[stanford_status] Chemotherapy today

[jlarsen at larsen-family.us]

Hello Everyone,

Stanford is at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH
right now receiving chemotherapy treatment.  Joyce and I are with him.  He
is in much better physical condition this time compared to two weeks ago
so he won't have to stay inpatient.  They are repeating the treatment of
two weeks ago, which consists of:  60 minutes of Avastin, 2 hours of
irinotecan and leucovorin, and 46 hours of 5FU.  The 5FU will be started
here at DHMC by a home infusion nursing agency.  We will then head home
probably arriving home too late to go to piano lessons.  In two days the
home nurse will come to the house and remove the equipment.  The long 5FU
is administered by a small battery powered pump about the size of a CD
walkman.  Stanford will be able to travel around as needed.

Stanford had blood work done yesterday to make sure his blood counts were
acceptable.  They were all well into the normal range and his liver
function also checked out normally.  However, his liver function has
always checked out normally.

Next week we will return for another set of CT scans.  That's when we will
find out for sure that these chemotherapy treatments have been effective.

Stanford has been feeling pretty better and better since a week ago
Tuesday.  This past Monday Stanford and I went mountain biking in Mine
Falls Park in Nashua.  We rode for about 70 minutes.  He didn't have any
pain even when going over those bumpy trails.  No pain is a good thing.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

John