[stanford_status] Dec 17, Sun - Tired but holding his own

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

It has been three days since the last update.  Things have been kind 
of busy and I just never took the time to send out an email.  
Stanford's physical condition is about the same.  The oxycontin 
makes him quite sleepy, but he usually has a couple of periods 
during the day when he perks up.  He hasn't needed any break through 
pain medication since Wednesday, which is encouraging.  There also 
hasn't been any dosage adjustment required for the oxycontin since 
Dec 7th.  We've been dealing with the side effects of the oxy drugs 
such as constipation and tiredness.  Stanford has had some issues 
with throwing up the last two days.  He doesn't feel nauseous, but 
all of a sudden he needs to puke.  This has happened three times.  
There isn't any blood in the puke, and a nurse said that it isn't an 
issue and could be a result of the chemo from last Monday.

Tomorrow, Monday Dec 18th, Stanford is scheduled for round 2 of the 
gemcitabine.  We will go to Dr. O'Shea's clinic at 10:45 AM.  They 
will access his port and do a blood draw.  Lab work will be done 
immediately to verify blood counts and chemo will start right after 
assuming blood counts within acceptable ranges.  The chemo is a 30 
minute infusion of gemcitabine administered intravenously through 
his port.  It is preceded by a 30 minute infusion of Zofran to 
control possible nausea.  Stanford experienced upset stomach and 
lots of pain in his left side after the last round of gemcitabine on 
Dec 17th.

On Friday, Dec 15th, the Nashua High South Bell Choir came to our 
house and played for Stanford.  The weather was great so they set up 
in our backyard and played several Christmas carols.  Pictures of 
this visit are on the http://StanfordLarsen.org website.  Also, 
Friday evening was the Christmas party for the company Stanford and 
John work for.  Stanford really wanted to go so we made the trip 
down to Scupper Jacks in Acton, MA.  We've figured out an 
arrangement in the van that makes it very comfortable for Stanford 
to travel, so comfortable in fact that it took us 15 minutes to wake 
him up after the return trip.  We enjoyed seeing all our co-workers 
after several weeks of being away.  

On Saturday morning our church had a Christmas breakfast.  I had 
suggested to Stanford the night before that he probably should stay 
home and rest, but he really wanted to go.  So, we made the trip to 
church Saturday morning at 9:00 AM.  There are a few pictures of him 
at that event on the website.

Today we didn't get started early enough so we ran out of time to 
get Stanford ready for church.  He was really tired after the Friday 
and Saturday activities and ended up staying home from Church.  He 
perked up some later on and had fun playing his Wii with his brother 
Bradford who came home from UNH on Saturday.

We feel like we're helping Stanford walk through a mine field to get 
him safely to the other side.  We keep praying for the continuing 
miracle to help him through and on to the road to recovery.  Please 
keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and pray that his counts will 
be good and that chemo can continue.

John

_______________________________________________________
John R Larsen <john at larsen-family.us>
http://larsen-family.us