a small pain in my chest

I had some discomfort in my chest a few months ago.
Per usual, I ignored it. I never pay much attention to aches and pains.
It stuck around, wouldn't go away.
Eventually, I started coughing all the time.
It was an unproductive cough, with no apparent reason.
It confused me more than anything else.

One morning, I woke up unable to breathe.
Panicking, I ran to the bathroom choking, trying to cough.
Finally successful, something black and glistening fell from my mouth.
Now I could breathe, but there was a dull ache within
My lung.

To cut a long story short,
X-Ray, diagnosis (cancer), soreness, pain, confusion...
Metastasis silly!

I enjoyed my kids very much in my last days,
Brain cancer nothwithstanding.
Obviously those precious moments were coloured dark by sadness.
But they would not have been so intense and wonderful otherwise.

So now I wait to die, quietly,
Conserving energy or perhaps just
Trying to find a way of being which hurts less.
I find I love diamorphine, as I always knew I would.

Turns out a man can live with much less lung than you'd think.
But brains, not so much.