Peter’s Page

Peter’s counts were tested on Monday and confirmed as too low, so Erika and Peter headed down to Minneapolis for a transfusion this morning. The need for a transfusion was not a surprise and everything should be fine, although I haven’t officially heard that everything went to plan.

So I’m trying type with my fingers crossed, but hopefully Peter got just what he needed to keep the treatment on track and continue to beat “the path thing”.

A benefit for the Eigners is planned for Sunday, November 5th, at Bogart’s Place in Apple Valley from 7:00 PM until close. The cover charge will be a $10 donation and five excellent bands will be entertaining, including GB Leighton and Tim Mahoney. I’ll provide more specifics in the next few days. Come on out! It should be a fun time.

Peter’s status remains positive as he recovers from the third round of chemo. His counts are low and may have bottomed out at this point, but there’s a decent chance he’ll have to head back to the hospital for a transfusion. However, our little buddy is still upbeat and energetic and that makes me upbeat and energetic.

Sorry for the brief hiatus; I was in NYC for a few days. But I’m back and just spoke with Erika. Peter has been doing great at home with hardly a side effect from round three. However, his counts are probably about to bottom out and he does seem a little worn out today. The best news is that he’s been healthy and able to stay at home. Hopefully they will be away from the hospital for the entire two weeks.

Erika also learned about a change in the upcoming schedule — or maybe we just didn’t understand the schedule exactly. The big difference is that there are actually seven rounds of chemo, instead of six. The schedule that I have posted will be updated to reflect this, but expect another month to be added on when I get all the details.

So no news is good news these days, but I’ll keep sprinkling updates during the recovery period.

I figured I’d give Uncle Matt a short break while they’re in NY on business (I guess a guy could have a break to do some things for his “real” job for a few days!!!) We are unbelievably happy to report that Peter handled Round 3 with as much ease as he did the first 2. And they had warned us that the chemo drugs this round can have some pretty severe side effects. We never know what the future will hold, so we’ll only focus here on the immediate, and Peter has had virtually none so far. As the doctors have said, “you’d think we’ve been giving him water all week!!” Believe me when I say we are counting our blessings.
The final information we received on the CT scans (neck, chest, abdomen/pelvis) was positive. The infected lymphnode behind Peter’s ear looks clear, the ones in his chest/shoulder area still show disease but are smaller, and the primary tumor in his abdomen is “significantly reduced”. That is all fantastic news, especially combined with the marrow looking clear!
Thought I’d clarify on the upcoming treatment as we’ve had many questions about that after the test results this week. Despite things clearly moving in the right direction, Peter’s treatment will remain the same: 3 more rounds of chemo, another surgery as planned, as well as the bone marrow transplant and likely some radiation & other things following that.
With a little luck, we’ll be home for 2 weeks before we head back for Round 3. Peter plans on being “the Hulk” (for the 2nd year in a row) for Halloween so he’ll definitely be sporting his costume when we go back to the hospital!
Baby Kate is pulling at my leg and needs a new diaper, so I’ll end it here!
Thanks to each of you for all you have done for our family.

Ty and Erika didn’t get as much information today as they expected. They received positive news that things are getting better, but they’re lacking some specifics right now. So I’ll post the details on the exact status when they hear more, but know that both the lymph nodes and tumor are responding to treatment.

Peter had another good day at the hospital. So far he’s completely tolerated this round without any side effects. Today was the hospital “gameshow”, a closed-circuit television program that runs in all the rooms. A couple staffers dress up as hosts and entertain the kids. The patients can call in and answer questions to win prizes, patients can call in and tell jokes at one point, and the show culminates with a game of bingo.

Peter called in and answered a question to win a prize and he also called in to tell a joke. Last night he told me a few of his jokes and this is the one he selected for the show.
“How do you make a hot dog stand?”
“I don’t know, how DO you make a hot dog stand?”
“Take away its chair.”

He really deadpans the delivery, too. It’s pretty good.

Yesterday I wrote that the medical team was taking a closer look at part of the marrow — a little part they weren’t quite sure about. Today the results of that closer look came back and they believe the marrow is 100% clear of cancer. They couldn’t find any.

So we’ve toasted to the good turn of events, but the fight continues in the hospital room. Peter is hooked up to his pole (Momma Boo, he calls it) as it drips the chemotherapy into his body. He is still doing great; He’s happy, energetic and funny. This round of chemo will last longer than the others and he won’t be done until late on Friday.

This morning he had the CT scans of his torso and they’re anxious to get those results tomorrow. I’m excited to post more good news. We’ll see…

The doctor came to the room with a report late this afternoon. They are taking a closer look under microscope at a small part of the marrow, but they are confident that if the cancer in the marrow isn’t all gone, then it’s 90% gone. As it says on my Peter Eigner wrist band, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

This is the first confirmation that the treatment, well-wishes and prayers are having a powerful and positive effect. Hopefully there will be more good news in the coming days. The finish line is still somewhere off in the distance, but it’s good to hear that Peter is aiming directly at it and running fast.

Things have gone to plan this week. Peter’s blood counts were confirmed yesterday at a level even higher than the first test, so round 3 was underway at about 7:00 last night. And he woke up this morning chipper as ever and with an appetite, so there haven’t been any negative effects.

So far so good. The marrow biopsy results should be back today and the scans should follow tomorrow.

This morning Peter had another bone marrow biopsy. It required him to be asleep as they extracted some more marrow from his hip. That procedure went well and the results will be back within the next day.

Round three of chemo is schedule to begin tonight, but there was concern about his blood platelet counts. They were low over the weekend. However, they were tested again today and were remarkably high. They are testing them again to make sure the results were accurate. If the high counts are confirmed, round three will be underway shortly. One of the additional medications within the round 3 regiment is expected to cause more discomfort for Pete. His tummy might be a little more upset. But if that’s what’s necessary to defeat these bad guys, Peter is up to it.

Also, this is a big week of testing. Originally, we didn’t think we’d know much about how the treatment is working for another month or so, but we should know a lot more this week. Along with the marrow biopsy, he will have new scans of his abdomen and chest that will reveal the current state of the tumor and lymph node infections. Needless to say, it’s a nervous and exciting time.

I posted some more pictures from the past week or so in the Photos section. Enjoy.

“Check out my new Joe Sakic jersey.”

Today Peter is enjoying a boat ride with his sisters at Grandma and Grandpa Hanson’s (Poopster). He was looking forward to that. I bet the leaves are beautiful on the lakes. I hope you all are enjoying the weekend, as well.

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.

This stuff is starting to confuse me a bit, so i’m sure it’s even more so to those of you reading! I thought i’d share a little about the Harvest procedure and where we’re at. As Matt said, the first day is complete. The harvest itself entails Peter being hooked up (through his temporary line) to a large machine for about 5 hours at a time. The machine draws blood directly out of the jugular vein at a high speed, it goes into the machine to be seperated (the machine keeps what will be sent to LA for purging and freezing until transplant time), and the rest goes right back into his body through the other line. It’s not painful for him but probably looks a lot worse as he has about 10 cords hanging around him, many which are filled with blood.
Peter’s blood culture from Tuesday night came back negative last night so that was good news! Unfortunately, about an hour later he spiked a fever again so they had to do another culture which is not back yet. If there is another bacterial infection of some kind, today’s work might have been done for nothing! But there is a very short window of time in which they need to collect (harvest), so they wanted to try and get it completed. So we are hopeful the fever was unrelated. They do not know the quantity of the stem cells collected today- they have been sent to the lab, but we don’t think we’ll know the results until tomorrow morning. So the plan is to collect again tomorrow, unless they can see by today’s collection that there is no way they’ll get enough in 2-3 days through this procedure. Then we would go to Plan B (take marrow through the hips). Assuming everything looks good in the morning, they’ll collect tomorrow and potentially some on Friday as well, but hopefully just tomorrow. It IS, as Matt posted, sort-of boring!! And tomorrow we won’t even be able to cheer for the Twins!!! All-in-all, things are good. Peter’s been a little out of sorts the last few days, but I think I would be too. The bone pain should subside within the next day, and once the collection is complete they’ll get the temporary port removed from his neck. I’m sure we’ll get no argument there.
Thanks again to all of you for keeping in touch.