Feeling Sorry For Myself With Sarcoidosis

 

   After my diagnosis, I began to look up information about it and question different people as to whether they had ever heard of it. Doctors are not sure of what causes Sarcoidosis, and told me that they can only hope that it goes into remission as I went through the treatments which would last over a 2 1/2 year period before I began to really feel better. They started me out with 6 steroid tablets a day which finally decreased to one every other day throughout the process, plus my inhalers.

     Initially it was a very bad time, aside from not being able to breathe comfortably, and unable to walk distances without feeling like I was suffocating and coughing seemingly all the time, which was embarrassing as well, as I attempted to, and  having to sleep sitting upright in a chair  was no joke either since I found it difficult to breathe lying down.  As I went through this I started feeling very discouraged, and not the usual carefree and happy person that I had been in the past.

      Every time I looked up any information about the disease, it was dreadful, and seemingly a hopeless situation, as I looked at pictures of what your lungs and body looks like when battling a disease such as this, especially the sores. Oh did I forget to tell you that you break out in sores too.  I had a few of those too, and they were very painful and were on my legs.  They can be very difficult to heal. For instance on my upper right knee where it bends there was a sore, and an even larger one on my lower right leg, both of which took almost two years to really get them to heal. They are healed now, however they left extremely dark scars on my legs which are seemingly fading with time.

     I saw other peoples stories who had lost their loved ones to Sarcoidosis, and learned that actors such as Tisha Campbell and Bernie Mac also suffered from the same disease, and Bernie Mac died in 2008, not from the disease itself, but from complications due to a "compromised immune system," possibly due to the medications we have to take. My understanding is that taking steroids over a period of time can weaken the immune system, (theolandaadamsmorningshow.com). 

     However, what I soon learned while sitting upright in a chair in my living room feeling sorry for myself, was what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:11, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. In other-words I began to encourage my self on to healing  after hearing a song for the first time on the radio by Psalmist Judith McAllister entitled, "Thank You For Your Healing."