Columns

A few months ago I had a conversation with someone who told me he was recently released from the hospital after having triple bypass surgery. I mentioned that my mom had a heart valve replacement a few years before she passed. I also told him about my…

With 92 degrees forecast, I headed out for a walk Thursday morning to beat the heat. Within minutes, I had to quit because of a sarcoidosis-related condition that required stubbornness to get diagnosed. Trudging home, fearing I would faint, I recalled the physician who told me, “Not everything is sarcoidosis,”…

I accomplished a few things that I’m proud of this past week. I finally finished one of my online nutrition courses, and I finally got my ice cream cake. The biggest and most important accomplishment is that I celebrated my 56th birthday. As the days quickly approached I…

My Fourth of July celebrations always include barbecue, but not this year. I made the leap to a vegetarian diet on May 23. I’m already seeing benefits from the move, which has given me the willpower to remain meat-free. It was tested on the most popular holiday…

With stifling June heat and pollen cleared by rainfall, I opened my windows. Drivers finished their workdays and inched forward in traffic outside my home. Within minutes, gentle breezes carried exhaust fumes inside. I thought that by living two stories up I would escape car pollution, a common…

Father’s Day was always a good time for my family when I was growing up. My brother and I were raised by a single mother, but my maternal grandfather and uncle were role models. We come from a large family, so we always had my…

A pile of boards and bolts stood before me as the first inkling of doubt crept in. Gathering what tools I could find — a small hammer and two old screwdrivers — didn’t boost my confidence. It was seven steps to creation. What it turned out to be was a…

Recently, I thought about my past hospitalizations and how isolated I felt. I guess the events over the past three months with social distancing had me feeling isolated … again. I thought about the two months I spent in the lung center at one of our hospitals in…

I’ve avoided others throughout the pandemic because of my sarcoidosis. I had thought that if I ever ditched social distancing, it would be to embrace family, but it wasn’t. The first person to touch me since March was a mammography technologist who positioned me for a procedure that was…

An employer once asked me what was the one wish I wanted granted. Having battled sarcoidosis for years while in the workforce, the answer came easy. I asked for the option to telecommute. At the time, my wish didn’t come true.  June 11 is National Work From Home…