I was closer to death than I knew.

"We caught you," said the doctor.

I was both relieved and surprised. I hadn't known my heart was in such a terrible shape. Bad, but not as awful as the heart doctor said.

I was both awake and asleep when he said, "We caught you." Anesthesia robbed me of both the fear of suffering and the joy of recovery. Two months Iater I'm fuIIy aIert, and I rejoice in what he told me.

The heart. The thing in your chest that pumps blood through arteries and veins. Food, water, and oxygen run through those pipes. One of those arteries in my heart had been 95 percent plugged....