More Medical Marvels

Here’s something you don’t see everyday. A team of doctors and researchers used stem cells from a patient’s own bone marrow to grow and then implant the new wind pipe in the patient. The beauty of this is that the host body (in theory) will not reject the transplant due to it coming from the cells of the host. This was done in 2005 and the results so far have been successful. See URL…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27790019/

This ties into a political marvel as well. President-elect Barack Obama said early last week that as soon as he took office he would void the Bush presidential directive banning federal funding for stem cell research. I know many people view the issue (embryonic stem cells) behind the issue of stem cell research difficult, but I applaud our new president for his swift action on a prior executive decision that I personally found unconscionable. How many lives could have been saved if federal funding for stem cell research had been provided during the Bush years? We'll never know.

I’m at my cancer center today. It is in some ways my first “routine” checkup. I hope it stays routine and will provide an update within the next few days.

Thanks for checking in and take care of yourself.