It’s all in how you view things: This has been one of, if not THE most difficult year for ALL of us we’ve ever faced. This virus, COVID-19, along with political unrest, unprecedented racism and hate – 2020 has changed practically EVERYONE’S life. I’m so grateful for the many blessings and all the challenges that 2020 brought me. You may say, “how” the heck was 2020 filled with blessings with so much calamity happening? For me, here’s how:
– Was blessed in early February 2020 to accept a travel assignment job with a 6-month contract to work in beautiful Phoenix, AZ.
– COVID-19 really hit the world and mom’s nursing home (all nursing homes) stopped visitations for fear of the nursing home residents contracting the virus, but as of December 2020, my 99-year-old Queen mother thankfully has NOT contracted the virus! Many around her did, including my aunt, but God kept the family strong with some sense of peace!
– Many lost their jobs and many businesses closed their doors because of this virus and the downward economy, BUT GOD kept MY immediate family employed throughout this year. Even my once homeless oldest son who friends and family gave up on, he actually did better than all of us financially during the pandemic!!
–This next part really still has be shouting and giving praise: – After my 6 month assignment ended in August, (I was offered the job on a permanent basis in Phoenix, but because of my mom, being so far from her, I sadly declined the offer) I was blessed to STILL find employment, (even at 61 years of age). Accepting this new assignment meant moving back to Atlanta where I previously lived, not in jackson, MS where I was currently residing. This was not only just “a job” but a job at Emory Healthcare! A place I’ve tried getting a job for YEARS back in the day! Not everyone gets to work here, especially during a pandemic and a hiring freeze!!! While Emory itself had a hiring freeze, a different staffing agency WAS hiring to work at Emory and they trusted ME to work at Emory and I’m forever grateful!
– While settling residency and employment back in Georgia, life got pretty stressful; worrying about if I made the right decision, being able to afford everything on my own as this assignment at Emory I accepted was a SIGNIFICANT drop in pay from the previous contract job in Phoenix, and worrying about my mom (though Atlanta WAS closer to Jackson than in Phoenix) and her state of mind, feeling alone in the nursing home, not FULLY understanding why family could not see her (5 months into the pandemic and NO visitors allowed!). With all this on my mind DAILY, no longer eating healthy, and not taking my meds as directed, on October 11th, while at work, I had a heart attack. I literally was walking/working and actively having a heart attack AND a heart aneurysm!!
– God’s grace – Had I not been working at a hospital (which Emory has ALWAYS been my favorite medical facility in the world), had it not been my assigned weekend to work, had I not listened to the warning signs and had I not gone to the ER to be seen WHEN I did, I WOULD NOT be alive today. Point blank. Period.

God undoubtedly has more work for me to do. Now I know my purpose for still being here. I want my story to be a shining light to someone who may not see the good in this life. Yes, hundreds of thousands have died from this horrible virus in 2020, people are hurting, financially struggling and people are scarred for life by this pandemic and other problems we faced as a country. Think about it, I TOO am scarred (literally my heart for a second time!) from all the stress and hurt and losses 2020 brought me as well, but we ALL are still here, breathing and living! God chose US and gave US another chance to make life better for someone else!! God I’m forever grateful for your grace and mercy.

Let’s all go into 2021 with a new lease on life. Let’s all continue to mask up, social distance and get back to being GRATEFUL for what we have so that we can rid this awful virus from this earth and get back to caring for one another, hugging and embracing each other again!

Exactly 30 days ago today, October 13th, I underwent triple bypass surgery (or coronary artery bypass graft/CABG) after doctors found multiple coronary artery blockages AND having a heart aneurysm! After surgery, I was told and read many articles that the first 30 days are very critical to survival. (I was supposed to have a quadruple bypass, but my fourth artery was of “poor quality”). Praise be to MY GOD that I did survive these 30 days! I am overwhelmingly grateful to God first and foremost for having discernment and the medical knowledge and sense to take my butt down to the ER while at work, realizing something was NOT right! ALL of the techs and docs during my catheterization and after the bypass surgery said I TRULY would not have survived had I not come when I did!!

Going forward for me, there is nothing more important to me now than taking great care of myself! No job, no other person’s problems, etc will EVER be at the top of my list, only MY HEALTH, my livelihood takes precedence!

My mantra as many of you know has always been me always caring for others, helping any way I can. That was my sole purpose for moving back to Mississippi 3.5 years ago because my elderly mom asked me to help care for her. Without hesitation, I answered the call, again putting someone else’s needs before my own. I had already had a heart attack with the placement of 2 stents 10 yrs ago (2010). When I told my cardiologist 3.5 yrs ago that I was moving to MS to help caregive for my mom, he actually forewarned me, asked that I do NOT take on such a task, but I didn’t listen. In my mind back then, I’m thinking, ‘doctor, how DARE you say don’t go and care for your mom’!! He actually turned out to be right🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️.

Even though I did make the move, I can admit and say that all of my downward spiral eating habits and not caring for MARSHA IS all my fault! My life became so consumed with getting settled in a new town, working a new job (after working from home almost 20 years), and all the things that come with caregiving for your parents. All of that I obviously was not mentally prepared for and many different roadblocks and family dynamics that came with it. Over these last 3.5 years, I eventually fell for the temptations of the good ole down-home Mississippi eating, devouring any and everything I could! Forgetting about my previous heart attack and seeing people triple my size and still living with no health issues, I thought well shoot! If they’re not sick, I might as well eat any and everything, they are still here! Dumb thought process, right? Yes it was, but that’s the mindset I “settled” into.

Fast forward to 2020 and its coronavirus, everything changed. Mom is still here at 99 yrs of age (will probably outlast her children) 🤣🤣. Covid-19 halted visitations at nursing homes, caused many of the elderly to become depressed VERY quickly as their usual, sometimes daily visits came to a screeching halt as this unseen, rampant virus was rapidly invading all places. It caused thousands of people to lose jobs, gain jobs, so by this time, all I could think of was me making money, surviving financially, while silently destroying my body by eating anything. Was blessed to take on a great paying traveling assignment in February 2020 in Phoenix, AZ for 6 months! Whoo hooo – what a great opportunity to save money since Covid-19 will no longer allow visitors to see their loved ones in the nursing home.  What a great opportunity, but all good things must come to an end. So with the coronavirus still at its peak across the country causing businesses to fail, my contract job in Phoenix also needed to come to an end. I was contracted for only 6 months, although the staff wanted me to stay on a while longer, the coronavirus had a huge affect on hospitals and other businesses and the hospital could not afford to continue to pay the staffing agency. So again, my quest to find a job goes on in late July. Applied for several jobs back in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia – anywhere that would hire this 61-year-old woman during a pandemic! Thankfully, everything worked out exactly how it was supposed to by becoming employed (although through another staffing agency) at Emory Healthcare back in Georgia.

During these 3.5 years of horrible eating habits (with an already ‘damaged’ heart), my coronary arteries collected so much plaque around my heart, my heart just could not take it anymore. Eating things like potato chips, lots of peanut butter crackers, fast foods, sweets, and drinking sodas here and there (things with TONS of salt and carbohydrates which elevates your blood pressure). It’s like a balloon when you blow it up. It can only expand so far before it bursts or starts seeping out air (which is what the aneurysm was for me – it was a causing a ‘slow leak’ of blood out of my heart)!!

As I am in my fourth week of recovery, I am uncertain as to what the future holds for me as far as working or not working – my 30-day appointment will be next week and I will have a better understanding and knowledge of what my ‘heart recovery’ dictates (keeping in mind the status of my fourth coronary artery that was of “poor quality”) what the future DOES hold for me!

Thank you Emory, thank you my close-knit friends, DEFINITELY a special thanks to my son, Calvin Johnson for acting so hastily and responding so quickly by coming to Atlanta from Jackson, MS regarding my well being. Thank you, my baby boi, Jeremiah Johnson, for acting so quickly in bringing my bed downstairs at such short notice.

Nothing but positivity and continued healing going forward these next few weeks and months.