No Tears for Sarcoidosis
— Charlton Harris

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…

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…

Every year around this time, between Father’s Day and my June 24 birthday, I feel a little disconnected and withdrawn.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…

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…

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…

For the past few days, I’ve been taking an inventory of my life. I guess living with a chronic illness will make you do that. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I guess…

Two of my daily tasks are staying confident and encouraged. Sometimes that’s a challenge. I joined a few sarcoidosis groups on Facebook, and I’ve read postings about folks who’ve lived with the disease from three to 40 years; I’ve…

I recently started reading about addiction and depression, which led me to enroll in an online certification course in addiction therapy. I have come close to dealing with both, and I want to share those experiences. When you think…

“… but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career.” — Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), “Taken” Every time I watch the movie “Taken” and this scene…

In the first three months of the year, I’ve lost friends due to various illnesses — none of them primarily because of age — and I’ve worried about some other friends’ troubling health. All of this has…

I was unexpectedly hospitalized in February 2020 after several days of feeling weak and more out of breath than usual. Given my pulmonary sarcoidosis, my healthcare team decided to admit me for observation. I had spent the previous…

I’ve recognized that I have a huge problem. I recently had an appointment with my new cardiologist’s nurse practitioner. A few weeks prior, I’d had an echocardiogram to determine how my pulmonary sarcoidosis is affecting my cardiovascular…