[stanford_status] Erbitux treatment completed. CT Scans this Friday.

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

Stanford received his Erbitux treatment today at Dr. O'Shea's office in Nashua, NH.  First he received a 
push through his port of Ativan to offset the effects of the 15 minute pump of Benedril, which is given as a 
safety measure to offset any possible allergic reactions to the 60 minute pump of Erbitux.  Without the 
Ativan the Benedril makes him very very twitchy.  Everything went well, but the Ativan makes him very 
sleepy.  Following this Joyce took Julia, Phillip, and Stanford to piano lessons.  As of now Stanford is up 
and about and feeling better.

One side effect of Erbitux is a rash that looks like acne.  At today's appointment Dr. O'Shea said he was 
glad to see that Stanford has a rash on his face, neck, chest, and back.  He said experience has shown 
that Erbitux is working best in patients who develop these rashes.

Stanford will travel to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH this Friday, Nov 17th, 
for his next series of CT scans.  Joyce and Stanford will leave about 6:30 AM to be there for the 8:30 AM 
appointment.  The prep work takes two hours and the scans about 30 minutes.  They will most likely 
meet with Dr. Sara Chaffee as well since it will have been three weeks since she last saw Stanford.  They 
should get home mid afternoon.  We anxiously look forward to positive results in the scans.

Assuming everything is going as expected (tumors shrinking) the next day of full treatment will be in 
Nashua the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, Nov 22nd.  This will be a repeat of Erbitux, Avastin, 
irinotecan with leucovorin, and 46 hours of 5FU on a home pump as before.  If his white blood cell count 
is low next week he will receive an injection of Neulasta Saturday afternoon, Nov 25th, to stimulate white 
blood cell production.  

Blood tests today showed that his white blood count is now fine.  It was low last week.  Some of the 
other counts are on the low side of average but aren't yet a cause for concern.  The Neulasta injection 
last Saturday appears to have been effective in raising his white cell count, but Stanford has had some 
pretty uncomfortable bone pain the last few days.  It hurts mostly in his spine.

So far Stanford has been able to work three days at his new part time job at Technical Communications 
Corporation as a Documentation Clerk.  If things continue going well he should be able to work one day 
on his "bad" week and three or four days on his "good" week, totalling about 40 hours every two weeks.  
He enjoys his job and is getting to know his coworkers.  He plans to buy a Wii (Nintendo's latest gaming 
console) with his first earnings.  He is very excited.

Thanks for your continued thoughts, prayers, and encouragement.

John

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