THANK GOD FOR MEDICARE (AND THE DEMOCRATS)

Republicans tried to stop Medicare when LBJ made his big push for it (they'd already successfully helped block earlier universal healthcare proposals, Truman's etc.). Once they saw he had the votes though, some of them jumped on the bandwagon of course.

But in the following years they tried many times to kill it, or at least cut it or cripple it. Thanks to LBJ and the Democrats who followed him, they were unable to do that. And thanks to that reality, I'm not declaring bankruptcy and my family won't be in debt for the next ten or twenty years just because a health situation has come up that called for tons of tests and doctor conferences this past week and will result in brain surgery on yours truly this Friday.

Thank God for LBJ and the Democrats who made, and continue to make this possible.

As for the surgery. The "mass" or "growth" or whatever it is (they're not sure but leaning toward tumor) is close to the surface and in a part of the brain that shouldn't impair anything (maybe lose a little sense but we all know that's been an ongoing process anyway, just as we all know there's always been some peculiar things in my brain).

I'm completely hopeful and confidant, so anyone reading this should be too.

I've been through this before, eight years ago I had prostate cancer, so I knew that the hardest part was the week of testing before they discover if it's already too late. I didn't want to burden anyone, or as few as possible, with that ordeal, so I waited until everything else was declared clear and we could concentrate on just that one little deal in the brain.

I rarely think of myself as "a cancer survivor" but obviously I have been for the past eight years. And I'm aware that is so much more common than back in the day when it seemed to be the worst diagnosis anyone could have. Thank God for modern medicine too and the advances in techniques and knowledge that make it possible for this to almost be a "routine operation"!