The past few days have been BH pretty good for Eli as he and we adjust to a little bit of normalcy and most of all a quiet night sleep at home. Slowly Eli has been asking more and more for food and eating very decent amounts.

Sunday was a very enjoyable day as Eli had a friend over for most of the afternoon which he appreciated and enjoyed. Late Sunday evening I took Eli to the Bar Mitzva of Shmuel Rosenblatt who finished Shisha Sidrei Mishna and made a siyum lzchus Elimelech Ben Basya. Eli felt extremely special and even had enough strength to get up and dance with the Bar Mitzva boy. It was extremely special and a real zchus tizku lmitzvos. On Friday another Bar Mitzva boy Yakov Berkowitz gave a chunk of his maaser money bzchus Eli to Chai Lifeline.

At some point on Monday Elis home health nurse will come to our house and draw his blood and we will see from there if or what Eli may need as far as blood and platelets on Tuesday.

Please as always continue to have Elimelech Ben Basya in all your tefilos.

Today was bli ayin hora a very good day for a few reasons. Number one was that Elis counts were satisfactory enough that the DR gave us the green light to go home and so we were home by 11AM today. Number 2 was that we came home and were greeted by my rosh yeshiva Rabbi and Mrs Kanarek and his wife. I will never ever be able to properly show them the hakaras hatov we will forever owe them for living 3000 miles away and living with us and our situation on a daily basis. To shlep across the country to be with us and mechazek us for the 3rd time during Elis sickness had and continues always to give us the chizuk we need. To spend 12 hours roundtrip flying on erev Pesach to be with us a few short hours shows that BH my parents chose for me the right yeshiva with people that truly care. The only simple words I can come up with is THANK YOU.

As always once Eli is home he feels so much more normal and gets a sudden boost of energy and had a smile on his face all day. Eli was visited again by his rebbi which he really treasures and enjoys and can’t wait until he can be back in the classroom. He also was welcomed home to many lego sets sent by a few very special people which he is hard at work putting them all together.

We will need to continue giving 3X a day antibiotics by IV which I was taught today how to do. Eli will also continue getting TPN every night for 12 hours. The goal now is to get Elimelech Ben Basya as much energy, strength and weight before the next scheduled hospital stay which will be on Pesach for round 2 of high dose chemo. Please continue to daven that all should go as easy and painless as possible.

BH the last 2 days have been productive as far as making progress in hopes of getting home sooner then later. Elis blood counts did finally slightly start going up and we hope to see that trend continue on a quicker pace. The antibiotic IV has been going for 8 out of the 14 days and IYH when its time to leave they will show me how to continue giving it at home 3X a day until the 14 days are done.

Eli has been very busy skyping with his rebbi Rabbi Weiner and his class along with some family members. He also received many visits from many different people which he really enjoys and lifts his spirits. His rebbi got on the bed and helped Eli make a full lego set which really keeps him busy.

Eli has used quite a few units of blood these last 9 days and will probably continue to need over the next few weeks and months ahead. Blood donations I believe are good for 30 days once donated and have been extremely helpful from the many volunteers that have taken the time to do so. Those who are able and wish to donate should please coordinate with bikur cholim by calling 323-852-1900. Tizku lmitzvos

We look forward to beezrat hashem only having continued besuros tovos for Elimelech Ben Basya and the many tefilos and other zchusim on his behalf continue to be a big chizuk. We look forward to getting Eli home in good health and strength bkarov.

Both the good and bad news is that everything is status quo. The good part is that BH the infection is negative but the bad news is that Elis blood counts are still at zero. Over the last 2 days Eli has needed both blood and platelet transfusions. They will not allow Eli to leave the hospital until there is a rise in his counts which can happen at any time but just has to happen. This is sadly not yet considered a long time for it not to have gone up but for us feels like forever.

We are trying to get home so Eli can have some normalcy and rest before we need to turn around and start the next round of chemo over Pesach. Eli did very much enjoy a skype session with his rebbi and class today.

Beezrat hashem sooner then later we will have good news about Elimelech Ben Basya blood counts going up and him being released to go home from CHLA and continue the road to recovery and refua shelayma.

This past Sunday night in NY at the Peekskill yeshiva dinner at which 2 very close friends of mine were honored the program started with tehilim for Eli which we joined in here in LA together with the 500+ people there. Also a very large amount of tzedaka by many different friends was given to the yeshiva bzchus Eli. Tizku lmitzvos to all who daven and do many other acts of chesed and tzedaka and many other things on behalf of Eli it IYH will be a real zchus.

Eli was in CHLA for Shabos where both myself and Bassy stayed with him together which is a rarity but we were able to pull it off thanks to a very comfortable blow up bed we borrowed. We were joined by “the uncles” Friday night for a nice long meal during which we were disturbed by the pretty big earthquake which because we are in a new building in LA its on some type of wheels so the shaking lasted quite a while but BH all was ok. Shabos day a few friends took the long walk and spent the late afternoon with us which really helps break up the long day.

As far as Eli goes his blood counts haven’t quite started to go up yet and hopefully that will happen sooner then later. Bli ayin hora Elis infection is now negative but he is still being treated with strong IV antibiotics to keep it that way. The plan now is to wait until his blood counts go up so we can think about heading home before we need to come back for the 2nd cycle of chemo which is scheduled to run at some point on Pesach. BH Ari and sori were well entertained by my mother and friends over Shabos and we and they look forward to rejoining as a family at home as soon as Eli is up to it.

Please as always continue to daven for Elimelech Ben Basya and any and all zchusim being done on his behalf is very much needed and respectfully appreciated. A GUT VOCH

The results of the blood cultures came back this morning as positive for an infection and they are treating it with IV antibiotics. From the minute a cancer patient comes into the ER with fever they always treat it as if there is an infection and they start the antibiotics right away so BH for that. It is IYH very treatable and they will just take daily cultures to make sure its under control. This morning Eli received another platelet transfusion as well as the stem cell transplant and it seems to have been helpful to Elis coloring and hopefully will kick start getting his blood counts higher as well.

Elis spirits bli ayin hora are intact and while he remains quite weak he is in a decent mood and BH not in any pain. As a result of this fever and infection and low blood counts we will be in CHLA for the forseeable future and that as time goes on will be a test on Elis and our sanity.

Today there was a request for zchusim on matzav.com and it immediately yielded many zchusim on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya. Some that I was informed of and I’m sure others that I may never know. A total of over 50K was donated to tzedaka today all with one purpose a refua shelayma bkarov. AMEN

Today started at 1AM when Eli woke up with a high fever. We immediately packed a few small things and headed to CHLA ER where he was admitted and will be in patient for the next while. As I mentioned earlier that if this were to happen they would keep up until Elis blood counts which right now are very low get to a level that is considered to be not neutropenic, the DRs are guessing at best 10 days. He required a platelet transfusion and already 2 blood transfusion today just to keep his blood levels stable.

The planned stem cell transplant didn’t happen because of all this going on and IYH will happen on Thursday instead and beezrat hashem that will kick start the blood levels to head back up where they need it to be. Anyone that can donate blood on behalf of Eli should please coordinate with Bikur Cholim by calling 323-852-1900.

Today I was very tocuhed by the thoughtfulness of a child in Elis class that has done so much for Eli. On many different occasions he has come over to play with Eli and has always had the extra patience Eli needed. On Purim aside from bringing shalach manos he brought a huge poster he drew up for Eli. Today he brought a beautiful Chumash Shmos (which is the parsha Elis class just started) engraved with “Elimelech” on the cover. To see a 8 year old care so much tocuhed us. Yakov Levin you should continue to give your family only nachas.

I am calling on anyone that can to do something on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya as a zchus that he so desperately needs these days to do so. Specifically to give tzedaka or do a chesed having in mind and specially doing something extra for Eli. R’ Shlomo Yehuda gave $1.2 MILLION dollars of extra monies bzchus Eli. An anonymous person gave 25K bzchus Eli to a local mosad today. Obviously everyone isn’t financially able to write such amounts but what you can and to who you can as an extra would mean a lot and IYH be a zchus for Elimelech Ben Basya. Even a chesed be it at your home, your office, your shul or as a public thing is a tremendous zchus. Tizku lmitzvos

Eli BH is slowly getting back to himself. He does remain extremely weak and pale but the pain and most side effects hopefully have passed. He remains in a very good mood and is as happy as ever. Eli got a visit from his rebbi Rabbi Weiner which he very much enjoyed and appreciated.

On Wednsday in the morning we will be back in CHLA probably for most of the day as they plan on giving Eli some of his own stem cells back to help him regain his blood counts. He will also probably need a blood transfusion. We also hope to meet with the DR to discuss the next course of treatment and decide how to continue with which treatment etc.

Please as always continue to daven for Elimelech Ben Basya that he should continue to have the strength to fight and win this battle and that all should go as planned tommorow and every day after that one day at a time.

The chemo seems to be having its effect today wasn’t the easiest day for Eli as he was very weak and very nauseous most of the day. The good news is beezrat hashem the chemo is doing what its meant to do the sad and hard news is to see him in this state. I had to do something I hoped many months ago was the last time which was to give Eli a shot which when he is so weak is hard to give but its supposed to help bring up his low blood counts.

On Wednsday Eli will IYH be receiving some of his stem cells they harvested right when he got sick and wil be giving them back to him in hopes of that to will help bring up his strength and blood counts. Eli is now back on 12 hours of TPN to help keep his weight together and give him much needed calories and nutrition.

This morning there was a yom tefila on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya and I know of literally around the world different shiurim and weeks of learning are being sponsored in the Mir yeshiva and in Monsey in Bais Hachinuch as well as in many other places. Every zchus is needed and appreciated and we look forward to continue to help Eli fight and win this tough battle.

After a long hard and tiring week at CHLA Eli finished this round of chemo and BH was discharged soon after that. We got home during Shabos at about 3:30PM and we look forward beezrat hashem to helping Eli regain some strength and prepare for what lays ahead with the future treatments. On Friday night we had a seuda in his room in CHLA where we were joined by 2 of Elis favorite “uncles” . On Shabos morning we were visited by a few special people that took the long 1.5+ hour walk each way to visit Eli and myself and it was very much appreciated and right before we were discharged the local Chabad shliach also came by. Even after Eli had a blood transfusion today with of course yidishe blood arranged by Bikur Cholim his counts are still very low and germs and infections are high on our watch list.

The next scheduled thing is a IYH a visit to the DR on Wednsday morning and exactly what or when after that isn’t certain. We are taking one day at a time and looking forward to helping Elimelech Ben Basya be zoche to what he really needs a refua shelayma bkarov. A GUT VOCH