Oct. 18, 1960
Dear Wes,
Enjoyed your very informative letter very much indeed. I must apologize for being a poor correspondent, a fault which I freely confess. At least the matter of the application for the Society of University Surgeons was handled within hours at this end. I think you should be one of the Society's strongest candidates, and I shall expect to hear favorable reports shortly on your candidacy; I even suspect that I shall be greatly disappointed if you do not become a member at this coming meeting. Your candidacy means a great deal to both of us, and I feel that it has been presented in the strongest possible fashion with one of the strongest possible candidates. Would suggest, however, that we both keep our fingers crossed until the meeting is over.
Am happy all is well at your house, except, of course, the kitchen wall and the exchequer (if that is how the word is spelled). I hope the situation can be remedied on both counts by the time I return; there appeared to be real promise of this at the time of my departure.
Have had a most interesting time here, finding out what other people's troubles are. They have air embolism on this side of the Atlantic too. We have had at least four complicated perfusion experiments spoiled on this score, and I think the approach will be changed for this reason before we proceed. The research laboratory is almost entirely Senning. He provides the drive, the enthusiasm, much of the knowledge, and a rather astonishing share of the ideas. He is remarkable alert mentally during crises during procedures, a characteristic I find most fascinating to study. I could assimilate a large portion of this without anything but good coming of it. He is also one of the most able surgeons technically I have ever watched at work. If I scrub on clinical cases, which I do rarely anyway, it is worth while to make sure it is with him. Crafoord has the misfortune to be too much like me in the operating room, and I suspect that if I worked with him we should only catalyze one another's faux pas. In the lab, where I spend most of my time, I have a full-time assistant in a boy from Argentina and an associate in an Assistant Prof. from the Med. Coll. of Georgia named David Hall, who was trained by Bill Scott. He wears very well and is a sound and well-informed person. We should have a good year, I think. I have already written Stuckey about the various things going on research-wise. They appear promising on the score of partial support for left heart failure.
After I had been working about three weeks in the lab., Senning went to Zurich for consultations about moving there permanently, a move which had been scheduled for November. He returned with the news that the move, if it to occur at all, will not come before March. I am very happy with this development. It meant a great deal to him, as the income there would be five times what it is here. I think much of the difficulty in moving arises from unhappiness on the part of his children with any such move. At least it is nice for me that the delay has developed.
Eleanor joins me in sending our best regards to you, Wanda and the kids. Has Wanda decided what else she wants for X-Mas?
Sinc.,
Clarence Dennis