[stanford_status] Positive news: CT scans show tumors have not grown in 3 weeks

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

Stanford had CT scans at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH at 7:00 AM 
today.  Dr. Julie Kim who works with Dr. Sara Chaffee called a few minutes ago to report that the tumors 
have not grown since the last scans done on Sept 26th.  So, in 24 days there has been no growth.  They 
are now calling his condition a "stable disease".

This is the first positive news we have received since June 12th when Stanford was first diagnosed with 
cancer.  On July 26th Stanford had an ultrasound at Boston Children's Hospital.  There were two tumors 
visible in his liver at that time each about 2 centimeters in size.  Nine weeks later on Sept 26th the CT 
scan showed a dozen or more tumors (more tumore than liver) with the largest being over 9 centimeters 
(3.5 inches) in size.  One would have expected the tumors to continue growing ever larger if the latest 
chemotherapy treatments weren't effective.  We accept this a positive first step in getting Stanford well.

The plan is to add another drug "Erbitux" to his treatment.  Stanford will return to DHMC next 
Wednesday, Oct 25th, for this 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.  That will be a very long day and he will not 
be feeling well at the end.  However, he bounced back very quickly after the last treatment so we hope he 
does this time too.

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

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