Dear Lisa: In response to your questions: 1. Stage 2.5 is appropriate for a pt. to be considered for the procedure. 2. Insurance carriers have been paying for the thalamotomy (sometimes after much discussion and faxing of reprints). 3. Please give me your address & I will send you reprints of articles published by Dr. Kelly. By the way, the best candidates are pts. whose primary difficulty is tremor and who are under 70 years of age. I relayed your message to Dr. Kelly - he says hi. Unfortunately he did not have enough hours in the day to continue participating in the group, so he signed me up instead. I have enjoyed reading my mail & have recommended this informative list to my patients. If you have further questions, please feel free to call or e-mail. Anne