More Words, Deeper Hole

At Pournelle's age, things are considerably worse. However, the complications caused by increased pressure of cerebrospinal fluid may well be abated. (Yeah, drop a tangerine into a skull and then try to keep everything else in there and at the same pressure. You can't. You just can't. The body produces about 500 ml of CSF every day and it has to go somewhere.)

When I saw the doctor for my brain tumour, I got a long list of possible bad side effects: poor vision, numbness, loss of control, vertigo, ringing in my ears, chronic fatigue, personality changes. Fortunately, few of them came true for me but they were all possibilities. I know someone else with a tumour, a different kind, and she's waiting until it ripens. What they mean is, until her life or quality of life is so complicated by the tumour that the complications due to surgery look good in comparison.

I feel for Mr. Pournelle and his family. His politics are not mine (as one of your posters said), but no one deserves to go through this.