For those of you wondering if government-controlled health care means that government may someday decide old people are expendable because it is cheaper to deliver health care to younger, healthier people, here’s food for thought:

Today, after learning my local health department now has swine flu vaccine for adults with certain conditions like asthma and heart disease, I decided to get a shot because I have heart disease, having had heart bypass surgery. So I called the health department to find out when I could come down for a shot.

“How old are you?” the health worker asked.

“Sixty five,” I said.

“You’re not eligible,” she said. “The cutoff is age 63.”

So there you have an indication of what is in the future. There is now enough vaccine for all the children, pregnant women, and adults “who qualify,” but because swine flu vaccine is government-controlled, bureaucrats have decided my age has disqualified me.

I‘m expendable!

Gavin’s fever is down today so the swine flu watch ended as quickly as it began. Meanwhile my three teenage sons got their H1N1 nasal spray vaccine this morning plus a seasonal flu shot.

We are on a swine flu watch for Annie’s son, Gavin, who is three and a half. He’s been sick for a couple of days and now has a fever with 100-degree temperature. Gavin has had asthma symptoms in the past so Annie will take him to the doctor tomorrow morning. Annie too is sick: sore throat, loss of much of her voice, but no fever yet. She too has asthma. My wife, who is also sick, assures me this is all just a cold.

Ever have a kidney stone tear through one of your kidneys? I have!

The first time I was 22 and in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. I was hospitalized for two days and given morphine until I passed it in my urine. Anyone who has ever tried to pass a kidney stone will tell you you need something like morphine to manage the pain. Some people liken it to a woman giving birth.

The second time was 12 years ago, just after I moved the magazine to Gold Beach, Oregon. I forget what drug they gave me when I went to the hospital, but I needed it. It took only a day to pass that one.

Yesterday morning I doubled over in pain from what I suspected was my third stone. I knew I had several stones lodged in my left kidney after a CT scan accidentally detected them last August while I was being checked for possible broken ribs after I fell through my living room ceiling while putting up insulation. (I live dangerously!) So I suspected that one day one or more of the new stones would give me a nasty surprise. Yesterday morning was it.

But old guys like me tune out pain pretty well because you get all kinds of new pains as you age. So I waited until this afternoon to see a doctor. By then the pain had subsided, and a urine sample showed trace amounts of blood, which indicates a kidney stone had been passed, and an x-ray revealed the stones discovered in August were no longer present in my left kidney.

That means I passed the new stones without pain medication. How tough is that!