STRICKLAND MAY UNDERGO SURGERY FOR BRAIN PRESSURE PROBLEM -- "GET 'ER DONE" HE SAYS.

Wilmington political writer walking now after 
bone cancer onset which is now in remission.

By Verne Strickland

Some truly remarkable things have been happening in my life. You could call them miraculous.

The bone cancer which almost crippled me is in remission. The timing is fortuitous, because at 76 I have a big bull's eye on my back. Obamacare, which will arrive in all its fury in 2014, will drain away all the chemotherapy drugs I would ordinarily need for survival.

That's not my concern anymore, because the Lord has healed me. And the way I see it, Obama has been outfoxed by Almighty God. With cancer no longer a threat, I will not require the precious chemotherapy which tacked extra months, and years, on my life when they were all I had left.

Obama has deserted America's old people. It is criminal. He is monumentally sinful to hold the destructive power of Obamacare over our elderly and infirm -- casually shutting off the remarkable drugs which have beaten cancer for many a survivor. With the stroke of a pen he is wiping out the golden years that awaited many of America's precious senior citizens. They will pass away before their time. These will miss chances to see their children and grandchildren grow up. It will be a brutal, bleak and needless harvest.

And the president worries about his legacy? This will be a large part of it. He considered American seniors to be expendable, and turned that belief into a death sentence. It is an accomplishment that would have made Hitler proud.

There is another glimmer of hope that astounds me. Through my son Martin, we have learned about a condition, Hydrocephalus, for which I am being tested now at Duke Medical Center/Raleigh.

Normal Pressure Hycrocephalus (NPH) develops most often in children and the elderly. It affects as many as 375,000 older Americans. Without appropriate diagnostic testing, NPH is often midsiagnosed as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.

NPH in some cases can result from head trauma or other injury to the brain. Signals that it is present include gait disturbances (imbalance and walking difficulties), cognitive decline, and impaired bladder control. Boy do I have them!

At Duke Med/Raleigh, I  am a  candidate for "shunt implantation" by which excess spinal fluid is drained away, normalizing pressure in the brain. I will be checked out in a second visit next week for evaluation. If I am accepted, I plan to undergo the operation, which has delivered remarkable results to many -- immediately -- dramatically enhanced brain function, restoration of normal gait, and (finally) mastery of bathroom habits!

It's not minor surgery by any stretch of the imagination, but the upside is the improvement in one's life that can result.

"You've give me my life back," one patient said after the shunt surgery -- because they can now travel, and socilize, and enjoy their families in ways they couldn't before the operation.

For so many major dividends, the risk seems worth it. I'll keep you posted. This could be a wonderful step forward in the life of an old man who, two years ago, looked and behaved like a man in deep trouble and on the way out.

My family is praying on this, I am praying on it, and I ask for your intercessory prayer as well. It's a happy time, friends and neighbors. It's a blessing. Thank God for his love and mercy. Your pal and fan, Verne.