[stanford_status] Chemotherapy round 2

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

Stanford and Joyce returned Friday morning to Darmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, 
NH for round 2 of his on going chemotherapy.  This session lasts five days.  Every 22 hours he is 
receiving this sequence of drugs through his port:

     Zofran (anti nausea)
     Ifosfamide (chemo)
     Etoposide (chemo)
     Mesna (help prevent bladder irritation)

The whole process takes about six hours.  He started the first cycle about 8:00 PM Friday so the last 
cycle should start about noon on Tuesday so they can return home Tuesday night.  Two days after 
returning home he will receive another injection of Neulasta, which jump starts the production of white 
blood cells in the bone marrow.

Stanford seems to be handling the whole treatment very well.  Dr. Chaffee said she has never had a 
patient before that didn't get nauseous from these drugs.  So far Stanford hasn't been sick this time or 
the treatment 3 weeks ago.  Today he and Joyce were wandering around the hospital and using the 
public access computers.  Stanford said, "Race you back!" and took off running pushing his IV stand in 
front of him with one hand.  He got in the first available elevator before Joyce got there and arrived at his 
room first.  So, I guess he's handling things pretty well.

Dr. Chaffee wants Stanford back at DHMC in two weeks for another PET scan.  They want to evaluate 
progress and have a week of "thinking" time if things aren't going to plan before the next round is 
supposed to start.  Remember that they don't have an exact diagnosis on what type of cancer Stanford 
has.  The "small round blue cell" tumor is in the same family as a Ewing Sarcoma so they are using the 
same Protocol that would be used for Ewing Sarcoma.  Since the Protocol isn't an exact match for 
Stanford's cancer they need to evaluate progress to be sure treatment is on the right track.

Stanford and Joyce have email access up at DHMC so you can contact them if you would like.  The rest 
of us at home are trying to keep the normal routines going.  We miss them and look forward to their 
return.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers,

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