Artist's Notebook: My Adventures With Heart Failure

Much too much breathing, too little air

The flu, asthma, emphysema, and congestive heart failure all share a symptom: shortness of breath. Because I suffered the devastating flu that had been passed among nearly everyone I know, our family doctor thought my gasps signaled lingering symptoms, maybe even progress into pneumonia. But the X-ray showed clear lungs. It was a tough five weeks because much of my life in New York involves climbing stairs—particularly to our "charming apartment in the West Village," a 4th-floor walk-up.

Next: Life lived through a haze of sleep