As a younger man, ailments were nothing more than ailments, something to see a doctor about and treated without much fanfare.   Closing in on 60 however seems to have created a more gloomy perspective.

Now aches and pains appear to surely be the result of something fatal.  The hacking and choking cough and chest tightness I suffered in August led to a CAT scan that was certain, I thought, to reveal an invading cancer.   Turned out it didn't.  But the news was that my spleen was enlarged which, I learned is an indication of liver disease.  I knew it.  The cancer I thought I had in my lungs was in my liver.

Suddenly I noticed that my liver ached, wherever it is.  During many blood tests and ultra sounds later I was convinced they would find some deadly hepetitis or some other life threatening condition.   Those come up clear though, and my liver stopped hurting.

So all is well, I am alive and feeling generally fine.  Until yesterday, when I was driving and suddenly felt a sharp pain radiating down the left side of my rib cage, so intense I almost had to pull over.  It's my heart.  I know it.