No Tears for Sarcoidosis - a Column by Charlton Harris

“Don’t let the day get away from you!” Growing up, I remember my family members saying this to my brother and me regularly. It means that you shouldn’t let the day pass you by without doing something. That something could be anything, as long as it was constructive. It was…

Last week, my older brother celebrated his 60th birthday. Wow, 60! My brother and I are two years apart and have a very close relationship. My mother was a single parent and it was always the three of us, so we had no choice in liking each other. He had…

A few days ago, I celebrated the five-year anniversary of the first of my two spontaneous pneumothoraces, a result of pulmonary sarcoidosis. I can’t believe it’s been five years, but I’m happy to celebrate. By all accounts, I’m stable and doing fairly well. About eight months after my…

What have you done today that would make a difference in your life? What did you do yesterday? Are you just going through the motions of existing, or are you living the adventures of your life? These questions may sound a little suspicious, but they have to be asked. They’re…

Your comfort zone keeps you comfortable. That’s where the lie begins. Earlier this year, I bought a new SUV. Well, not brand new, but newer than what I had before. It’s not like my other SUVs in that it doesn’t have a sunroof, but I can live with the minor…

Life interrupted! The other night I fell out of bed. I’d been dreaming I was having drinks with my brother, and while we were talking, someone stepped over the bar and started to walk on me. My immediate reaction was to kick this person, which I did. I kicked so…

My birthday was three days ago, which was three days after the first day of summer. Growing up, the last day of school often fell on my birthday. My final report card determined if my day would be happy or crappy. As I got older, my birthday became a time…

Every year around this time, between Father’s Day and my June 24 birthday, I feel a little disconnected and withdrawn. I was raised by a single mom who served as my mother and father, so maybe I’m missing her more than usual. We used to celebrate my grandfather and my…

For the past few days, I’ve been trying to figure out when I started to feel incomplete. I don’t mean that I feel useless, but at what point did I start feeling inadequate to accomplish anything? It may sound a bit sketchy, but there is a relationship between sarcoidosis…

May has not been my favorite month for many years. I lost my mother suddenly over Mother’s Day weekend in 2003, and later lost one of my favorite aunts in May 2006 and my maternal grandmother in May 2007. On May 19, 2018, I suffered a second spontaneous…