Eli had a very quiet uneventful relaxed day. His blood and platelet counts have began to drop finally but still have a way to go until they have bottomed out before they will IYH rise again. Aside from being pretty weak he felt fine ate a few things and was fed the rest thru his IV.

He had some family and friends come visit him and enjoyed some new toys and games he got. We hope even as his numbers do drop that his mood will somewhat still be upbeat. He has now been here for more then 10 days and is roughly about a third of the way thru this long process IYH. It is definitely starting to take a toll on him being that he is basically confined to a bed and isn’t allowed to leave his room for fear or germs etc.

We hope this process will be as quick and painless as possible for Elimelech Ben Basya and hope to see him get thru this and be zoche to a refua shelayma BKAROV.

Shabos in the hospital was as good as we could of hoped for. We enjoyed a Friday night meal together with Eli and even watched him eat a few bites. He is now on IV receiving all his nutrients and hydration to keep him from further losing any weight. Other then getting a little bit nauseous late motzei shabos Eli was still in a great mood and was extremely talkative and active for all of shabos. We spent the day Davening, eating, playing games, resting and enjoying Elis humor. Once again Eli was visited by a few friends and family and really enjoyed their company.

While we are not complaining that BH Eli is feeling very good there is one problem with it which is that unfortunately the side effects from the treatments he received over the last 10 days or so cause his blood counts to be extremely low and some mouth sores. And so far Elis blood counts are pretty high which isn’t that unusual but the longer it takes to fall the longer he will have to be in CHLA. They need to fall in order to rebuild. Beezrat hashem whatever has to happen will happen and will move as quickly and with the least pain or side effects as possible. Other then the IV tube feeding and hydrating Eli he isn’t on much of any other meds however as his blood counts drop they will be giving him blood and platelet transfusions and if needed pain medication.

We hope and daven that things will only move in the right direction and move there quick and painless for Elimelech Ben Basya. A GUT VOCH and A GUT CHODESH.

Eli had a good night sleep and woke up later then he has been and was in the same good mood he went to sleep in. He spent the morning relaxing and playing many different games. The nurse told us that the stem cell transplant will take place at 1PM. It began at about 1:15PM and was done before 1:25PM and BH went very smoothly. Basically what they did was about 5 months ago they took Elis stem cells and had them frozen in anticipation of today. It was stored in a IV bag and with a team of doctors and transplant nurses they hooked it up to his IV and let it run thru his central line until every last drop was in Elis system.

Bli ayin hora all went easy and smooth and the potential immediate nausea we were told about BH didn’t pan out and aside from being tired from the meds they gave him prior to the transplant he was and is BH totally fine. He even decided to eat a bag of snack which is more then he’s eaten in a few days. They will IYH begin feeding Eli nutrients thru his IV tonight and until he is able and wants to eat enough on his own.

Both Bassy and I will be in CHLA with Eli for Shabos and Sori and Ari will be spending Shabos in Pico with my parents who we need a separate book for just to try to keep track of the amount they have done for us always and especially since Elis diagnosis.

We hope and daven that the many side effects expected from this last round of treatment will not happen. Elimelech Ben Basya continues to be a pro and a non complainer and beezrat hashem he will have no pain and nothing to complain about. A GUT SHABOS and A GUT CHODESH

Aside from not being in the mood of eating or drinking Eli had a really good day bli ayin hora. He hardly felt nauseous and he was laughing and playing games all day. Later in the afternoon our rov Rabbi and Mrs Langer came to visit Eli and really made him feel special. Eli was also visited by some friends of ours one of them added to Elis big collection of electronics with the addition of a PSVista. The many smiles Eli had and brought to everyone else and the great mood he was in we hope will continue and carry him thru the next few weeks.

On Friday is the big day when he will IYH be having the stem cell transplant. It is a very short infusion which takes less then 10 minutes and hopefully will be the beginning of rebuilding Elis immune system. Over the next few weeks they expect Elis blood counts to be extremely low and will most probably need many blood transfusions and platelets. Anyone that can donate should please be in contact with the tzadikim at Bikur Cholim 323-852-1900 to coordinate.

Today was the day our friends the Brechers have been waiting 15 months for which was that Binyomin Chaim Ben Faigie Sarah had his last treatment. The help, knowledge and assistance they have given us with Eli has really been nothing short of amazing. Watching them go thru some very tough days and them watching us to and always there to give us chizuk we can’t and don’t have enough hakoras hatov. We bentch them that they should ONLY see nachas and gezunt from Benny and all of their family.

We will be davening extra on Friday that the stem cell transplant will go as planned and that it should only do what its meant to do on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya.

Out of about a total of 720 hours (30 days X24 hours) we BH had a relatively easy 153 hours so far and ONLY have IYH 567 hours left. While Eli wasn’t exactly active today he was ok and didn’t complain at all. He spent the day with Bassy relaxing, playing board games, 3DS, and some talking when he was up to it. It was my turn to be with the Sori and Ari at home who I haven’t been much with since Eli went in last week.

Bli ayin hora the great news today was that Eli completed all the chemo rounds and I hope to never write that word and I hope the same is true for anyone and everyone in the world. There is nothing other then basic hydration and possibly some other nutrients that are going thru Elis IV right now and that is the plan until Friday morning IYH when they will be doing the actual stem cell transplant. Aside from being nauseous and starting to get weak Eli is in good spirits and still manages to crack a joke and a smile.

The next week to 10 days or so are apparently the most trying time for Elimelech Ben Basya and we daven that he will continue have the strength to fight and hope that whatever side effects are possible to happen don’t actually happen. Anyone that can make it to a Tefilas Yom Kippur Koton on Thursday should please keep Eli in mind. Tizku lmitzvos

Today was relatively quiet with no treatments on schedule it was a day to let Elis body have a short rest before they give him what we hope is IYH his last dose of chemo. He didn’t quite feel as well as he did the last few days and did get quite nauseous a few times but for the most part he had an ok day. Eli received a visit today from his rebbi Rabbi Jacobs who went completely out of his way as always for Eli and laminated each page of the Chumash he is up to (hospital rules all paper must be laminated in BMT) as always thank you so much rebbi. Closer to the end of the day Eli became extremely exhausted most probably because he hasn’t had any really full night of sleep since he got here and of course also because of all the treatments he is getting.

In this special transplant unit that Eli is in he is assigned a few nurses that become “his team” and whenever they are here will be assigned to him so that they somewhat have an idea of what he likes and what he doesn’t. So far we only have one nurse who is on that team who is extremely caring and nice. Tonights nurse needed a lesson on how to be quiet when someone is sleeping and I think she now understands. Eli did not eat much today and the little he did unfortunately didn’t stay down very long. But this evening he decided he wanted grill cheese so I ran up the street to the home of the local Chabad shliach Rabbi Korf who as always had an open door for us and BH Eli ate that and held it down.

Tomorrow we hope continues to be somewhat easy and quiet for Elimelech Ben Basya as bli ayin hora things have been for the most part better then we prepared ourselves for and hope that it stays this way.

Treatment and recovery are both well underway and as I write this post Eli is bli ayin hora in middle of his final dose of chemo 16 of 16. There still remains one final one time dose that IYH will take place on Wed and then we look forward to never saying the word “chemo” ever again in our or anyone elses life. While things have for the most part gone as smooth as possible Eli did have a small complication come up which is a infection in his diarrhea which is being treated by very strong antibiotics that he needs to take 4X a day for the next 7 days. BH this will not effect the transplant and all should IYH continue as planned.

Eli has no planned treatment for Tuesday as they want his body to have a short rest. We hope the next few days and week or so which we have been told to plan on it not being that easy to fly by and go as easy as possible with as little side effects and pain as possible.

On a side note I have not thanked anyone in a long while and I feel the need to do so. Without mentioning names there are some people that have taken being mevaker choleh to a whole new level. The non stop gifts, games, toys and letters from one family. The daily texts and weekly mailed letters from 3000 miles away from another. The food brought to us in the hospital and at home numerous times daily. The few people that have yet to ever say no for anything we ever need. The extra love and care for Sori and Ari in school. The endless texts and cards to Eli from his morah and class. The love and chesed we have gotten and continue to receive is way beyond our understanding and not possible to properly show our sincere appreciation. The simple brocha that we can return is that bzchus what everyone has done on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya should be a shield on themselves their families and communities and be zoche to see Eli and all cholim wake up to a instant and full refua and we should never hear another tzorah in our lives again.

Eli is now finished 75 percent of the 16 doses of chemo in this round and we hope that these last 4 doses he will IYH will be the last time we ever hear or say the word chemo in our or anyone elses life. This morning Eli was visited by Sori and Ari who spent a few minutes with Eli asking him many questions. The rest of the day was spent for the most part with Bassy while I got a break. I brought Eli a steak from a bbq and he ate it like old times it was very nice and good to see.

I pushed Eli to go to sleep early as he began to start feeling slightly nauseous right before he went to sleep. Up until now Eli has been in a great mood and eating plenty and IYH that will continue with no side effects. As the days go on we have been told to expect to see nausea, mouth sores and extreme weakness. The doctors have been wrong before and we hope this will be the case now as well. The transplant to my understandings take place when Elis counts are either at zero or extremely low and that happens as a result of the chemo he has been taking and they expect that to happen on Friday. They then start to rebuild his immune system with beezrat hashem no complications.

The next few days and weeks will be very trying on Elimelech Ben Basya and his and our sanity and strength and we know he and we will pull thru IYH with the help of the RBSO and some extra tefilos.

I don’t know what got into Eli but I’m not complaining at all. He was in a great, happy and very spiritual mood the whole shabos. We davened Friday night together in his room and when we got to “Lcha dodi” Eli decided it was time to sing and dance it so we did exactly that I have no idea what the other patients, nurses or doctors thought we were doing but neither do I care. It was a real special 30 minutes that I won’t forget. Due to hospital rules I am unable to eat together with Eli in the room but they allowed for kidush and challa to be eaten together and then I watched Eli eat and when he fell asleep I went to the parents room to eat the seuda.

Once again Eli didn’t have the best night sleep but BH he fell back to sleep for a few extra hours. We once again davened together and played some games and used our imagination for other games. Our afternoon was broken up by some special guests and friends that took the very long hour and half walk each way special to come visit us. Eli as usual did the entertaining and gave them the updates. Bli ayin hora so far so good and we were lucky to have a relaxed enjoyable Shabos. Right after shabos even though Eli ate a very large amount over shabos he still wanted pizza so of course we had that brought right over and it wasn’t until 11:30PM that Eli finally decided time to go to sleep.

Hoping that this week and next few weeks fly by with the main thing being that everything should work out as planned. We should be zoche to see Elimelech Ben Basya finish the stem cell transplant with no pain or side effects beezrat hashem and have a refua shelayma. A GUT VOCH

So far so good. Eli is feeling very good, still eating and still full of humor. I say still because they expect that in the next few days the side effects of the chemo to kick in. In the meantime we are taking it day by day and BH all is good. Eli didn’t have the best nights sleep because the of the many blood tests they took and all the movement and noise woke him pretty early. We look forward to a relaxed, quiet and restful shabos in CHLA playing some games, reading and shmoozing.

As far as treatment goes I was corrected today and told what the plan and schedule for the transplant is. There will be IYH 16 doses of this hi dose chemo which is being given every 6 hours for 4 days as of right before shabos he should complete 3 of 16. There are potentially many different side effects some which are normal for chemo and others which aren’t, so as a precaution that those CV shouldn’t happen they give Eli many medications thru IV to prevent that. After the 16 doses of chemo there will be 2 days without any chemo and then they will be giving Eli back his stem cells that they took right after he was diagnosed and they froze away in anticipation of this day. The entire actual transplant process is done thru his central line and takes all of between 5-10 minutes!!

At the time they infuse him for a few days before and after they expect Eli to be extremely weak because his immune system will be at zero. Once the transplant is done it takes a few days for his body to slowly gain back strength, blood levels, and counts and at that time they still need to monitor Eli to make sure all stays and remains stable beezrat hashem. So in short this process if all goes smoothly can last as short as about 25 days and the average is about 30 days or as long as it takes for all to be normal.

Please as always keep Elimelech Ben Basya in your tefilos and we hope all continues to be as easy as possible, as smooth as possible and as quick as possible. Beezrat hashem shabos he melizuk and Eli together with all cholim should see a refua shelayma bkarov. A GUT SHABOS