Author: Uncle Matt

Since the previous post by Erika, things changed yet again. The Thursday harvest (#2) was completed and instead of being discharged to head back home, they learned that they needed to harvest again today. That is wrapping up as I write this (3:00 PM). Then Peter’s line in his neck will be removed and the Eigner’s will be discharged and back home tonight.

It’s been an interesting week with a fluctuating schedule, but a successful week all-in-all. This harvest is a nice milestone to check off. Ty, Erika, and Peter were able to break free of the hospital last night and take in the Minnesota Wild season opener. That was a nice break for all, but especially for Peter (thanks Tony G.).

Let’s hope for an uneventful and restful weekend for the Eigners as round 3 of chemo starts Monday already. Go Twins. Peter would love to be able to watch more games this season.

Peter is back in his room after the first harvest. I understand that the procedure was kind of boring and I’ll take that as good news. He has been battling a little fever and still has bone/joint pain, but other than that he’s doing well.

Things seem to change by the hour, but here is what I know at the end of a long Tuesday. As planned, the growth hormone dosage was increased. Unfortunately, the drug at this dose causes joint pain and Peter is feeling it. It’s primarily affecting his legs. To add to his discomfort, the new line was inserted in his neck this morning. He was “asleep” for that procedure. Pain medication and visiting family distract him from the pain. He’s definitely fighting, though, because his blood counts have gone up and he’s on the rebound from the last round of chemo.

They’re still waiting on test results on that bacteria infection. Hopefully it will come back negative in the morning. If so, the stem cell harvest begins at 9:00 AM and lasts five hours. Then another five-hour harvest will follow on Thursday. And if all goes well, the Eigners will then be free until the third round of chemo begins next week.

Hopefully I’ll be writing a short post to confirm the paragraph above in the morning.

Ty, Erika, and Peter are trucking down to Minneapolis right now (4PM). They found out this morning that Peter did (or does) have an infection in his blood. Infection is common, since he has sores in his mouth and his blood defenses are low. I suppose that puts the bacteria on the power play. They took more blood for testing this morning and we’ll find out tomorrow if the infection is gone. Peter has been on antibiotics since they checked into the hospital yesterday.

The doctors are still optimistic that they can complete the cell harvest this week. When Peter gets checked in this afternoon, they’ll up his dose of the growth factor as scheduled. And as long as the infection has been successfully killed off, the harvest should take place later this week.

Peter and parents are currently in the hospital in Brainerd. Everything is fine at the moment, but they checked in last night as a precaution. Peter developed a fever, so they called down to the U of M and were instructed to bring him into the ER in Brainerd. They were in a room by midnight and Peter’s fever subsided. He’s doing well today, but they’re keeping a close watch on his blood counts. They expect to stay in the hospital until tomorrow.

I have created a new page called Schedule. You can access it from the top or right menu. It is essentially an outline of the expected treatment by week. The schedule will probably change over time, but hopefully it will help put each milestone in context of the overall treatment.

Colleen Faacks left this comment on Wednesday. Wow. Thanks to the MMBA.

I am very pleased to report that The Mid-Minnesota Builders Association and its generous members raised $3,257.50 for THE PETER EIGNER FUND.  The event was held on Tuesday 9-19-06 at Ernie’s on Gull Lake.  Special thanks to all who donated items for the auction and all who purchased these fantastic items!! A WINNING EVENT FOR EVERYONE!!

The scheduled activity for this week is Peter’s stem cell harvest here in Minneapolis. I’ve been vague on what the heck this is, but Erika gave me a good overview after her work up meeting earlier this week. They withdraw Peter’s blood, separate/isolate the cells, and save the stem cells, and merge the blood back into him. The stem cells are immediately frozen and then shipped to Los Angeles. I suppose there’s more work on the harvested cells in LA. The cells remain frozen in LA until they are needed for the marrow transplant. Mind boggling.

They will not be using Peter’s hickman line to withdraw the blood. His lines are too flimsy and will collapse while taking the amount of blood necessary for this procedure. So they will need to insert a new line in his neck (jugular).

The exact day of this procedure is unknown right now. Peter has to ramp up for this by taking increased doses of a growth factor — a drug that he takes everyday. However, before they can increase the doses, his blood counts have to be at a certain level. Peter’s counts since round 2 were dropping and bottomed out yesterday. They have rebounded somewhat today, but not to the level where they can increase the growth factor. So when the counts are high enough, he will go on the higher dose for three days before they can do the harvest.

Furthermore, shipping the frozen cells to Los Angeles is time sensitive, so they need to arrive at a time when it’s ideal for the staff to receive them — not a weekend night. So I’ll try to keep you posted on the exact schedule.

Reports from the Eigner house are positive. Peter is more than stable. He’s playing like normal. He’s currently taking on his mom in hockey in the basement and you can guess who’s winning. He has developed a couple sores in his mouth from the chemo and that makes eating more of a challenge. Two or three times a day he willingly takes the “swishy medicine” to prevent these, but a couple still broke through.

So let’s hope for the counts to keep rising so our little buddy can move onto this next phase in the treatment.

Erika and Peter came into town last night. Auntie G & I had the pleasure of hosting them at our house. Pete-man is so spirited he’s almost rambunctious. We played baseball in the living room, watched the Twins and ate well. This morning they went to the hospital for the pre-harvest work up appointment. Erika didn’t know exactly what to expect, but the assumption is that it’s a basic checkup and mostly informative.

I’ve added some new pictures from Erika and Ty of the recovery weeks and round two. You can see them in the Photos section.

Peter wants to thank YOU for your support.

Peter is doing great at home. The nurses were in today, as they are twice each week, to test his blood. Their blood count results will be back this afternoon. The counts should be dropping as a result of the chemo and then bounce back as Peter gets back on offense.

Erika and Peter will be returning to the hospital on Wednesday for a stem cell harvest “work up”. I believe this session with the doctors is largely informative, but may also involve some basic tests. The actual harvest is scheduled for next week; I’ll get more specific on that procedure soon, but it isn’t as dramatic as the name indicates.

I’ll also get some new photos up on the site shortly. Peter looks amazingly handsome with blonde peach fuzz atop his head.

Last night at Shep’s, in Brainerd, was the big drawing for the autographed Mario Lemieux jersey. And the big winner was Brian Hanson (AKA Grandpa Poopster, AKA my dad). And the bigger winner was Peter and family. The jersey was passed along to Ty to present to grandson Peter, but more importantly, I understand that the raffle raised over $5000. Thanks to Chuck Grillo, thanks to Shep, and thanks to all who purchased tickets. That is amazing.

Surely I can’t recreate the suspense and ferocity of the actual drawing, but I do have the winner’s account of the proceedings and I’ll embellish in moderation. Brian and wife, Barb, had purchased a string of raffle tickets a while ago. Last night, traveling to Shep’s from his home in nearby Crosslake with great grandpa Art, Brian incessantly rubbed the red tickets for luck until his thumb blistered and the ticket numbers faded. Finally they arrived, met Ty and the Grillo clan, and settled in for the action.

Minutes before the drawing, they had a last call for the raffle. Brian calculated that if he sprung for two more tickets, his odds would increase by at least a thousandth of one percentage point. That sounded pretty good to him, so he bought two more. The new tickets were green and joined his worn red tickets in array on his table.

It was time for the big drawing and it was so quiet in the bar that you could have heard a rat toot. Luckily Shep’s doesn’t have rats. The numbers were slowly read and repeated. Brian couldn’t believe his eyes. The numbers matched one of his new green tickets. It was then that he yelled out “Winner, winner, chicken dinner!” He made his way to the front of the room and danced the “chicken scratch” — a stunning dance of lore in Hanson lineage. Way to go, Dad.