Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.

It all started with a cough.  Then a choking sound, prolonged coughing, then wheezing, then more coughing.  Other than a few bouts with bronchitis, my husband is a very healthy man.  One of those who doesn't go to physicians' offices unless he's accompanying someone else. Descended from a Cherokee grandmother on his father's side and Daniel Boone on his mother's, he comes from sturdy stock. Although I did finally manage to convince him to have a colonoscopy last year, that was the first time he'd been in a hospital in more than twenty years, since his appendix almost burst when we were newlyweds in graduate school. I guess that was my first indication that this was a man I'd have to watch carefully.