Here’s the thing about chronic illness, even one from which you’ve supposedly recovered. It makes you paranoid. Years of feeling like crap, of seemingly endless medical appointments, of ineffective treatments, and of adjusted lifestyle messes with your mind. Ailments once dismissed as being “all in your head” eventually do get there. You become overly cautious, […]
OK, So Maybe I Am Cured?
One person commenting that I look healthier is an anomaly. Two people commenting that I look healthier is a coincidence. But three…three people commenting that I look healthier is most definitely a trend. Either something really has changed recently or I was one sick looking son of a bitch for a long time! Or, I […]
Will I Be Smart or Will I Be Pretty?
Wow! You folks are an optimistic bunch. I lead off my last letter with a sarcastic (I thought) rant about “being cured” of Sarcoidosis despite still feeling like crap and you all respond with joy and congratulations and talk of miracles. If ever there was an example of the limitations of the written word (or […]
Prescription for Disaster: The funny side of falling apart – Review
My wife and I were huge fans of the TV show House. We watched every week for all eight seasons and if we did miss an episode we dutifully downloaded it from a torrent site (did I just incriminate myself?) and watched it on the computer as soon as possible. I was already dealing with […]
Best Doctors® Report
Back in 2011 the company my wife worked for offered access to Best Doctors® as part of the company health benefits plan. I used this opportunity to try the service out in hopes it might magically determine a cure for my health problems stemming from Pulmonary Sarcoidosis. Unfortunately, nothing new came of this process as […]
Maybe A Pretty Chart Will Help?
Edited April 2014 from letter dated March 2011. Good afternoon, doctors. I am sending you three this letter and diagram in a last ditch attempt to explain my health issues from my perspective. I feel that I am failing in properly describing my symptoms to you and I hope this chart will help a bit […]
Help Me, Doc. I Still Feel Like Crap!
Edited April 2014 from letter dated April 2010 Good Afternoon Doctor. I wanted to take a quick moment to update you on my current health situation. It’s been well over a year since I saw you last and I thought it would be helpful to provide you with some recent news on my situation. On […]
Physiotherapy 911
Edited April 2014 from letter dated November 2009 First of all, let me thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I obtained your name from a coworker of my wife’s. He spoke quite highly of you when I asked him for references of doctors or physiotherapists that might be able to help […]
The Sarcoidosis Diagnosis
I might as well get to the biggest news of the past few months. In my July letter I talked about how I’d managed to exercise my way into a bit of a relapse with my chronic fatigue issue. Well things sort of snowballed from there in the months after that letter was written. As […]
It’s Baaaaaccccckkkkk!
This was edited April 2014 from its original first published as part of my July 2008 letter. Well I’ve been employment-free for 4 months and 5 days now. I have officially completed 1/3 of the first year of my retirement. And what can I say about it other than, wow, what an emotional roller coaster […]