In my last medical update I reported that I was recovering nicely from my operation. This recovery has continued as far as the incision and the bruised muscles of my neck and upper back. My right hand is still weak, but I am able to type; the only minor difficulty is writing, but if I have to write more than 3 lines, I use a computer. I have had a lingering condition, which may or may not be related to the operation, where I have been running an elevated temperature, my energy level has not been 100%, and I have had trouble sleeping. At NIH they have been poking and prodding without identifying a cause. I am getting into work despite this condition.

It has been decided that I should get proton radiation at Mass. General. Fortunately, the assessment is that the treatment should be done all at once, so I will not have to camp out in Boston for ~3 weeks (which would not be a hardship) away from my family (which would be a hardship). I will go up for a consultation and some pre-treatment measurements in early November, and the actual treatment will be just before Thanksgiving; we have not worked out the logistics yet (we, because Debbie wants to come up with me). It is amusing that the facility at Mass. General is a descendant of the Harvard cyclotron. When I was a grad student the attitude was that the medical uses of cyclotrons were a way of funding the 'real' purpose of cyclotrons: probing the structure of sub-atomic particles. I guess this is poetic justice...