Eli had another small bump in the road today that we hope doesn’t last very long. He woke up in a lot of pain in his mouth (we were warned and somewhat expected it) and didn’t want to eat or drink. We spoke to his doctor who didn’t want to prescribe any medication over the phone without seeing him. So we took Eli to CHLA and they gave us some medication and once he was there they drew some blood to see how he is doing and his counts were at zero so they gave him a blood transfusion.

Over the next few days we need to be extremely careful as to where he goes and who is in physical contact with Eli to avoid chas vshalom any infections as his body simply doesn’t have the means to fight it right now. Hopefully the blood transfusion will help the #s to rise and get Eli back to himself.

Our hopes continue to be very high that this pain won’t last as it is extremely hard to see Elimelech Ben Basya in any pain. Hopefully he will wake up and the pains will be gone and the side effects will not come back.

With his schedule in hand and all his high tech equipment he has now Eli had a late start to the day after not sleeping that well (a lot of itching) he for the most part kept to the schedule we made him. Late in the afternoon we took a drive to munchies for dessert with his siblings and all enjoyed. We all love spending as much as possible home time with Eli as we keep our high hopes of keeping him away from the hospital aside for scheduled visits.

We hope to be able to continue with only good news and getting a small sense of normalcy in Elis and our lives during the recuperation time he has in between treatments. With not much planned other then to get Eli as strong as possible in preparation for the next round we hope to give him as much attention as he needs and wants.

The good days are IYH here to stay and they are only here as a result of the many zchusim Elimelech Ben Basya has coming from literally all over the world. Please continue to daven on his behalf so he and we can continue seeing only improvements and chas vashalom no side effects.

Eli woke up exactly how we expected him to with a huge smile and all excited to head to the apple store at 8:30AM. One problem the apple store doesn’t open until about 11AM. He counted down the minutes and was ready to roll as soon as they opened. The smile this IPAD has brought to him as he feels like an adult and very important with it and we couldn’t be happier as the happier he is the happier we are and his laugh and smile are both contagious.

On Tuesday its time to get back on schedule again with a somewhat normal life with doing davening, some school work, learning etc. We don’t have many plans for the week other then to keep Eli happy and healthy and eating. Bli ayin hora this round of chemo was a lot easier then round prior and the nausea was substantially less so hopefully he will regain the few pounds he lost and gain a few extra as well.

Please keep Elimelech Ben Basya in your tefillos in hopes that he will continue to have the strength and courage to fight this machla and in hopes that the side effects will be non existent. Again I can’t stress enough our deepest appreciation to everyone that keeps Eli in mind as that’s what’s keeping us and our family going during this test. We should be zoche to see Eli and all cholim have a full refua BKAROV.

Wow I don’t know if Eli could of asked for a better Purim. Quote from Eli at the end of the day “today was the best day in my life” little does he know there are many many a lot better days ahead. Eli woke up ready to roll with his big plans of getting enough $$ to get himself his own IPAD BH he reached his goal easily and some. He ran around all day giving shaloch manos, getting brochos, relaxing, seuda and then was on the stage by the purim chagiga with a huge smile on his face. He couldn’t get enough of the action and fun.

IYH on Monday Eli will be going to get his IPAD and he is so excited he is having trouble falling asleep as he can’t believe its actually happening. We are beyond excited and happy for him that he is so excited. He and we enjoyed seeing him so happy today and like we say “halevay vayter” and only in good health and happiness.

Elimelech Ben Basya will be fully equipped with all his hi tech gadgets from his blackberry, IPAD, digital camera (which a friend from NY so nicely sent him) he feels so special and knows from all the letters he has gotten how much everyone cares and thinks about him. You can now also email Eli at Eligradon@yahoo.com. IYH all the teffilos that are done on his behalf and with Purim here we hope to see ONLY nachas, refuas and gezunt from Eli.

A GUT VOCH and A FREILICHEN PURIM. Eli did what he does every Friday night which is insist that he goes to shul with me. This Friday night because his zaidy was in the kollel he decided he wants to daven there. He sat next to his zaidy and davened every word and then enjoyed Friday nights seuda with his bubby, zaidy and all of us followed by dessert by R’ SYR with MBD and a choir which he really enjoyed. He was in a great mood and had a very good appetite. He again went to shul for shachris and relaxed the rest of the day and even had a friend over for the afternoon.

Motzei Shabos as he has been waiting for for a long time was time to go back to shul again for Megilah which he sat thru listening to every word. He has big plans for Purim to dance and have fun and of course try to get himself enough $$ so he can have his own IPAD (yes I know not the best idea but can’t say no to the king).

Beezrat hashem Elimelech Ben Basya will continue to do well and not have any side effects that chas vshalom will force us back in the hospital and we will be using tefilah on Purim as a bracha for Eli. IYH Purim will be Vnehapoch Hu and we will see Eli have a completee Refuah BKAROV

Finally at 9AM we got the ok to go home and Eli and we couldn’t be more excited. We got our stuff together and got into the car and as soon as we pulled out of CHLA Eli asked to roll down the windows for his first breath of fresh air all week. The little things we all take for granted are big deals in his life. But the main thing was his smile on his face when we finally got home. And the celebration from Sori and Ari when they got home after also not seeing him all week.

The rest of the day was just pure relaxation and slowly letting Eli work on getting back his full appetite. We look forward to a restful relaxed shabos and hope he will be up to going to shul. He is very excited about Purim and just being part of the fun and not laid and beezrat hashem he will be up to doing all that.

Please have Elimelech Ben Basya in all your tefilos especially on Purim (which is a big day for tefila) in hopes that once again the doctors will be very wrong and the usual side effect of fever and nausea will be non existent so that we can have Eli stay home until his next scheduled appt. GUT SHABOS

BH Eli had another very good day under the circumstances and even had a better appetite today than yesterday. He ate a nice sized lunch and the best part was that it stayed down. He spent the morning with his bubby and a family friend and then all afternoon with his mother and then again with a friend for part of the evening. He fell asleep earlier then he has been and we hope he stays asleep in preparation to going home beezrat hashem shortly and full of strength.

This evening arranged by Chai Lifeline Sori and Ari enjoyed a ride on a “party bus” full of shrieking Bnos Devora girls who took them to munchies which really made them happy and took their minds off of missing Eli. Until about 2 and a half months ago we always wondered what does Bikur Cholim, Chai Lifeline and many other wonderful organizations really do? Well we have seen first hand and without them there would be no way possible for us to be managing without their constant guidance, support in many different ways, food etc etc etc. Our hakaras hatov to them will never compare to what they mean to us. THANK YOU

While the day went well for Elimelech Ben Basya once again the severe lack of communication skills they have in CHLA continues. We were told that a few hours after the chemo is done Eli will be good to go home. Well the chemo was done at 10PM and we were hoping that at some point when Eli wakes up in middle of the night or first thing in the morning to be ready to leave. Not so fast “we are sorry but the attending oncologist isn’t in until 8AM and he needs to see Eli before he can be discharged”. Basically even after they see Eli in the morning its still another hour or 2 until they sign all the papers and finally allow us to leave. Hopefully we will be home IYH to stay healthy and out of the hospital until the next round of chemo and be full of strength. AMEN

Under the circumstances Eli BH had a good day. Unfortunately a good day in the hospital isn’t half as good as just being home but we will take the good. The countdown until we can leave for the weekend has started and we are very much looking forward to it. For the most part Eli has lost most of his apetite and although this is very normal and expected he decided he wants a steak for dinner so I ran and got him one but he was only able to hold it down for a few minutes as the nausea got the best of him.

Hopefully Eli will have the strength to go for a walk on Thursday in preparation for him going home and us starting to work on getting him back to full strength. We have been warned that although this round bli ayin hora so far hasn’t been as harsh as the last round but one of the side effects is that he has a good chance of getting a fever and needing to return to the hospital soon after discharge. They have been wrong many times and we daven that this will be one of those times.

Elimelech Ben Basya is really looking forward to Purim and having a good time dancing, eating and giving shaloch manos and we are hoping and davening that he will have the strength to do so and that chas vshalom the side effects do not effect him at all. Please keep davening on his and our behalf that he should be discharged in time and stay out of the hospital until his next scheduled visit.

Eli for the most part had a very good day. He woke up pretty late after going to sleep very late but BH woke up in a great mood. He spent the late morning davening and playing games with his mother and had a few visitors. This afternoon and then again in the evening he was in the mood to take a long walk and I was very happy to allow him so we went for a long walk hooked up to the IV around the hospital. He had his favorite nurse tonight and gave her a huge welcome when she walked in for her shift. Eli is very good at making everyone around him happy.

In the late evening he was quite nauseous and unfortunately couldn’t hold down some of the food. He then got very tired finally very late in the night and finally agreed to call it a night. We are hoping that he wakes up the same way he did today and keeps his happy mood all day.

As the days continue and we keep hearing sometimes before and sometimes after the fact of the many chasadim, tefilos and Kabbalos that people are doing on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya we feel it and know this is the reason he is so strong thru all of this and thru his strength and him being ok it makes all of us around him a lot more at ease we can’t properly ever thank everyone enough. Please continue to have him in mind in hopes that there will be no side effects and that the treatment should have its full effect and we should be Zoche to see Eli have a complete refua BKAROV

Eli woke up very happy and was ready to go to CHLA the problem was CHLA wasn’t ready for Eli they had no beds available. So Eli got to hang out at home and eat a lot which BH showed on the scale when he did finally check in at 1:00 PM. He spent the afternoon with his mother playing games and getting fluid IVs. Finally after a few delays the chemo finally began at about 10PM. Eli then finally went to sleep shortly after that.

Eli’s brother, sister and I spent that later part of the afternoon at a pre purim party arranged by chai lifeline and the kids really had a blast with the jugglers, clowns, getting dressed up, face painting and eating supper there. It was a good lift for them as they really miss Eli when he isn’t home it really took their little minds off of the situation and we thank them for this and all the help they have and continue to do on ours and Eli’s behalf.

We continue to hope and daven that this round of chemo will not yield the somewhat expected side effects they have told us about and hopefully Elimelech Ben Basya will continue to gain weight, keep up the great mood he’s been in and have the strength to fight this machla until he has a complete refua BKAROV