I may have posted this incorrectly the first time. Sorry. I am a 52-year old disabled journalist who has been coping with chronic illness since 1980. Technically it has been since 1963 when they removed a kidney, but it wasn't until the second one went that I had troubles.

When my remaining kidney failed in 1980, I had just landed the job I had worked a decade to get and I wasn't about to lose it. So I managed to work and dialyze.

I miss my job terribly. It was great fun. But my goal since college was to become a reporter in the city where I lived and I did it. There is some consolation to having achieved your dream before time ran out.

So I do volunteer work and realize I'll never have the rush again that working at UPI gave.

I suspect, though, that many of you are coping with the same problems.
Bernie