A bit of progress was made today. A neurosurgeon talked to us about the compression fractures in his thoracic vertebra and explained how they affect the body. On Monday they will perform a surgical procedure called a kyphoplasty and that should give him nearly immediate relief from the pain. This procedure basically injects a bone cement into the compressed vertebra and restores the integrity of the vertebra. Larry has four compression fractures and the FDA only allows surgeons to repair three at a time, so he had another CT scan today so that they can make sure they are working on the three most damaged vertebra. It is not very invasive, for which we are very thankful. He was also measured for a body brace which is supposed to help provide upper body support. As you can imagine, with so much bone deterioration in the ribs and spine he has quite a bit of trouble standing or sitting upright and a brace should help considerably...at least until the chemo has more time to indicate some positive results.

He had to take Ativan today so that he could lie flat for the CT scan, and this is the medication that really makes him loopy. He woke up briefly for me to feed him dinner and kept insisting to Justin that he play a note on the instrument. We tried humming, singing, pretending that our voices were instruments and Justin finally picked up a cell phone and used a tone from it as the note from his instrument. Larry was so impressed and told Justin that if he kept practicing he would become an excellent musician (what a joke!), and then told Justin to give him the instrument and let him show him how to play it. Wow - Justin just froze and wasn't sure what to say! We played it off and Larry soon forgot it. Shortly afterwards Larry sat in his chair and began playing his imaginary clarinet - even blowing into it and he had perfect finger positions! We got the biggest kick out of it. The first time he took Ativan was a couple of weeks ago, and he sailed all around the world on a big ship. This time he was a musician. It's just so bizarre the way medications affect people, but we get such a kick out of Larry's adventures!

Larry is still in quite a bit of pain but he's such a trooper. This most recent experience has been a bit frightening for all of us but he somehow manages to rise above the fear and keep a positive attitude. Thanks again for all the calls, cards and prayers. I continue to hear from people all across the country who are praying for us and have Larry on their prayer lists. It is very humbling to be lifted in prayer by so many people.

Thank you all.

Terri