[stanford_status] Back from treatment at DHMC

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

As planned, Stanford and Joyce went up to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, 
NH arriving at 10:00 AM.  Through some confusion no appointment had been scheduled, but arrangments 
were quickly made and Stanford had his second two-hour treatment of Erbitux.  Before the Erbitux he 
received a large dose of Benadryl as a preventative in case of allergic reactions.  Last week he had an 
even larger dose and both times it made him very twitchy.  To offset the twitchiness they gave him a dose 
of Adavan at the end, but that made him loopy and sleepy.  The treatment went very well and no adverse 
side effects were noticed.  It was another long day of driving and treatment.  They arrived home about 
6:45 PM.

Joyce and Dr. Chaffee discussed the possibility of having future treatments done locally in Nashua.  Dr. 
James O'Shea, the oncologist that referred Stanford to Dr. Chaffee back in July, has an office in Nashua.  
He has been kept apprised of Stanford's progress.  Dr. O'Shea does the type of treatment Stanford is 
now receiving. It would certainly ease up logistics if this becomes possible.  CT scans would still be 
performed at DHMC.

Stanford is feeling good and has energy.  For Halloween he dressed up as Aang from "Avatar: The Last 
Airbender", and went trick-or-treating with several friends.  Aang is bald and has a big blue arrow on his 
head.  Stanford dutifully sported a big blue arrow and made a costume.  Joyce took some pictures, but 
the camera was setup incorrectly, so they didn't come out very well.  You can see the pictures here:

    http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd5/2006_10_31_-_Phil_and_Stan_costumes

Stanford is scheduled to go back to DHMC next Wednesday, Nov 8th, for the full treatment:  1 hour of 
Avastin, 2 hours of irinotecan and leucovorin, 2 hours of Erbitux, and 46 hours of 5FU on a home pump as 
before.  The week after that on Nov 15th he will have Erbitux and CT scans also at DHMC.  The earliest 
Nashua treatments might begin is Nov 22nd, the day before Thanksgiving.

Thanks to all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

John

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