February 1995: Partly because of my accident, my job functions changed. I was offered and accepted a position working on the Information System Department (ISD) Help Desk. I was advanced to a Computer Systems Support Analyst-II (which was about $3,000/yr increase in salary). I found I had a real knack for this type of work and that my previous 10 years of experience were of great value in this position.

 

Somewhere in this time frame, Kira became very sick. She had a high fever and was bloated and could barely move. I had to rush her to the emergency room where she was taken directly into surgery. She had a massive uterine infection and ended up having to have a full hysterectomy. She would only have survived a few more hours before she would have had an internal rupture or hemorrhage and would have died. For the second time, I saved her life. This time it cost me $511.00 though!

 

September 1995: I was offered a temporary position with Valencia Community College (West Campus) teaching a course on weekends to faculty in CorelDraw 5.0. They paid me $1,600.00 up front to teach 16 hours (8 hours on 2 Saturdays). That was easy money and I really enjoyed it too!

 

October 1995: Doug was becoming very sick by this time. Everyone knew he had AIDS and he finally had to quit work. I was getting progressively depressed by not only this, but the fact that I had been dreadfully injured and was no longer able to do the things I used to. Also, my home life was becoming very tumultuous. Chad was bringing drugs in the house and I was getting stressed out.

 

The next few years were very confusing. My health was suffering from many things, especially stress. I was experiencing “Male Cluster Migraines” during this time and was prescribed Immetrix for this. My blood pressure was high and I was prescribed Atenalol. I was suffering from bouts of clinical depression extreme insomnia for which I was taking Fluoxitine Hydrochloride (Prozac™) and Serazadone Hydrochloride (Serzone™). My house was going down hill.

 

It was right around this time that I was contacted by AIG Life Insurance and told that they had been searching for me for the past two years. Doug had $25,000.00 of life insurance with them and I was the beneficiary! I thought it was very strange that they had so much trouble finding me. We were both employees of the City of Orlando, both of us had the same plan on each other, and both of us had the same address and phone number listed with them at the time of his death. I had live in the same place for 10 years!

 

Unfortunately, largely due to my depression and despair, I blew the money very quickly. About all I had to show for it was my bread machine and a trip to California to visit my sister, Calisa and her family. I made that visit in July. I had not seen ‘lisa in 19 years!! I had NEVER met my brother-in-law, Mitch, and had never met my nieces, Calais, Keri and Stephanie. It was a nice visit and a worthwhile expenditure of some of my money.

 

March 1998: I started to have problem at work. I was getting all kinds of pressure and found myself transferred from the Help Desk back to being a field technician. My supervisor was Ed Thralls, who never did seem to care for me much. Our personalities clashed and I had a nagging feeling that I was moved under his management for hidden reasons.

 

May 12, 1998: I traveled to Chicago on a business trip with Lola K., Vince P., and Ray S. We were learning to install the new “One World” financial software for the City of Orlando. This would be the software that would replace the OMIS system, which went into effect in October of 1983 shortly after I began working for the City.

 

The harassment I felt I was experiencing at work steadily increased, which in turn was affecting my health due to the stress, depression and constant battle with insomnia; not to mention I was still trying to adjust to my injuries. Even though the accident had been four years past, and the injuries were healed, I was still adjusting. My life would never be the same and I had to learn to cope with that. Unfortunately, I did not know that my BAD days were still ahead of me!

 

June 1998: In late June and early July of 1998, I put some of the insurance money to good use and flew to California to see my sister, Calisa, for the first time in 19 years! I also met my three nieces, Calais, Keri and Stephanie for the first time, and I met Mitch, my brother-in-law, also for the first time. I was a very pleasant visit to their home in Riverbank, CA. We took a trip to Santa Cruz where we fished from the pier and enjoyed the boardwalk and amusement park.

 

October 5, 1998: I continued to have problems at work. People were saying I had AIDS and other rumors were being spread. It was terrible. On Monday, October 5^th, I was on my way to work and almost had an accident. I had to slam on the brakes. My car’s battery popped loose and shorted out (it was not installed correctly). I grabbed my cell phone and dutifully called Ed, my supervisor, and told him what had happened, telling him I might be a few minutes late. I ended up being only about 15 minutes late. After arriving to work, Ed called me back on my cell phone and told me to report to the Director’s office. I did so and was informed that I was being terminated! I was in shock. I could not believe they were doing this to me. It was one of the worst days of my life. After 15 years of loyal and devoted service to the City or Orlando, they were stabbing me in the back. I was going through some bad times and they just made it worse. I had health issues that I did not feel I should discuss with my employer, and which I was advised by my doctor not to discuss. I was supposed to begin taking medication that day, and further, I had an appointment with an EAP counselor to discuss my situation. Looking back on things, I think I should have gone to the EAP meeting and told them what had happened at that time to try to seek assistance. But I was so confused and scared that I really did not know what to do.

 

One of my first steps was to initiate Unemployment Compensation. I only collected two or three months of unemployment pay before the City interceded and had them cancel it on the basis that I was terminated for “disciplinary action.” I had stated that I was terminated due to medical reasons, which was the reality of the matter, but this was a case where City Hall could not be fought. They had a staff of lawyers, and I didn’t even have a working phone. My tenure with the City was swept aside as if it were nothing.

 

January 1999: In January I received access to my pension funds, which amounted to about $95,000.00. I had already invested some money into the “Winner’s Circle” company and that was looking very promising. I was assured that I should get about $200,000.00 back on my investment in December of 1999.

 

November of 1999: My pension funds ran out right on schedule and I was planning on re-investing the money I was to be getting in the next month. To my horror, the company filed for bankruptcy! It was a scan all along. My invested money was gone, my pension gone, and I was unemployed. I struggled to hold things together for the next 6 months. I held one short lived job through a temp agency working as a Legal Secretary for the City Attorney of Deland, but I think he was very uncomfortable with a male secretary and job did not last long. My bills were piling up. My house was in a disaster. My personal life in shambles. Foreclosure proceedings were on-going. I thought I would soon be living on the streets.

 

May 2000:  I began keeping my on-line journal/diary.

 

June 7, 2000:  I left my home in Deltona and moved to St. Louis to live with my friends Jack and Adam. Jack proved to be the best friend ever and drove a U-Haul truck to Florida to pick me up. I left 80% of my belongings in the house and my car sitting in the driveway. I left Thor (and Minya) with some people from Tampa, with hopes of getting him again later. I still managed to carry a lot of my belongings with me though. Kira, who had now become my "anchor" and my closest companion, came along with me too. Jack and Adam were not to keen on having a dog move into their place; in fact, Adam was not too sure it was a good idea for ME to move in, but we all adjusted fairly quickly. Kira was very well behaved and stayed out of the way.

 

August 1, 2000:  I began working for Washington University, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. Within a year I had paid Jack back everything he had spent helping me, including rent money, gas & rental for the U-Haul truck, even wages lost during the time he was off work to come get me. After living with Jack and Adam for 13 months, Kira and I moved out to our own place at The Gentry's Landing. We had a small apartment on the 23rd floor of a downtown high-rise building.

 

At this point my "Autobiography" ends, but my life story is not over yet!
 

See my on-line Diary / Journal
To continue with my Autobiography with daily entries starting in May of 2000