Sarcoidosis and Sunrises
It's been over four years now since being diagnosed with Stage 3 Pulmonary Sarcoidosis. I'd never heard of it before. I had gone to the doctor to check up on a spot that had appeared on my neck and wasn't going away. With family history of skin cancer, and a few early 'suspect' spots of my own, I wanted to rule it out. But my doctor caught sight of my cough. "What is that cough?" "It isn't COVID...." "How long have you had it for?" I had to think. It arrived in the bushfires the year before - I thought it was throat irritation and kind of left it there. "Almost a year....when the bushfires were here. It's just like a spasm....not a real cough...And it seems to get worse when I'm stressed I think... About that spot..." "Let's deal with the spot later - X-ray first."