A Bachelors Blog

This morning I witnessed a beautiful sunrise amidst the brittle cold of a prairie winter. Cold all night and cold all day but in the middle of that misery was this one beautiful moment, making the rest of it that much more bearable and isn’t that just how life goes sometimes?   There are times when you are stuck and struggling and you just need to reach out for a win, something to get you through, whether Its a beautiful sunrise, a positive interaction, the hug of someone you love, the sweet tail wags of your beloved pet, the feel of the hot car seat heater on your aching back, the taste of a good mug of coffee or tea… any moment to pause from the grind and to just enjoy. Put everything else aside just for a few seconds and soak in that joy and pleasure.  Life has been difficult for me these past couple of months and I’ve been trying my best to pull out of my personal nosedive, to find my peace and to get back to good mentally. It’s the time of year as well, I get that, but so...

I didn’t realize how fast time has been blurring by since 2021.  After losing someone important to me I think I just needed to retreat for while.   A quick recap - Tried to return to work in 2022 and dealt with numerous issue in my return. Doctor decided I needed to rest so I was off work again from November till May of 2023, without support from work or workers comp so no pay for 6 months. #stress  My relationship fell apart.  A lot of big and small issues but in summation… we grew apart into different directions.  It happens. It’s sad but that’s life sometimes. Tried returning to work in May and it’s stuck so far… it’s been tough and for some reason 2024 just wants to be difficult but that’s life sometimes too I suppose.   Writing has always been a healthy vent for me and my blog has been a place to just talk it out. Never really know who’s reading but it does help me process through some rough patches.  So thanks, Blog!   So now we enter a...

I’ve written this in my mind about a hundred times over the past while and have studiously avoided ‘putting pen to paper’ until now.  Now we are out of time and my guts and heart ache as my spirit struggles with this loss.  This isn’t about me.  I’m a supporting actor in this blog post.  This is the best way to honour my friend that I can think of, to help ease her passing maybe a little.  A post to tell the world about this wonderful person that most readers have never met, and never will, and that’s the biggest shame of all.  This star shines so bright in the world and the darkness just seems to push in a little more without it.     I fell in love with Margaret the moment I saw her.  She was my first true love. I was smitten.  Her golden hair and sparkling green eyes, her musical laugh and amazing wit. The stories of how we met and the connection to eachother through the 27 years together are both hilarious and awkward, boring and...

Welp, as I approach 10 months of medical leave of absence, I figured it was time for an update of sorts.   So let’s Coles notes this bish and get caught up.   - summer - started to recover and get back to a level of normal. Hopeful to return to work once off my blood thinners - October - massive setback with the cold weather.  Basically all my symptoms and issues returned, almost sent myself to the hospital on a few occasions. Depression and docs orders to not walk more than a city block per day start to wear me down - December - 30 pounds overweight. Depressed. Headaches, muscle and joint pain, cough, covid fog, insomnia issues, and a crushing fatigue.  I finally get off the blood thinners. Although they are life saving they are also life altering in a less than ideal way.  - December, off the blood thinners, I start to kind of feel a semblance of my old self.  Start small walks.  3000 steps. 6000 steps. 10 000 steps.  My asthma and lun...

So, I did a thing with a friend of mine who has a health and wellness podcast. It’s just me being a cranky old man and talking about my harrowing adventures in Covid land.  https://anchor.fm/girlwithaflare/episodes/In-it-for-the-long-haul--my-COVID-story---Ryan-Zammit-e18i9nk Please check out Chrissy’s other posts as well!  Cheers all 

Wasn’t sure which title to go with so you get them both…. And on that note, let’s jump right in…  If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know about my COVID and blood clotting near misses. Going from completely healthy and gearing up for martial arts competing to not being allowed to walk more than three blocks in a day, well, it’s been a challenge.    So that will earn me understatement of the year, I think.    It’s hard to get your head around the ‘not allowed to do the stuff for your own good’ mentality.  I pushed limits a few times to my own detriment and boy did I feel those repercussions.  Usually lasting days of pain. You learn quickly when the teacher is agony.    So going from being the fiercely independent and driven person to a meeker version of myself, being told what I can and cannot do, and of course pushing those boundaries to my detriment (see previous paragraph) has really done a number on my psyche.    I noticed e...

Maybe this post title should be “two steps forward, one broken leg back”, or “just when you thought it was safe to be healthy” ... So here is the update as of may 26, 28 days since this all kicked off.  That’s 4 weeks now and my life is still in some danger.   Yeah. You read it right.  Went in for a CT scan. A quick hour of dye pumped into my body and a cool 3D image of my ravaged lungs. No sweat.  Plug the parking meter for an hour and let’s do this, I’ve got shit to do, plans and such!  Ironically I was going to try and schedule my vaccine.     Well, scan comes and goes and all seems fine except they won’t let me leave after. Can’t reach any of my doctors and they won’t talk to me about my imaging.   I wait.  My hour passes and now I’m thinking about getting a stupid parking ticket.  Two hours. The tech needs doc 1 to talk to doc 2 about my results.  Uhhh, sure, that doesn’t make any sense but the nurses are obviously overworked a...