[stanford_status] Chemo done and pump removed

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

As expected, Stanford was able to come home Wednesday evening.  The visiting nurse met us at the 
hospital and hooked him up to the portable pump for the 46 hour treatment of 5FU and then we came 
home.  The link below is to a couple of pictures of the pump and of Stanford on Friday, Oct 13th, just 
before the pump was removed.  (Stanford called it the "infernal pump"):

     http://larsen-family.us/pictures/2006/cd5/2006_10_13_-_Stanfords_home_chemo_pump

Stanford has been really tired and also nauseous.  He threw up about three times.  Zofran helped with the 
nausea and he has slept a lot since Wednesday.  Today he is feeling somewhat better; better enough to 
go to "The Wizard's Tower" (http://www.wizardstowergames.com) to participate in a tournament of "Magic 
The Gathering", a CCG (collectible card game) that Stanford really enjoys playing.  He has been looking 
forward to these upcoming tournaments for many weeks.  We're glad the timing worked out so he could 
attend this one today.

Stanford hasn't been taking anything for pain since October 3rd, which surprised Dr. Chaffee.  I asked 
him about the pain today and he said the only time he feels any pain is if he breathes in very very deeply, 
and then he feels it a little.  The pain keeps getting less and less, which we empirically take to be a good 
sign.

We don't know for certain what will happen next.  The original plan was to have CT scans taken next 
week, but nothing definite had been set up as of Wednesday.  I'm sure we'll find out early next week what 
the next step will be.

Again we thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

John

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