What’s Wrong With This Picture! I’m Not Lazy!”


I remember one day specifically when the symptoms began to manifest, initially in a persistent cough.

An associate I’d worked with for over 10 years knew something was wrong. He had never seen me ill. Heck, I had been the picture of health proudly earning a ten-year perfect attendance pin!

He burst through the door and came straight over to my desk. Handing me a huge bag of cough drops and two bottles of cough syrup, he said, “Hey man, I stopped at the drug store this morning and got you these.”

Cough Syrup

Then he said, “We’ve got to finish this project today bro; I’ve got to get out of this room, it’s killing me!”

We were in the process of building a new communications system for a university. This was the last day that I would have any assistance. In a way I looked forward to the solitude.

After he and all the others made similar statements about being ill, I began to think the room we were working in had become contaminated from all of the new equipment. Once turned on, the equipment would warm up and give off a “burning plastic” odor.

Everyone who entered that room and worked there for a day or two, became ill. Some refused to come back.

That realization was my “Eureka” moment. I had figured out why I was sick.

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Eureka! I Figured it Out!

If I could move out of the room . . . I’d get well. It was a no-brainer. I happily gave the campus my request for a new office.

There were a few challenges!

  • this room hadn’t always caused illness
  • it had been my office for 13 years prior to the system upgrade with no problems
  • the campus didn’t have any more office space
  • the campus rep did not feel the room was the cause of my problems

Air Quality Inspection

Up until that time the campus rep and I had a civil working relationship, but it quickly became strained when I arrived at her office with what I considered a “joke” solution. She didn’t appreciate my attempt at humor.

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My Gas Mask Solution

I wasn’t laughing either. I was doing what I had to do to get well. When I requested the air quality inspection, I was assured there would be no adverse findings.

Unfortunately, a contaminated room was the only logical answer to how I was feeling.

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See Part 1. Living With Sarcoidosis

See Part 3. My Symptoms

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“Good Health and Success are a Lifestyle . . . Live Well,”

CK Dillon

Contact: Charles@CreateVitality.Com

On the Web: Http://CreateVitality.Com

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