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REF ID:A226329B ..__......... 

Ii-~a.rch 19, 19E4 

Dear Annie and Boris, 

It is very generous and thoughtful dSf y:ou to wrtite again when 

we have not reciprocated. It is not that we haven't thought of 

you almost daily, and we speak of you constantly. But Bill 

kept saying 11 don't write just yet, I'll be feeling better soon•. 

We thought of you so often while you were at :r.i:enton, and wondered about Carola--she has never replied to my last letter. 

And one of the thin3s I wonder about is juot what would have deve~oped in Billts condition if we had staid in Europe. Now 

having come home, and he found that being home did not help his 

anx1.ety or depression, I bee;in to wonder if it wasnt--all tbe 

time--:a. phy"slcal deterioration that was causing the other. For 

now the M.D.'e here have really come to grips with his physical 

condition--havin3 all these months explained his extreme ~atigue, 

his loss of weight, his dlzzlness(resulting in a bad fall on the 

bathroom floor one nlrht), as merely the manifestations of bis 

anxiety and nervous tens ion, Then two wee1rn ago, while he was 

sitiing in his big velvet chair in the living room, he had an 

attavk of whs.t I certainly thought was a coronary occlusion--

it was exactly like the first coronary he had in 1955· Another 

one, lastin3 leas long, the next day. Dr. Talpers had en ID'i~ 

enzyme test made, and a cardiogram, then declared bis condition 

to be coronary insufficiency. Pe has been restricted to the 

house, though not strictly confined to bed all day, very light 

meals,and to have at all times pills to take the instant he feels 

an attack starting. He has been very, very short of breath, too 

and the most indescrlbablt exhaustion, at which times he grows 

green and white, his pulse is very,ve.ry slow--whereas in the attackd of pain his pulse races and stops alternately-- and he has 

dlfiiculty in keeping from collapse before he gets back to bed. 

Now yesterday I drove him in to the doctor's office for a checkup and to see a dermatologist in the same office bullding(Bill 

has a small skin cancer on his face which is to be removed next 

Friday). Dr. Talpers after bis examinations and a chest X-ray, 

bas now given him digitalis, to be taken three times daily; he 

le still confined to the house. Bill and I areboth so glad that 

the d.ocotors dont make h'm go to bospi tal. ·Bill reacts very 

badly to hospitals and the doctors seem a.greed that hopitals have 

only ana adverse effect on him. His emotllonal state seems a 

great deal better. He is nervous, and has an occasional day of 

extreme nervous tension; he is ~ rather than depressed. But 

he feels so discouraged because he never yet has felt strong 

enough to really do anything in the way of desk work, let aloe 

anythine; other kind of work, of course. 

Th1s brings me to the point of saying the next thing I regret 

very much must be said. Namely, that there seems no prospect 

whatever that he will get enough better to do the book on your 

life and works, Boris. We know what a great disappointment this 

will be to Annie, if not to you also; but you have the tapes, 

@'pproved for Release by NSA on 08-06-2014 pursuantto E.O. 1352a 

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