email update - 8 August

By this time, Dad was actually much less swollen, and starting to look pretty decent. While we couldn't understand most of what he was saying, he was very communicative, and even expressing emotions. Unfortunately, things were crashing too. Sometimes I wonder if the more consciousness he attained, the more he realized that his situation was untenable, and he started to let things go...

Hi all,
Difficult news this time.
Dad is pretty conscious and is trying to communicate, although he is still unable to move any muscles below his neck. With the tracheotomy & ventilator, he's able to try to talk but unable to make any sound.
Dad's white blood cell count was as high as 17.0 for a little while, but it has dropped back down to 0.3 currently. His kidney is still not functioning.
As he was finally in good enough condition, the night before last the hospital was able to take scans and look at his cancer. Unfortunately, the preliminary results of the scans have shown that there is very significant growth of tissue in his lungs. We're waiting for more comprehensive results, but so far it appears that the stem cell transplant was not successful. If this is the case, especially considering his current condition after the transplant, it certainly changes his prognosis.
I'll try to send another update soon, when we've got new information.
take care,
-p