Last week my health saga continued, and sort of reached a conclusion...

Since birth I have had a condition where my heart rate would suddenly jump up
to the 220-240 beats per minute range. The condition is WPW syndrome (White,
Parkinson, Wolfe) and essentially is having a secondary nerve route to control
heart pulse and a problem of a re-entrant feedback loop. For the most part I
had learned to live with and manage the situation. During the closing luncheon
at APT97 I had an incident and had to leave the room. I was able to return to
a normal heart rate prior to the closing board meeting. In Poland the
condition was a bit more of a trial and I was hospitalized. Since Poland, and
the first week of December, I have been in an ER three times to have the
condition stopped. I recently spent a week in hospital with complications of
fever and the rapid pulse. I was scheduled to return to work when I had
another incident, again, one that I was not able to control and stop.

On Thursday, 1/22/97, I underwent the heart operation that removed the extra
nerve circuit that had been causing the incidents.

Everything went smoothly and, despite their best efforts to sedate me, I
remained conscious throughout the entire operation. Access was made through
veins and arteries in the groin, and through the neck. The entire procedure
took four hours, with another six hours of laying motionless, weighted down
with a sandbag.

I am now at home trying to figure out if it is true or not. I'm a bit sore,
and emotionally strained, otherwise in fine condition.

][<en Follett