No Tears for Sarcoidosis
— Charlton Harris

This has been a rough week, to say the least. Last week, I lost one of my oldest aunts. She was my mother’s oldest sister and she meant a lot to me. She lived in Washington, D.C., and she let me live with her when I took a…

Take a minute to think about what’s really important in your life. I find myself doing that more often than I used to. I often think about the things that mean the most to me like family, health, physical abilities, and friendships, but…

My daughter always reminds me that I’m just “Dad.” At 20 years old, she believes she knows the ways of the world. No matter what advice she asks for, she always does the opposite of what I suggest and wonders why things don’t work out…

Pulmonary sarcoidosis is a sneaky character. Last week, I wasn’t feeling like myself. I was more out of breath than usual. I felt weak and could tell something wasn’t right with me. I had my son take me to the hospital, where I was admitted…

I’ve had an unusually difficult week. To put it plainly, the events of this past week have caused me great concern. For the most part, I’d been feeling pretty good since the start of the year, and I had several medical tests. But lately,…

In 2003, I lost my mother suddenly. I still remember the day like it was yesterday. I had just returned to work after a break following an outpatient medical procedure my mom had accompanied me to. Before I left my job…

I see my pulmonologist every two to three months to see how I’m doing with my pulmonary sarcoidosis management and to follow up after pulmonary function tests. Before I see him, I usually get a few…

The first month of the year has been an eventful one for me, to say the least. I spent much of January taking tests to evaluate my current health status and visiting the various doctors on my team. It has been a busy month for my wife, too,…

A couple of weeks ago, I endured a full week of medical testing to see if alternative therapies might help me to live better with sarcoidosis. Needless to say, I was thrilled when it was all over. Last weekend, I…

Welcome to a new year and a new decade! As 2019 came to a close, I began to make plans for the new decade. I decided that I would take more chances, like I used to do before suffering multiple incidences of…

This holiday season was not what I had expected. As I get older, I guess I have lost a lot of the childish excitement I used to feel during the holidays. As with most people, life gets in the way. Things change, and we lose…

The end of the year is upon us. Actually, the end of a two-decade period is just days away. Remember how in 1999 we were told to turn off our computers and hope for the best? At the time, some said the end was imminent…