Hospital: Days 3 & 4

Dad's still in the ICU but will possibly move to a general floor today, Saturday. Things always churn a bit slower on weekends in the hospital, so we'll see.

His progress is measured by baby steps, but he's moving forward.

Yesterday: He started making sense and even looked at his heart rate/oxygen monitor and said, "What is this?" He sat up for the first time again. He chuckled and grinned a few times (mostly at Scott!). He tried hard to make a conversation but just got the first part of most sentences, like "I guess that..." or "Actually, I think that you..." -- so we were never quite sure where he was going with his thoughts, but he was going somewhere.

Today: I came in and Dad greeted me with a hug! This is major. I sat at his side on the bed and he reached both arms around me and pulled me toward him, patting my back. We take these simple acts for granted until they become milestones, such as in cases like this. He also ate independently for the first time today. In fact it was funny because several nurses were eyeing his scrumptious-looking lunch. He responded, "Well, I better get to it before they do." And that he did.

It's tough to think about gaging someones acuity of body and mind by their ability to pick up a fork. But, hey, that's our reality and we might as well jump in, accept it and be proud of how far he's come. Remember, this is his fourth big comeback. After his initial seizure and diagnosis and each of two brain surgeries, he's had to struggle to relearn basic skills -- eating, talking and walking. And each time he's succeeded. We expect nothing less this time around because my Dad is a fighter.

On another note, yesterday afternoon I met with a lovely woman from the UW Foundation. She's a development director for the school of medicine here at the University of Wisconsin, trying to help raise money for a variety of research and teaching endeavors. I sat down and talked to her specifically about volunteering to do some writing for her work with funding GBM and cancer stem cell research.

I didn't get to blog about this yet, but a few weeks ago, Dad, Linda and I were privileged to visit with stem cell researchers here on campus and tour Dr. Kuo's lab with him. This was an incredible experience. Dr. Kuo is a neurosurgeon researching GBM. Read more about him and about cancer stem cell research at UW. Dr. Kuo's working in stem cell research to develop novel cancer therapies. One picture from a presentation helped bring this down to my English-major-brain level. A scientist showed a group of cancer cells in blue with a yellow cell in the middle labeled cancer stem cell (CSC). Check out the graphic on Wikipedia. Dr. Kuo is trying to target and kill these CSCs. Think of it as killing the messenger, which in this case you want to do. The CSCs are thought to actually generate tumors through the the stem cell process of self-renewal, versus regular tumor cells that are unable to generate new cells. Kill the CSC and the tumor eventually shrivels and dies.

So I thought as a ditsy Enligh major, if I can translate some of his work and profile him and his scientists for the general public, maybe it would help. Madison is magnet for stem cell research. And since I unfortunately have intimate knowledge of the havoc wreaked by cancer, I thought it made sense to get involved in this way. I gotta do something. I know Dad would be all for it.