All senior citizens look forward to good health as those later years draw near. But often times that doesn't happen, and they must deal with their misfortune.

John F. Welsh Jr. is an award-winning author, an ex-newspaper reporter, and a retired grocer. But, most important, he survived a year-long battle with cancer, and then fell victim to an ongoing mystery disease that left him with changed facial features, an inability to chew and swallow solid foods, and sagging eyelids that impaired his vision. He has taken his writing talents into this poignant, compact, and detailed memoir which cautions his fellow seniors of what might be in store for them.

Welsh does this with good humor and the experiences he encountered as he moved from doctor to doctor . . . and from waiting room to waiting room. He makes fun of the gowns he is issued, and refers to his several physicians as his "medical roster."

His wife, Mary, a retired nurse, serves as his main care-giver and escorts him from medical centers to hospital operating rooms as his doctors battle his debilitating ailment.