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lung. so after what i'm told was a greuling all night surgery,
they removed part of my stomach, and had my entire digestive
system, top to bottom, running on machine power for a while. i
also had a breather for the first day or so, until my lung was
restored. there are a few details which are considerably unglier
which i will spare you.

so... the recovery... they were impressed with my recuperative
skills. I could breathe on my own completely after a few days. i
could sit up in bed after a week, and was walking in two. about
that time, i began to eat again as well. after four weeks, i was
up and about again. now, something like eight weeks, i'm
virtually healed, with the exception of a number of unsightly
scars.

but.... the good news is that i am the first documented medical
case of a cryogenic ingestion. read the new england journal of
medicine. three articles are in review now, and will be
published soon, i'm told. these days, my little adventure leaves
me with bad jokes at physics department meetings, and the
occasional blurb in the school paper. "make mikey drink it.
mikey likes it." i've also picked up the nickname "nitro-mike,"
which is somehow supposed to sound cool, because it conjures
up images of nitro-glycerin, which implies i'm a bad mother. i
don't buy it.

if any of you guys have heard a varioation on this story, let me
know. i'm always curious to hear how these things sound third
and fourth hand. i was on a follow-up visit to the hospital, and i
mentioned to one of the nurses that i go to wpi. and he said that
he heard about some kid from wpi who broke into a lab in the
middle of the night and stole some liquid nitrogen to try and get
high. then, as the story goes, by the time he gets to the hospital,
he's in pretty bad shape. his lower jaw has to be amputated, as
well as his tongue. he can never eat solid foods again, and also
has a 'bag,' if you know what i mean. i didn't have the heart to
tell this guy the truth, because the story was so good at that
point.

so, that, in a nutshell, is what's happened to me. nowadays,
i'm back to my normal self... school, thesis work, grad apps,
playing music, talking on the radio, and suffering over women.

so here i am.

michael