Peter’s Page

3 down, 2 to go! This has been a tough week so far. The main side effect of antibody treatment is nerve pain, and Peter is experiencing his fair share. They pre-medicate him to avoid hives, nausea and help manage the pain, but it is still evident during and after the treatment; it wipes him out! We spend most of each day in clinic (8 to 2) and then we head back to the Ronald McDonald House. He has been sleeping the rest of the days/nights and is on his way to doing that again. He’s having a lot of residual pain in his feet (neuropathy) so they hurt no matter what position he is in; and walking is out of the question. The only remedies seem to be hot packs, me rubbing them until my hands are numb and the pain meds (and a little “Captain Underpants” reading in between!) You know he’s not feeling well when he’s not even thinking about the playroom downstairs. By morning, however, he is happy & ready to go again (albeit with a little more hesitation each day). It might seem a little harsh to subject our child to this, but we hope it is “training” his body to eliminate cancerous cells on its own. And, compared to the side effects of all the other treatment he has had, this is at least manageable and doesn’t carry any long-term issues. So we are taking each day as it comes & looking forward to coming home late Friday night! It’s hard to believe that it’s been 1 year since Peter’s lungs “shut down” and we were told he might not make it… he has come a long way! We do not take this for granted for 1 minute, and we never forget our other friends who are fighting hard or have fought the good fight. We would love it if you could add my Dad (aka “Grandpa Poopster”) to your prayers, as he has just been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer.
Thanks for checking in!

Peter and Erika arrived safely in NYC yesterday. He is scheduled to begin the anti-body treatment this morning. He survived the first poke with no tears this morning, so he is off to a great start! Hopefully the rest of the treatment is as smooth. The girls are with Erika’s parents, and I am in St. Cloud coaching. The Eigner circus in a nutshell! Also, thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for our friend little Gus. He was a wonderful little boy, and his parents are incredible. The NB kids now have another Angel in Heaven fighting for them.

PLEASE say a prayer for our dear little friend Gustavo-Alexis (caringbridge.com/gustavoalexis). We met him, his little brother Miguel and their amazing parents Terri and Big Gus in NY. Little Gus is a beautiful boy and his parents have given everything of themselves to help him beat NB; they have airlifted him home and his family is surrounding him. This breaks our hearts beyond belief and we know the power of your support - you have pulled us through some awful times.
While we’re asking, our good friend Mary from the U is still waging war against NB and is undergoing a new chemo combination. We love this family and want Mary to beat this thing once and for all - she’s a warrior and we are praying for her tests this week to show improvement, or better yet, be totally clean!
Thank you - Ty and Erika

We recieved the results of Peter’s Bone Marrow and Urine tests, and they both came back clean! Thank you all so much for the prayers and positive energy! We are off to Peter’s last baseball game of the season, and then his team is having a pool party, it should be a lot of fun. Thanks again and have a great weekend.

We’re still waiting for the final test results, but I want to let you know about a Blogathon that will be starting this Saturday, the 26th. The owner of this site will be blogging for 24 hours straight in order to raise money for Band of Parents, a Neuroblastoma charity.

She will be featuring two children every half hour on her blog and Peter will be featured at 12:00 AM on the 27th. This is the second year she’s done this. Thanks, Nikki, and good luck!

Link to the Blog
http://bloggingforkids.shebecameabutterfly.net/

Link to Donate
http://www.change.org/myfundraising/BoPBlogathon

Hello all. Thanks for checking in on Peter’s progress.

The results of Peter’s CT Scans came back on Wednesday and they are clear. His echocardiogram didn’t cause any alert. The bone marrow biopsy results will take a couple days yet. In summary, Peter still shows no evidence of disease.

He is also HAMA negative. This means that he can resume with the 3F8 antibodies soon. The antibody treatment is meant to help keep the cancer at bay by causing Peter’s body to fight against any malicious cells. I believe Ty and Erika are in the process of scheduling the next round of this treatment in NYC.

Because Peter and family are living at my house temporarily, I’ve seen a lot of the little guy recently and he looks great. He had a few bandages from the testing to show off, but is as smiley as always. His focus remains on his next baseball game. Hopefully we’ll hear that his bone marrow is clear as well and he can continue running around the diamond.

Erika and Peter flew to New York City on Sunday evening for Peter’s quarterly testing. This is always an anxious time. Yesterday Peter was measured and weighed, some blood was drawn, but not much else. He weighs more than he’s ever weighed and he’s grown a centimeter and a half since last visit. I think these are good signs.

Today and tomorrow he will go through the big tests: Scans, bone marrow biopsy, an echocardiogram, and more. Some results should be fairly immediate, while the bone marrow biopsy usually takes a week or so.

I’ll keep you posted.

It has been some time since we have posted, and there are many new things to update. First and foremost, Peter is doing great! People always comment on how great he looks. He is playing baseball in Lakeville and having a blast! He asks me the day before he has practice or a game “how many hours till baseball?” Sometimes my answer is “oh 30 hours bud.” He has made a lot of new friends and really looks forward to playing. In case you don’t know, Lakeville is in the Twin Cities, yes we have made the move from the North Country and made our way back to the metro. I have taken a coaching position at Eden Prairie High School and Erika will be working in the Edina office of her company Tradition Mortgage (call her, it is a great time to buy a house). It was a very difficult decision, as we have spent 90% of our married life in Brainerd and all our children were born there. But the move back to the metro really was a great opportunity for our entire family. We will never forget our 9 years in Brainerd and we will be back often. We have yet to decide where in the metro we are going to live, but because of the current real estate marketk, we will have MANY options.

Peter did a great job as chair person of the Rosemount Relay for Life, and the entire Eigner/Hanson clan had a great time. Then the party at Trent and Melissa’s was great and everyone had a blast. Thanks to them for hosting, for Cary and Perri for the entertainment, and to all our friends who showed up. Kate and Ellie are having a ball being in the metro, as they get to go to a new park just about every day. They also get to see there Gramma Mary, Aunts, Uncles and all their cousins a lot more, so they think that is cool. We also had a great 4th of July in Brainerd, and spent 4 fun days at Gramma and Grampa Poopsters.

Peter and Erika are going to New York City next week for his 3 month check up and scans. Hopefully while he is out there he will be HAMA negitive and be able to get another round of the anti-body treatment soon. Even though Peter’s appetite is great, energy level is high and seems to be doing great, going out for the scans and test is always very nerve wracking, as you never know what is going on inside. Thank you all in advance for your continued prayers for Peter, we truly could not be doing this without all of you! Well that should get you caught up a little, and again thanks for continuing to check this site and your tremendous support.

It’s been awhile since Ty or I have posted! I’ve intended to sit down and write quite a few times lately but I just haven’t had the chance. I hope to soon - I have a lot to say (a shock, I know). I wanted to put a link to a nice article done by the Rosemount Town Pages this week. http://www.rosemounttownpages.com/articles/index.cfm?id=19744&section=News
We are really excited about the Relay and looking forward to seeing lots of friends and family! A big thanks to Trent & Melissa for putting together what will be a really fun party on Saturday – if you know Melissa, you know will be a great party!!
Very quickly, Peter is doing well. He has been eating well and playing A LOT. He is playing baseball in Lakeville (yep, Lakeville - that’s another update!!) Thanks to some friends for allowing him to join their team mid-season. He is loving it! He played his first game last night and Ty said he had a great time and hit the ball a time or two! These things all still seem a little bitter-sweet to me, as we just never know what the future holds for Peter and his growth, physical abilities, health, etc. So we cherish the fact that he is participating and fitting right in!
One other thing that is REALLY exciting is Peter is HAMA-negative! We will re-test him in a couple of weeks to make sure he is still negative, since last time we thought he was and went to NY for treatment, he ended up being positive, and it’s very dangerous to treat “positive” kids with the 3F8 antibody. We hope to be heading east very soon for another round of the treatment, and he will have all the tests done in New York in July as well.
I’ll stop here since I could get carried away, but thanks for checking in! Erika

Peter has been chosen as an honorary chairperson for the Relay for Life in Rosemount this month. The event is on June 20th in Central Park, Rosemount, MN at 6:00 PM. Erika has started a Peter’s People team and you can  join the team by clicking here and signing up. Click on the Join Our Team link and register as a Team Member. If you cannot participate, but would like to donate to the American Cancer Society, you can also do that by clicking the Donate link.

If you have a Peter’s People t-shirt, please wear it. I will have a limited number of shirts/sizes at the event for sale, so you may want to arrive before 6:00 if you would like to buy them. Those proceeds will also go to the American Cancer Society.

Then the celebration continues on Saturday at 4:30 PM and into the evening. Peter’s Aunt and Uncle, Melissa and Trent Eigner, will be hosting a party at their Rosemount home. Jason Perri will be providing live music, food and drink are provided, and kids will be able to play on jumpers. Please join!

12465 Blanca Ave
Rosemount, MN 55068
Click for a Map

Well I thought I would post something prior to the busy weekend. Sunday is Peter’s 6th birthday and he is very excited about that. Erika and I are thrilled, as each birthday with all our kids is a blessing. It has been a busy time for b-day’s around here. Ellie turned 4 on April 29th and Erika’s birthday was April 30th, you can ask her how old she is! Ellie enjoys being 4 and acting like she is 14 and Kate she just enjoys all the ice cream! Peter and Ellie have there first soccer games on Saturday, and then we are going to the twin cities for a friends 40th and will celebrate Peter’s birthday while we are in town. On Sunday we are taking the kids to the Mall of America amusement park, they are pretty excited! Also, Erika and I want to again say thanks for all of your support of Peter and our family, we are truly fortunate. Like you, we are very thankful that Peter is doing so well and you all have been a huge part of that. Anyway we will let you know how the big weekend goes, if you are anywhere but Minnesota you should enjoy your weekend, we are supposed to get a couple inches of SNOW!

Let’s get right to it. The bone marrow studies, including four aspirates and two biopsies are all NEGATIVE. Again, no evidence of disease!

With that round of stressful testing behind the Eigners, a new plan unfolds. They will be back the University of Minnesota on April 29th for a renogram and an appointment with the Pediatric Nephrologist. They’re still trying to assess his kidney function (or damage) and determine how long he will need to continue with blood pressure medication.

During this trip they will also draw and mail a blood sample to NYC for HAMA testing. The testing will continue every four weeks until he is HAMA negative and can continue with the 3F8 antibody treatments. The next trip to NYC for testing is scheduled for July, but hopefully he’ll be out East sooner for the antibody treatment.

The picture is Peter and Kate with a beast that I can’t classify. It’s one of many photos from the wonderful trip to Disney. A complete photo album of the trip is to come.