Time to Wrap Things Up

This dispatcher is about done.  Time to wrap things up and move along.  Yes, retirement is coming soon.  Kinda forced, medical/stress, but I think a good idea.

The last nine months of my life and career have been, well, pretty messed up.  

Over the last nine months I have lost all three of my younger brothers.  Three different states.  None of them were exactly in contact with each other.  One to cancer but the other two to suicide.   In different ways but the outcome was the same.  Finding it harder to deal with the suicide calls.  Lots of anger and tears and I find it spilling out at work.  Not good.

Over the last nine months I had a mini-stroke, esophagus surgery, discovered large bleeding ulcer and preparing for iron IV therapy.  Doctor says my body is under too much stress and that there needs to be dietary and lifestyle changes as the next stroke won't be as easy to recover from and the ulcer is part of the reason for the iron IV therapy.  I am eating too many antacids which is creating another problem.

Over the last nine months there have been major leadership changes at the agency, an additional dispatcher finally hired, and a new supervisor who has never worked as a dispatcher or shift work and finds our current shift schedule of modified 5/9's difficult to keep straight so changing it to straight 5/8's to keep it more simple.  So we are changing our work lives to make things easier for someone with no shift work/dispatching experience?  What's wrong with this picture?

This blog has helped me keep my sanity so many times.  I was able to, pretty much, freely express a concern or feeling when unable to in the real world.  Sometimes I got feedback from another dispatcher who understood and sometimes could offer a word of encouragement.  

This blog saw my ups and downs.  Here I could give my opinion and not worry about offending a listener.  As far as I know only once was someone upset about my stance on an opinion.  But as this blog was for me and my edification, my opinion was what was expressed.

This blog will be hard to leave.  Maybe one day I can come back and share my life in retirement.  Naw.... it is time to bow out and turn the lights off.  I won't totally close this page though.  Will respond to comments on posts when appropriate.  

For now........... I'm 10-7.