged so vehemently.

I love my country and honor and respect those who served, fought and died so that I can write this.  My great grandparents weren’t born with the right to vote, to hold property, to speak in public, to rally against the system that told them that they were less than.  They weren’t even considered people, they were chattel per the same Constitution that says that I do and can have all of those things they longed for,  My grandparents didn’t even always have the right to vote and feared Jim Crow more than the enemy himself and his minions.  Respect that your rights, the freedom that you enjoy and flout, is coated with the the blood and sorrow of those who wished they could partake of the same;  And tinged with the hopes and dreams of those who are fighting right now just to have a choice and a say in how they live their lives.

I’m off my soapbox now and will pack it away… until next time that is…

Blessings and Happiness Always

T. Nicole

Blessings and Happiness

T. Nicole

 

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I’m Too Through…

Happy Friday My Lovelies!!

It has been a really rough week for me, my days have all blurred together, I’m physically exhausted and mentally running on empty right now. Between the breakthrough pain from RA, Spondyloarthritis, and my herniated L4-L5-SI discs and the opioid withdrawal from the morphine I take for pain management I’m too through y’all!!  It is hard enough dealing with things as they come but the anticipation of knowing what is coming is even harder.  Knowing that breakthrough pain and opioid withdrawal is coming within a matter of hours and knowing what kind of extreme torment will follow is enough to make you sick all by itself. Read the rest of this entry »

 

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A Little Melodramatics to Start Off

Happy Monday my Lovelies!

Last week was decidedly rough with beginning a new treatment (IVIG) and dealing with the nasty side effects of it and not having my pain meds.  It has been a rough weekend and an even rougher night last night because I didn’t sleep AT ALL!!!  I just found out that one of my favorite doctors, Dr. Lilianna Diaz, passed a little more than a month ago after a courageous fight with cancer, which explained why her office had to keep cancelling or rescheduling my appointments.  I was never upset about it because she was such a loving and caring physician who saw me through one of the most heinous and difficult times in my life.  She in no short order saved my life and for that I am eternally grateful and humbled.  My heart is heavy but I know that she resides with the Father and surely upon her arrival in Heaven, she heard, “Well done thy good and faithful servant”.

With that being said, I need something completely asinine and choked full of ridiculousness to make me laugh and bring a little hope to my day.  So without further ado, I present to you Mr. Randy Watson and his band, Sexual Chocolate!!

Blessings & Happiness Always my Lovelies

T. Nicole

 

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Tickled Pink

Hello my Lovelies!!

     I know I have been absent for the last week, I am been feeling so down and out that I didn’t have the energy or the drive to write anything! The weather here in Houston is dark, gloomy and stormy, much like my life here lately.   Life has been kicking my very prominent and, might I say voluptuous, derriere. I am trying most ferociously to keep a positive outlook and focus on the big picture, rather than the physical maladies I am facing and the depression that usually occurs in tandem with chronic pain.  That being said, I try to find things that make me smile and better yet make me laugh out loud.  Read the rest of this entry »

 

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A Moment of Reflection

Good morning my Lovelies!

Happy Sunday my dears, it is yet another gloriously beautiful day in Houston, TX!  I am on what seems to be a never ending quest to evaluate my inner most self and can normally be found in a pensive and reflective state.  Today is no different than any other day as I am deep in thought yet again.  It has taken me years to figure out who I really am outside of being a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a friend.  It is hard to realize who we are outside of all the labels that we have and believe define us.

It is my hope and sincere wish for you all that you take time out to truly figure out who you are and what you want, outside the moinkers and titles we attach to ourselves and let other attach to us.  I think you will surprised at the outcome.  Let me know how it turns out for you,  I would be happy to hear it!

Blessing and Happiness

T. Nicole

 

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A Daily Dose of Humor

A Daily Dose of Humor

Happy Thursday my Lovelies!

This week has been quite tough for me physically and I haven’t been my normal, cuddy, bubbly, sweet self!  Last night I needed to make myself laugh, I needed to something to lift my downcast spirit and so I went back to the one thing that will ALWAYS make me happy…The Muppets™ !  I grew up with The Muppets™ and have always been hilariously entertained by their adult humor ( even as a kid, I was a bit mature and understood WAY more than I probably should have). I adore Animal and Fozzie, Dr. Honeydew and Beaker, and especially Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem; even in my adulthood I take great joy in their antics and it makes me smile and laugh from a place that lifts a weight off of me.

So, I want to share with you what makes me smile, in the hopes that maybe you will smile too.

Blessings and Happiness

T. Nicole

All Muppets photos and videos attributed to Disney.  disney.go.com/muppets/

 

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“The Alphabet Game”

     Today has been a rough day for me, to say the very least.  This week in general has been one that has tested my patience to the inth degree. Something happened to me today that caused me to take a step back, a moment of self-reflection and compiling a persona inventory of sorts.  This “thing”, action, occurrence, for the lack of a better term, shook me to my foundation and made me question my self-worth, my ability to function in a professional capacity even.  And I know that it shouldn’t have affected me the way it did, I am stronger and better than that.  As a matter of fact I have a sign posted in my cubicle to remind me on those days when it all seems to be too much that I can do and be better.

     I have done several spiritual inventories before but this time I think it is time for a personal one. Read the rest of this entry »

 

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One Heck of a Week So Far

Happy Hump Day my Lovelies!

Friday was a very lonely work day for me because my partners in crime, Luis and Macie, were both out of the office and so to say the least the day eked by quite slowly.  So I was looking forward to Monday when everything was going to be back to normal; not so much!  Macie was dragging because she was worn out from a long weekend with her family and I had an early morning meeting (which ended up being a pissing contest between me and my former boss… I was the victor!).  But true to form, Sauceboxx a.k.a. Heinz 57 was back!  I said something to her, very innocuous and innocent in nature, and she replied, not even looking at me, “Big Whoop!  You want to fight about it?”  Glad to have her back!

Yesterday we were in configuration meetings from 10-2 and 2-4 and bored to tears and hungry (this is why there wasn’t a post for yesterday… so sorry my dears, I will do better).  I had just come from the Orthopedist earlier that morning and was issued a new knee brace until my surgery in June (more to come on that later).  I was shuffling around the training room we were in  ( I use shuffling for the lack of a better term and to accurately describe my gait- Think of the old Jewish guy from The Simpsons© that sang “Old Grey Mare” ) and the tie came off of my jumper I was wearing.  I was shuffling back to my seat and said, “Oh no, my cloths came off!” and Macie damn near fell out of her seat laughing at me!  She said that she couldn’t wait to see me as an old lady, creeping around and my cloths falling off at random.  Very Heinz 57 type behavior! 

So here’s to long, boring meetings, stale coffee, late lunches and clothes coming off at random around the office!

A.K.A Macie!

  My obsure Simpsons reference!

 

Blessings and Happiness

T. Nicole

 

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