Monday, November 9, 2009

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"!

7 comments:

-K- said...

Okay, once again, I'll follow your example.

"Hopeful and confident" it will be regarding Friday.

In the meantime, tho, all good things to you, Michael.

JIm said...

Mike,
Your tough and too ornery to fail. I wish you well with the great confidence that you will be.

Charles Lambert said...

All my best wishes from Italy, Michael.

(Another good omen. My word verification has "cured" embedded in it...)

AlamedaTom said...

Well, it is out of our individual and collective hands now. So ...

"It is the hour to be drunken! To escape being the martyred slave of time, be ceaselessly drunk. On wine, on poetry or on virtue, as you wish."

~ Charles Baudelaire
(French poet)

Love ya,

~ Willy

Jennifer said...

Sending good karma

tom said...

Glad to hear that - as we men age - that old prostate is a worry - good they found it early and great that you have done so well!

tom said...

And forgot to add - you are in our prayers for this next surgery. Pat McKinnon, a Duluth poet, recently had surgery to remove a mass and was back doing poetry readings by October. You will too.