Columns

My wife, my son, and I moved into our house in August 1996. The house initially belonged to my aunt, who lived there since 1982, the year my wife and I graduated from high school. When my aunt and uncle went on trips, I was…

After being diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis, I became a pro at protecting my lungs. Or so I thought. Even now, 18 years later, I’m still discovering threats I had overlooked. October is “Healthy Lung Month” in the U.S. Leaving my pulmonologist’s office all those years ago, I thought I…

In February, I wrote that sarcoidosis doesn’t play fair. Over the past few days, I’ve thought about that column. It is spooky, but true: Sarcoidosis is a crafty annoyance that keeps you mentally alert. Stay vigilant! This week, I “organized” my…

I went to bed in the fourth quarter of “Monday Night Football” with my brother Antony’s words haunting me. My favorite team was losing, and I knew what he’d say about abandoning them for sleep: “There’s a lot of game left.” Antony believes in comebacks, and so do I,…

Let’s be honest … Ok, I’ll be honest. I’ve found that being honest with myself seems to do me a world of good. And I don’t mind being honest with others about my health, but I often find their interest in my honesty is superficial. I…

People are always surprised to hear that I travel from Pennsylvania to Ohio for medical appointments. Whether it’s an hour-long flight or a seven-hour trip by car, they think it sounds like an inconvenience. But after months of seeing local physicians, I’ve come to appreciate how much easier my out-of-state…

Like many of us dealing with sarcoidosis, I’ve somewhat mastered contentment doing nothing. Over the past six months, we’ve been forced to live our lives at a distance, but how many of us were doing that before everything changed? My gym recently reopened, and I…

Day is breaking and my uncertainty unfolds. If I’m lucky, I’ll silence it with a productive morning. If I struggle, the doubts echoing in my mind grow louder. Sarcoidosis batters my self-confidence. It’s an ongoing tug of war between my goals and symptoms. It begins every morning, convincing a body…

In order for me to do better, I have to do better for myself. That’s one of the obstacles we face when living with this “inconvenience” called sarcoidosis. One day, we’re feeling good and like our old selves. The next, we’re…

When my family was caring for me, they got to witness my many endeavors at self-improvement. So, they won’t be surprised to hear I’m tweaking my life again during a September campaign dedicated to that. I wasn’t aware of National Self-Improvement Month when I was trying to escape the helplessness…