As much as today was a world of a difference from yesterday unfortunately Eli still has a long way to feeling normal. Eli woke up in a good mood and not terribly nauseous and finally asked for food at about noon. He ate it and BH kept it down which he wasn’t able to do yesterday. The problem he is having is being extremely weak from the chemo, from a lack of eating, sleeping and the loss of weight. I had to give him the dreaded shot tonight which is extremely painful for him and possibly even harder for me to watch and do.

On WED morning is a CT scan to get an idea of how much the chemo has done and for the DR to get an idea on what he is up against for the surgery which will be scheduled based on the CT scan. We have very high hopes that most of the tumor has shrunk or disappeared and that the surgery will end up being a minor procedure.

Please continue as always to have Elimelech Ben Basya in mind in your tefilos etc. Even though the news is better then yesterday we have a very hard and long road ahead.

We really hope and daven that IYH when Eli wakes up tomorrow morning he will forget that the day before existed. It was to put it mildly a brutal day today. There was nothing that he was able to keep down and there was very little we could do. Usually a walk helps relieve the nausea but we tried that many times today it didn’t help. His medication didn’t help and it left Eli and us at a complete loss. Eli went to sleep extremely weak and exhausted from the little sleep he’s had to the violent vomiting he had today.

On a side note the good news in all this is that Eli wasn’t in any pain and didn’t have any fever so after speaking to the DR there was no reason to check him back into the hospital. Hopefully the night will solve the problem and he will get some sleep and wake up feeling somewhat human. This nausea is basically expected with this type of chemo that he received and generally takes a few days to recover from.

As a friend of ours told us right after Elimelech Ben Basya was diagnosed that sometimes the situation is harder on the caretaker then it is on the actual patient and today was definitely one of those days. We expect and know that only better days are ahead hopefully a lot sooner then later.

On Friday morning Eli woke up very nauseous and when he is nauseous he doesn’t want to talk to anyone else and no one Is allowed to talk so we let him just relax in his bed until the nausea eased off a little. He then played some games, relaxed and even took a nap. He ran the show as usual and was deciding when and how things should take place. Finally after he felt somewhat normal and we took a walk it was just after shkiya and Eli said “daddy time for kidush” so I made kidush and I ate a little and was begging him to eat but he was too scared he would throw up which BH he hadn’t this entire round. Finally he said let’s try the soup and that did the trick. He couldn’t get enough of it and literally ate 3 bowls of it and it really helped.

Friday night I was extremely unsatisfied with the nurse and her helper and really didn’t feel they were competent at all so I didn’t sleep as I was making sure the little I know would get done (which I had to remind her the basics). When Eli woke up shabos morning he was very adamant that “I had enough I want to go home”. So we pushed the DR to come see him first and she did and felt he was able and ready to leave. So at 10:15AM we got into a taxi and headed home. We got home and we were hoping Eli would relax and want to take it easy but he was having none of that and insisted we go to shul immediately so at 10:45 we were in shul for mussaf.

While BH Elimelech Ben Basya is home and his spirits are high he hasn’t been feeling well enough to eat at all today and is extremely weak. All of this is unfortunately the normal and is expected and hopefully with a little pushing he will quickly get back to himself over the next few days. A GUT VOCH

Without giving any ayin hora BH Eli had a very good day under the circumstances. He slept pretty well and woke up relaxed. After some minor planned tests which BH were good he spent the day with his mother playing games and relaxing. After not eating since lunch on Wed Eli decided he was going to try to eat. We brought him many different choices and each one made him more nauseous then the next. Finally at 6PM he decided that french toast was going to do the trick and wow was he right. His bubby quickly made it for him and it was here asap and he couldn’t get enough of it. He felt like a human after that and decided to get some fresh air which is always good to have.

BH the doctors were wrong and hopefully they will continue to be wrong (on things we want them to be wrong about) and the expected severe nausea wasn’t anywhere close to what we planned for and we hope the little there was won’t be there on Friday or ever again. Eli will be in CHLA for shabos to finish up this round 5 of chemo and all we think and hope for 24/7 is that the treatments are doing what they are meant to be doing and Eli is well on the way to a complete refua.

Thank you again to the many people, families, friends, organizations that have and continue to have Elimelech Ben Basya in mind and have bought him a tremendous amount of presents, chizuk, love, tefilos kabalos etc it is only thru these things that we are getting thru each day. Tizku lmitzvos

Eli was once again a good sport and even though they constantly woke him up during the night he hardly complained. He woke up a little earlier then we had wanted after going to sleep very late and being up so often. But true to the way he has been so far he was totally fine and for the most part in a good mood. After eating a pretty late lunch the side effects did start and Eli was left with no appetite to eat or drink. He is on IV always during chemo full of hydration so we don’t really have to worry about dehydration.

Its not easy for anyone to really know or understand what he is going thru and that’s why we try not to think about it and we are asking him every second what he may want to eat, drink, do etc and all I can say is whatever, whenever and however he wants it we get it and do it to keep him somewhat happy. When the nausea picked up this evening and Eli really was trying not to vomit the only thing he felt would be good for him was a outdoor walk. So at about 9PM we did just that with his IV and all went down the elevator outside and it really helped.

Hoping that the medication will keep the nausea away and all the side effects. Its getting late and they are about to start day 2 of 5 of round 5 of chemo and we keep davening that Elimelech Ben Basya will be able to have a good nights sleep undisturbed and the chemo should only do what its meant to do which is bring us a day closer to Elis full refua.

I woke up early in hopes of getting Eli checked in as early as possible. After getting the run around I decided to plead my case in person at CHLA when that didn’t work I knew we would be in for a long day. We made many calls and emails to no avail there were no beds available. Finally at 5PM we got the OK to come which we quickly did. After settling down in our room and the doctors and nurses doing their standard full checkup on Eli they started him on IV. And then the chemo started after 11PM and being that he has a small reaction they are going to have it go for 4 hours instead of the normal 2 hours so that his body will accept it.

Once again the part that has been extremely helpful during this very trying time is Elis great mood bli ayin hora. He makes everyone laugh and just calms the situation down with his tone. We also for the first time have another frum family Binyomin Chaim Ben Faigy Sarah in the same hallway as ours and that also helps. We have a long 4+ days ahead of us and we hope that the doctors will continue to be wrong (on the things we want them to be wrong on) and the expected nausea side effects will not take place.

Please continue to have Elimelech Ben Basya very much in mind in your tefilos and kabalos as he and we can definitely use them right about now. Hoping that all will stay somewhat smooth and pain free IYH until we see a complete Refua BKAROV.

Eli BH slept in pretty late today and woke up happy and hungry. He ate a nice amount and finally at about noon it was time to go back to CHLA to have his blood tested to see if his blood counts were well enough to begin chemo. Not surprisingly once again the doctors were wrong and his counts were a lot better then what they needed in order to begin but then uh oh… We forgot to tell you that Eli needed to submit a 12 hour urine test prior to starting this round of chemo. To say the least we were not happy. The lack of communication was very apparent and this one really hurt because now the earliest we can check in if they have a bed is Tuesday morning which means we will be stuck in CHLA for shabos.

Trying not to be to upset but its not easy. The last place anyone wants to be is CHLA ever and for sure not on shabos especially when it shouldn’t be. But like everything there is someone else that makes these decisions and we know it is for the best and hopefully we will get a sign to show us that.

The one thing that almost always keeps us going is the smile and easy going on Elimelech Ben Basyas face which again today he did not disappoint. Hopefully Tuesday morning will be as smooth as possible and there will be a bed as early as possible and this week and chodesh Nisan will only bring nachas, gezunt and especially refua to Eli and all cholim.

Eli was in a great mood and overall had a very good day. Started the day off with his sisters birthday party for her class and spent the rest of the afternoon at home. At about 6:45 a friend of ours offered us his tickets to the Clippers basketball game which Eli loves to go to so even though we were a few minutes late we were there for most of the game which we really enjoyed. After a late filling dinner it was finally off to bed at 10:00PM hoping Eli will sleep late.

IYH on Monday we will once again be headed to CHLA where we are hoping Elis blood counts will be high enough to begin round 5 of chemo. Once we are there they will do a quick blood test and we should know results within 2 hours if we will be staying for the week or needing to come back a few days later. We want to get it over with so that Eli will be strong enough to enjoy Pesach. The longer we push it off the closer to Pesach it is.

Hoping to only hear good news with Elimelech Ben Basya. Please keep him in mind in hopes that the blood counts will be good and that the week should go as good as possible with no side effects.

Friday morning was just complete relaxation time for Eli until about 12:30PM when his rebbi Rabbi Jacobs came and learned with him and even finished the parsha with him. At about 1PM it was off to CHLA where he went for a scheduled short test which kept us there for less then 20 minutes BH. Friday night of course Eli went to shul and was in a great mood saying hello to everyone and davening. He enjoyed the Friday night seuda with some family friends and ate a very nice amount and went to sleep late.

I had to wake him shabos morning for davening which he is usually up early for but BH slept pretty late. Then we had kidush and went ate the seuda with a big appetite, came home and had a few friends waiting for him. Motzei shabos we went to the final motzei shabos learning program of this year and the first raffle picked who wins??? None other then King Eli he was beaming with joy. We then went to pizza for a siyum on the parsha that he finished on Friday which his rebbi awarded him.

With a busy medical schedule hopefully planned for this week including 5 days of chemo if Elimelech Ben Basyas blood counts allow for it we need to daven and hope that the usual side effects that generally come with this type of chemo (extreme nausea) DO NOT happen. A GUT VOCH

Eli started the day off very well and BH it ended well also. With not much other then his basic regular schedule scheduled for today he mostly took it easy this morning. At about noon he was taken out by 2 Chai Lifeline volunteer bochurim who took him for lunch for pizza and then to chuckee cheese to play some games and he really had a blast and enjoyed it all. He also felt very good and instead of a bunch of pain medication every few hours he only had one all day.

He BH also looked better today as we continue to hope that his blood counts are climbing as well to hopefully be able to be strong enough to begin chemo as planned on Monday beezrat hashem. Monday mornings blood test will tell us if that can happen or if it will have to wait a few extra days. Eli received a letter today which he receives EVERY single week without fail from a choshuveh family friend and it lightened up his evening (letters, mail, texts, email makes him feel extremely special).

As usual we are asking everyone to keep Elimelech Ben Basya in mind so that the days, weeks, months ahead should all be easy and pain free on the road to Elis refua shelaima.