[stanford_status] Status as of 13 July 2006

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

Stanford went back to Dartmouth Medical Center yesterday, July 12th, for another CT scan.  The scan 
showed that the fluid in his abdomen has gone down even more.  There is one small pocket of water that 
appears to be trapped by scar tissue.  There is no immediate concern over this, but it is a potential 
source of infection to look out for.

They still haven't been able to identify the type of lymphoma, but they are repeating several tests.  
Stanford told Dr. Chaffee that it is a "Stanphoma", which is why they can't identify it.  She had a good 
laugh over that.

Dr. Chaffee said Stanford has improved quite a bit in the five days since she last saw him.  We have also 
noticed a big improvement.  His "plumbing" finally started working a whole lot better on Monday.  It 
appears that his system has finally turned a corner and he's improving steadily.

The original diagnosis was a Burkitts Lymphoma, which is very aggressive, and would have to be treated 
very aggressively.  This would have been a six month treatment, but very intense.  The current thinking is 
that it is a B Cell lymphoma which isn't as aggressive.  Dr. Chaffee said treatment would probably last 
one to two years.  A lot of the chemotherapy probably can be done locally in Nashua or in Manchester.

The lab in Boston doing the pathology is located in the Dana Farbar Cancer Insititute.  Everything was 
sent back to them yesterday for more testing.  We will probably go down some day next week to consult 
with the oncologist there.  So, we're in a waiting mode.  We should know what the treatment schedule 
will be in the next two or three weeks.  As we learn more we'll let you know.

John

ps.  I've put Stanford's PET and CT scans online.  You can use the following links to look at them if you 
desire.

http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_09_-_Stanfords_first_CT_scan
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_23_-_Stanfords_head_CT_scan
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_23_-_Stanfords_torso_CT_scan
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_26_-_Stanfords_PET_scan
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_30_-_Stanfords_CT_scan

Pictures of Stanford's hospital stays are found at these links:

http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_13_-_Stanford_in_hospital
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_14_-_Stanford_in_hospital
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_15_-_Stanford_in_hospital
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_16_-_Stanford_in_hospital
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_17_-_Stanford_in_hospital
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_18_-_Stanford_leaves_hospital
http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd4/2006_06_30_-_Stanford_in_hospital_second_time



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