Little increases

Hello again. The dad update after yesterday goes a little something like this. The MRI from Friday night didn't show any size increase of the five lesions that were found earlier in the week. They're not going to be able to determine the real extent of any damage caused by the lesions until dad wakes up more and they can run some tests on him. He is showing signs of coming out of the fog. Yesterday he was able to open his eyes and move them from side to side when the neurologist asked him to so. He also made eye contact with us for a bit and tried to lift his head off the pillow at one time. There are a couple theories right now as to why he's not coming around as quick as the doctors would like him to. (NOTE: Theories only, there has been no final diagnosis.) The fungal infection spreading to the brain most likely caused the lesions and there might be some stroke like damage in his brain. They are not seeing any damage to the thinking part of his brain, which is good. His EEG showed more activity than they would expect for somebody in a state like dad. Translation: dad's brainwaves are showing his brain is more awake than his body is. They think it's possible he's extremely weak from fighting the infection and simple lacks the energy to move much. Overall they are seeing tiny improvements day to day just not enough as of yesterday to wean him off the respirator. He has been passing and exceeding the ventilator trials each day, it's just that they want him more alert and in control of his throat before they extubate him. Oh and his arms are still swollen from the blood clots, hopefully his body starts rerouting things. The PICC line is out and he is only on two venipuncture IV's in his legs for the medications. So again, we're making tiny steps forward.

From talking to everybody over the past week you start to realize how much of a medical education you get when somebody has an illness like cancer, especially if they develop other conditions as a result of the treatment. Questions like "How is your dad doing?" become conversations about blood counts, respiration numbers, chemotherapy schedules, listing off medications, fluid balance, etc. Another thing you start to realize is how truly special the people are that are in the medical field. Every single person that I've met that has helped dad has been nothing short of a saint. For those of you that are reading this that are a nurse, a doctor, a technician or in any of the health professions - thank you for what you do everyday.

Among the plethora of advice dad has given people over the years is the story of the bulls. I'll have to modify the story a touch considering the audience of the blog, but it goes something like this:

Two bulls, an old bull and a young bull, are standing on top of a hill side looking down on a pasture of the most succulent oats they've ever seen. The young bull turns to the old bull and says "Hey, lets run down there and eat some of those oats!" The old bull replies, "Let's WALK down there and eat them all."

Dad, keep on getting better even if it's a walking pace and not a sprint.