Since Eli was diagnosed in Dec its been our goal always to do what makes him happy and to try to keep him eating and as strong as possible. Since the surgery nearly 2 weeks ago which apparently is normal for such a long procedure Eli has been extremely weak and even though he’s eating and moving around a little he gets exhausted very quickly. Its been a rough 4+ months and a rough past few weeks and its sadly only about to get rougher. This round he is about to start really took everything out of him last time he had it and had painful side effects.

We hope to give him an enjoyable relaxed shabos and Sunday before he needs to check in on Monday to CHLA. Between him being weak, having a terrible stomach and just simply not looking well we are doing everything we can to at least lift his spirits which for the first time has been not that good lately either. Being that he is having a very hard time walking especially up and down stairs I have been carrying him and now as a result have completely thrown my lower back out of place so BH Bassy has fully come to the rescue to do double the work she usually does.

We need to help get Elimelech Ben Basya back on track in many aspects and hopefully the few days we still have before next round we will accomplish that and we are hoping to wake up in the morning with Eli and myself feeling a lot better so we can all continue and do what’s best for Eli on this long hard road to his Refua Shelayma.

Elis morning was ok other then the horrible stomach problems he has been having since the surgery. He then wanted to go out for pizza which we were happy to do to help him build some strength which he has a long way to go in the department. Then it was off to CHLA for his appt which took the usual few hours until they draw blood and then had a long update meeting with his DR. BH the DR feels from the surgery report that we are for the most part on the right track and she is happy with the results.

The next 2 months will be very busy starting with IYH Monday the 6th round of chemo which will be followed after he recovers with a large barrage of test and scans to get a clearer picture of what’s going on and how the chemo and surgery are having an effect beezrat hashem on Eli. After that is one of the planned hardest parts of the treatment which is round 7 of chemo together with stem cell transplant which all takes place in a isolation room and lasts about a full month of being inpatient in isolation. The only way to get thru these next few days, weeks and months is to take one day at a time and sometimes even one minute at a time and not to think and “just do”.

We are hoping and davening that Elimelech Ben Basya will be back with his full strength to be able to handle and fight thru all this and without chas vshalom any side effects until we see IYH bkarov a full refua.

Eli had mostly a very relaxed day with not much on the agenda other then spending time at home and very slowly getting back to himself. He is extremely weak and most things have been pretty hard for him to do. On a more positive note he is back home and asked for one of his favorite dinners and ate a few portions of it. He was visited today by family in LA who haven’t seen him since he left to NY for surgery.

On Wed Eli has a scheduled DR appt with his DR at CHLA and most likely will be told that round 6 of chemo will begin on Monday 4/22. We will be doing anything and everything possible to help him gather the strength to be able to be ready for this harsh round which last time he had it had very bad side effects. Hopefully the side effects will not happen this time as we know what to expect and will IYH be proactive and give him medication before the side effects happen to limit them as much as possible.

Elimelech Ben Basya most definitely needs our tefilos now more then ever and we hope that the next few days will see a large improvement as we continue down the road in hopes of nothing less then a full refua.

After a long 10 days of being in NY for surgery and recovery we finally landed back in LA late Monday night. Eli was thrilled to finally feel some normalcy after being in surgery, ICU, POU, shared room, stuffed in a small hotel room and just not being in a normal surrounding and far away from home. While he is extremely weak from everything going on we hope to help him slowly regain his strength and to get his spirits lifted to the way they were before surgery and the way we know him.

We are hoping that it will be ok with the doctors to postpone the next round of chemo until next week as we really don’t feel physically or emotionally Eli is ready for it and we definitely are not up to it either. Sori and Ari are extremely happy and relieved to finally see Eli home and we hope they get some bonding time together before next round of chemo.

There are many organizations that have helped tremendously on behalf of Eli in many different aspects and we can’t thank them enough. This entire trip to NY would not have been possible at all without Chai Lifeline. They arranged EVERYTHING for us and made it as if it was no big deal and always done quickly with no fan fare. I don’t have proper words of hakaras hatov.

Please continue to daven for Elimelech Ben Basya that he should fully regain his strength and spirit. We hope to see him shortly with his bubbly personality and full of strength BKAROV

We had a very relaxed morning with some friends and family that came to visit Eli in our hotel. Eli then insisted on going to Monsey to see his cousins which he has been wanting to do since we got to NY and now I can see why. They did not disappoint as for when we got there a lot of his cousins, aunts, and uncles took the drive and set up a big welcoming and a full party in his honor. He spent the afternoon there eating pizza, cake and laughing with the family he will remember today for a long time.

On Monday morning Eli has a DR appt at MSKCC to check that all is ok which IYH will be the case and we hope soon after we get the ok to head back to LA. Being that he has a very long, very invasive surgery done just over a week ago we hope that the organizations that help children with cancer fly on a private jet will be able to help so that Eli can be most comfortable and most of all away from the many germs that are Ina commercial flight. While we look forward to getting Eli back home to be with his mother, brother, sister and the rest of the family unfortunately he will be going right back to CHLA for round 6 of chemo. We hope to get a night or 2 prior to spend at home but that all depends on when we get back to LA.

We hope the DRs will continue to be happy with the way Elimelech Ben Basya is recuperating from the surgery and we will continue davening
that he will be cleared to fly home beezrat hashem either on Monday or Tuesday so we can continue treatment.

A GUT VOCH. BH VERY good unexpected news the DRs felt on Shabos morning that the only tube left that was still attached to Eli was safe to remove. With a deep breath it came right out and Eli was beyond relieved. He immediately sat up and started asking for food and although he has eaten since surgery it was nothing like this. First it was a nice bowl of cereal and then it was a full meal of chulent, kugel, cold cuts in his hospital bed. We got a visit from my cousin who took the one hour walk from the West Side and hung out with us and it really made the boring shabos in the hospital a lot better. The good news continued shortly after that with the DR saying Eli was well enough to be discharged from the hospital which initially wasn’t planned until at least Tuesday.

We waited until Shabos was over and we went directly to our room we have down the block at the Ronald Mcdonald and relaxed there all motzei shabos with some family visitors that shlepped to come see us. Eli ate some pizza tonight and just relaxed which he really needed and enjoyed as he is extremely tired still. We have a scheduled visit early Monday morning to IYH get the all clear from the surgeon to be able to travel back to LA and we hope to do that as quick as possible after we get that clearance.

We are continuing to daven that the new for Elimelech Ben Basya continues to stay only good and positive and hope to be back in LA as quickly and as soon as possible.

Eli was moved today out of the POU into a regular room today which is a big step forward before he can be released. While we are very happy that he has reached the point that they were ok to move him the new regular room is a small shared room which hopefully won’t be to noisy so that we both can get some rest over shabos. The DRs continue to be bli ayin hora very pleased with Elis recuperation and Eli is very much on track to IYH being discharged in the early part of the week.

We also received some VERY good news from DR Kushner in NY that the biopsy that they did during this recent surgery on Elis liver BH came back negative and that there was no disease affecting it. Other then IV which he is always on when in the hospital he has only one tube left that needs to be removed and hopefully that will be the case in the near future. We are both looking forward to spending quality relaxing time bedside in MSKCC over shabos and are happy that Bassy is back relaxing with Sori and Ari in LA.

Shabos hee melizuk hopefully will be very much in play this shabos as we hope that things will continue on a steady good pace for Elimelech Ben Basya and Binyomin Chaim Ben Faigie Sara (Elis local LA partner) bsoch shaar choley yisroel.

BH we can add another good day to the list. Eli is slowly getting back to himself and was able to walk a little, eat real solid foods, and even seemed to finally be getting some of his bubbly personality back. It has been a rough week for him but as always he has pulled thru and IYH will be discharged from the hospital and head back to LA as soon as the doctors feel he is ready for that possibly even early in the week.

After the surgery Eli was on 6 different IVs and had 5 different tubes attached and bli ayin hora that is down to one IV and one tube which is also meant to be coming out soon. He is now in a room in Sloan hospital called the POU (pediatric observation unit) which is a private room unlike many other rooms here which are shared. He doesn’t BH need to be in this room but is being kept there at our and Chai Lifelines request so that he has some quiet to recuperate from surgery.

It is very good to be back in NY and to see BH the many improvements Elimelech Ben Basya has had since the time I left Monday evening and IYH that will continue at a even quicker pace. I look forward to meeting Dr Brian Kushner on Friday who is the main DR in this field here at Sloan and hearing any advice and ideas he may have for down the road for Eli. He also is the DR that insisted that we come to NY for surgery for Eli and we now see why he felt that way.

Bli ayin hora the good news started in the morning and continued most of the day. The doctors felt this morning that Eli was strong enough that he can have the tube that was in his nose since surgery removed and that he is also strong enough to be moved out of the ICU and into Sloan Hospital. Although Eli himself needs to be cheered up a little the news for us couldn’t of been much better as we were not really expecting this until at earliest Thursday. Eli even walked on his own for the first time since surgery after they had planned that he will need physical therapy to help him back on his feet.

So basically all in all under the circumstances Eli had a great day. IYH on Thursday Bassy and I will switch places and I will head back to NY and Bassy will head back to LA. We are hoping that Eli only continues improving from this point on as hopefully the doctors will allow him to be released sooner then we hoped for.

There are some people that you can always count on and when you need something they are ALWAYS ready to help. Eli needed a simple small thing today and Bassy was alone and I made a call and boom it was arranged and there within 15 minutes. Another example I was looking for mileage to get Bassy back home and had many offers of people trying to help but as usual its the same people that always come thru and always want to remain anonymous and we owe them and many others extreme hakaras hatov.

On a separate note as much as Bassy is Elis mother and of course cares the most for him there is no way any of us could get thru this trying time without her upbeat mood. She has always been there every second and always ready to try to do more to continuously do what’s best for Eli, myself and the rest of the family. The last few days have been extremely difficult seeing Eli on a vent, in pain, not sleeping, uncomfortable, and sometimes rightfully so angry and thru it all she has always kept her smile and strength which is the reason I am able to keep my head help up high and why Eli is having a easier time to. Eli is the luckiest child in the world to have such a loving and caring mother and I am the luckiest man in the world and all I can simply say is THANK YOU BASSY.

The next few days we will continue davening that the pace only picks up speed in Elmelech Ben Basyas recovery so that he can be released from the hospital asap and return to LA to be with his brother and sister and back to a little normalcy before we continue treatment in CHLA.

Bli ayin hora we have some good news that will IYH be the beginning of only good news. This morning the doctors were finally confident enough that Eli was able to breath on his own and were able to remove the vent. Once it was out they were also able to remove the restraints that had Elis hands tied down so they he doesn’t just pull out the vent which he tried doing many times due to the fact of how uncomfortable it was. Hopefully on Wednesday they will also be able to remove the line he has in his nose to help drain fluids from within his body. Each step takes time and he has to have reached certain numbers to allow for each thing to happen.

They haven’t let Eli eat solids yet and is being fed via IV but he did drink and chew on some ice chips which helped his sore throat which is sore as a result of the vent that was inside for nearly 3 full days. We hope to get a idea of what the timetable in NY will look like tmrw so we will be able to decide on if I will go back alone or if we will bring the other kids to NY as they are not themselves without Bassy or Eli and we don’t want them not seeing each other for such an extended period of time.

Eli was visited by many family members and friends which he sometimes enjoyed and sometimes wasn’t really up to it. He has and will IYH always have either Bassy or myself ALWAYS with him when he’s in the hospital as that’s who he feels most comfortable with and we can’t deny him anything when he’s going thru such a tough period.

I have only begun to realize how much help our children Ari and Sori received in the few days that we were gone in NY from being brought to school, receiving a lot of love and extra care in school by their morah, teachers, principles etc, fed, played with, family and friends sleeping in our home with them so that they should feel at home and the list goes on and on. As always I will continue to say we can not and will not properly be able to thank these people and we know that IYH the ultimate schar we would like to see and the world to see is Elimelech Ben Basyas FULL RECOVERY and nothing less IYH BKAROV.