On-Call All the Time?

I know many of us work long hours and are on-call. But, I am curious how on-call typically works for others, what experiences and advice you may have.

For a number of years, I have been in a situation where I am on-call 24/7/365. Given my organization is multi-campus across differing time zones, I am on-call during working hours from 11-12 hours each business day, and then on-call for emergencies 24/7/365.

A few years ago, the other network manager retired and the organization decided not to hire a replacement, thus leaving me as the only person who knows networking at all. I am also responsible for telephony: PBX, Voicemail, and VoIP. Given that no one else knows Linux, I cover some systems administration with regard to that, as well. I learned programming and automation to do more with less. But, it has not been enough.

I used to take pride, being the anchor, the linchpin, the one that was called for everything, to solve emergencies, even quite a bit outside of networking (especially when having to prove the network innocent). But, it has taken its toll. I grew exhausted over the past few months, and ended up in the ER twice in the last two weeks with two very different types of panic attacks.

Now I am scared. I am scared that I cannot do what needs to be done. Scared to accept that I am not enough. But, I want to learn from this. I want to learn the way things should be, to see if I could make this work, if I should even bother trying. It doesn't help that I do not even make enough to afford a modest house in my area, so its not like the salary is relieving pressures outside of work.

Appreciate your thoughts, and thank you for reading.