Last night and today felt like it would never end for us. We were given initially wrong information as to how long we should expect to be in the ICU for. First we were told possibly not at all but if he does go it will be anywhere from a few hours to 2 days. That info was completely incorrect and we are being told now by the doctors that since the surgery was as invasive as it was and as long as it was if he is out of the ICU within a week from when he got there we should be very happy.

The reason we are anxious to get out of the ICU now is because they need to see that he can do certain things on his own and therefore his sedation has been wearing off. And while its good to see Eli up and responsive he is extremely uncomfortable having the tubes in his nose and throat and not being able to talk or do much while being fully understanding of what’s going on. He is on a lot of pain medication but it doesn’t keep him sedated. The doctors have seen significant improvement and most of the numbers they need to see are either already there or close to it however they won’t remove it until all the numbers are there and stay that way for a period of time as gd forbid they should remove it and then feel he needs it and then have to replace it which is another procedure.

Eli was visited by some family and friends along with Mrs Esther Schwartz from Chai lifeline who helped us arrange this surgery and arrange our NY stay etc. Sori and Ari haven’t been themselves and I had to make a hard decision and leave Eli in NY with Bassy and head back to LA to be with them. Hopefully Elis recuperation will IYH pick up a lot of speed and they will be able to move the process along so that Eli will be back in LA asap.

Please daven for Elimelech Ben Basya that he should not have any further pain and should be released from the ICU asap so he can move along in the recovery process and be able to head back to LA for further treatments.

The day went as good as can be expected according to the doctors. There were bli ayin hora none of the complications that we were warned to expect. While Eli is still for the most part under heavy sedation he still opens his eyes here and there for short periods of time and can communicate a little with squeezing and shaking his head. They have to restrain his hands so that he doesn’t try to pull out the many different machines he Is hooked up to.

They are hoping that by the morning Eli will IYH be stable enough that they can remove the tubes in his nose and mouth slowly. After they feel he is ready to do that and when that process is done he will be off of sedation but will continue to receive pain medication thru IV and thru the epidoral they have him hooked up to. Then there are many more steps they need to do before they can discharge him from the ICU to a regular room and that may all take place as soon as Monday night but more likelly not until Tuesday or so.

Eli got visits today from his bubby and zaidy from Lakewood and some of his uncles and aunts. While it was hard for them to see Eli in the current state he is in it helped that he was able to let them know that he saw them by squeezing their fingers and shaking his head yes and no to their questions and of course the main question was always are you in pain which he has always said “no” to BH.

We have our other children being well taken care of by family and close friends and being that the kids weren’t given any notice that we were going to NY because we weren’t sure until a few minutes before we left they are pretty traumatized and therefore I will IYH be leaving NY back to LA if all goes well on Monday night and stay until Thursday and then will head back to NY and let Bassy go back to LA and I will stay in NY until Eli is ready to come home.

We have been flooded with reports of so many different things being done in Elimelech Ben Basya zchus its truly amazing and heart warming and never will we be possibly be able to thank anyone properly. IYH we will all dance at Elis seudas hodah when this saga is over.

A GUT VOCH. We had a very long day but BH all seems to have gone well. We were in the pre-op room at 6AM and they wheeled Eli into the surgery room already sedated at 730. We met again just before that with the surgeon and anesthesiologist who gave us the plan once again. A nurse came out of the OR every 90 minutes or so with a small basic update but the surgery finally ended at 5PM. The DR came out and told us what went on and felt that because of the length of the surgery that Eli should be in the ICU for about 2 days so Eli was transferred by ambulance 2 blocks away to Cornell Hospital which has a special ICU.

The DR said the surgery went as well as he had hoped for BH and he removed everything that was affected. Eli now has a pretty large incision that will take some time to heal and IYH will. He is now attached to numerous machines all which are standard after a surgery and it will be at least 24-48 hours before they want him to fully wake up. He will be on continuous pain medication so that he will rest comfortably and that he should stay sedated and not want to pull any of the machines attached to him out.

The next few days will go based on how Eli reacts and feels and will be very closely monitored by a team of doctors, nurses, surgeons etc. As soon as he no longer needs to be in the ICU he will be transferred back to Sloan Kettering Hospital where he will stay until they feel he is ready to be discharged which can be as little as 5 days or as long as it takes but probably closer to 10 days from now.

We thank everyone literally from across the world who have done many different zechusim on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya some who davened early, davened longer, woke up early to say tehilim when the surgery started, davened at the kosel and the list is endless. I can honestly say we were literally able to feel it and appreciate it and will need it continuously this week and in the weeks and months ahead until we see Eli have the full refua he needs BKAROV.

After the few short hours of sleep Eli got we needed to wake him at 7:20AM for a 8AM appt with the surgeon. We went thru a lengthy registration process and finally met the DR who gave us the rundown of what he will be doing. In short we need to be at the hospital at 6AM for pre-op for a scheduled 730AM surgery. The surgeon did advise us that Eli will likely need to be transferred to the ICU in Cornell hospital for anywhere from a few hours to a few days as SKCC does not have an ICU. As the surgeon said “it will take as long as it takes until the job is done. It will be at least 5 hours and up to 18 hours but probably and hopefully closer to the 5 hour mark”. The recovery is planned to take anywhere for 7-12 inpatient days some of which myself and Bassy will be there for and some of which just one of us will be there but as always one of us will always IYH be with Eli.

After the consultation we took Eli to enjoy himself a little to the Empire state building and he really enjoyed the view from up on top of the observatory.

We have what they are telling us a long few days ahead. Hopefully they will be wrong about most of what they have told us and that Eli will have a short and easy full recuperation with the least pain possible but regardless he and we will need everyone to have him in mind in all their tefilos etc to get us thru it.

I hope to have time right after shabos to update good news on Elimelech Ben Basyas surgery to everyone. Gut Shabos

BH we have landed in NY late Thursday night after a very smooth good flight and will be sleeping in Manhattan by my cousin who really went all out to host us. We flew at 4:15PM landed at 12:30AM and were in the city by 1:20. Chai Lifeline which hopefully no one should ever need but if they are needed are so helpful have gone extreme lengths to make this surgery happen beezrat hashem and have taken it a step further and even arranged our flights today. We definitely couldn’t of done this without them.

On Friday morning actually in a few hours from now we have a 8AM appt with the surgeon in the hospital at which time we will find out a few details and some rules. We are hoping to give Eli a small tour of NYC after that.

Hoping and davening that all will go smooth and bshah tova for Elimelech Ben Basya and us as we continue on the road to IYH a full refua BKAROV

The morning started early with a DR appt at CHLA at 8:30AM which went as quick as its ever gone and we were out by 9:45. BH Elis blood counts were very good and he was cleared to begin the dreaded unnecessary round of chemo on Monday 4/8.

After non stop pressure from many different people Mrs Esther Schwartz who works for Chai Lifeline calls me and says you are not going to believe this she says I spoke directly to the surgeon and he is willing to come in on Shabos a day he doesn’t work at all to spend the day on Elis behalf to perform the surgery so that he shouldn’t have to go thru more then he already has. We don’t know how we can possibly thank Mrs Schwartz and the surgeon for doing this tremendous favor and for the non stop effort they have been putting in for us as did many others. We couldn’t of asked for more and we are going to NY on Thursday 4/4 hopefully on a private jet arranged by a company that does this purely for chesed for cancer patients. The reason it is a lot more preferable is because flying on a regular plane with hundreds of other peoples germs can chas vshalom transfer some illness to Eli which in turn would not allow for him to have surgery. As of yet we don’t have a confirmed jet but hoping it will work out. Either way we have a appt for pre-op with the surgeon at 8:00AM on Friday 4/5 in Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NY city.

We have very conflicting ideas on how long we will need to be there but it is all based on how Elis recovery goes etc. It varies from 4 days to 2 weeks and we are hoping that it will be closer to 4 days so that we can get back to LA. BH we have a lot of family and friends in both LA and NY who have been extremely helpful and will help us look after Ari and Sori while we are gone.

There are VERY strict rules in the hospital in NY and as much as we know there are a lot of family and friends that would like to come visit us we are begging that you please not be pushy and ask prior to just showing up that you call or text us to get a time that works for Eli and us rather then what works for you. We hope you understand and not take this personal.

Now more then ever we are asking of everyone to daven on behalf of Elimelech Ben Basya that everything should go as planned and that we should be home in record time without chas vshalom any complications.

Eli and all of us had BH exactly what we asked and davened for an enjoyable, relaxing, uneventful YT. He spent all the time with the family enjoying the seudos and keeping everyone entertained as usual. Bli ayin hora he had the most energy and strength we have seen him have in a very long last few months.

On WED its back to CHLA for a scheduled visit with his Dr to try to figure out what the plan is for the next few weeks etc. To make a long story short Eli can’t be doing nothing he has to be either having surgery or getting treatment. We would love to do the surgery now but the surgeon as of now is booked thru the 1st week of May. If we get a scheduled surgery with him in the next week or so then we won’t need to do this unnecessary round of chemo otherwise we will need to do that probably starting Monday. We have a long list of people that are doing what they can to get the surgeon to squeeze us in but its not looking very good as Elis surgery doesn’t have a time table the surgeon needs to set aside a full day for it as it can take anywhere from 4 hours and up to a full day.

We will be davening hard that somehow beezrat hashem a date will open for Elimelech Ben Basya and that he will have the surgery bshah tova in the next week or so.