French Fries 2010

I wake at 3 am
With a rasp in
My breathing,
I rise and go to
The dining room
Table to read.
By 4:30 am the rasping
Is worse and I wake
My wife for a ride to
The local ER
Just in case.
As I sit on the hope
Chest at the foot of
The bed I notice the
Rasping is much worse
And ask my wife to
Call the EMS as I will
Not make it to the ER.
I am trying to get dressed
And fighting for each breathe,
I realize I am having congestive
Heart failure and have only
Minutes to live until I die
From suffocating on the
Bloody froth filling my lungs.
I envision something
Crawling up my throat,
A small, greasy potato with
Toothpick arms and legs
Which is about to jump out
Of my mouth onto the
Carpet and yell at me,
“Look what you have done!
Too many hamburgers and
French fries!”
Just then the EMS arrives with
Oxygen and nitroglycerin and
Whisks me to a downtown ER
Where by 10am I am ready to
Go home but my doctor
Appears and smiling,
Tells me he will heartcath
Me tomorrow morning.
Four days later I have a
Triple bypass and
Much worse
To come.