Month: January 2008

We’ve all been enjoying the great news from the last trip to New York. The days have been far less exciting lately and that’s a good thing. Yet the battle continues. Peter is winning, and we know he’s a champion, but he’s certainly not done fighting cancer.

I’ll explain the present strategy against cancer, but right now Peter is fighting RSV (Respitory Syncytial Virus). I suppose this would be a bad cold in most kids, but Peter is a special case. On Sunday night, Peter’s sister Kate was hospitalized with pneumonia. As soon as she was released, Peter’s school called because he was sick with a fever.

Ty took him to the clinic where he was diagnosed. And then he was taken to the hospital. Normally RSV isn’t treated, but he was given antibiotics and blood cultures were drawn. He will be monitored closely, especially because of his history with ARDS. Mom and Dad will also monitor Ellie, as well, since she’s probably in line to pick up this contagious bug.

Now back to the fight against cancer. In NYC Peter was still HAMA positive. Until he’s HAMA negative, he can’t receive any more 3F8 antibody treatment. His HAMA level will continue to be tested and he will receive more 3F8s in NY whenever his HAMA level drops (hopefully sooner than later).

They also tested Peter’s immune system in NYC to determine if it was back to full strength since his transplant. It is not, so he continues to take daily medication. Every three months Peter will be back in NYC for the testing he just had in early January and his immune system will be tested again. The next trip is planned for April (and this is the next time we all sit on pins and needles waiting for test results).

Peter’s blood pressure remains high and Ty and Erika are pressing to get to the root cause. His pressure is checked twice daily and he remains on hypertension medication. You can see that even as we get to rest easy with the last round of great test results, Ty and Erika do not.

Finally, once Peter puts RSV behind him, he will have his central line removed. This is the Hickman — the lines that have been permanently dangling from his chest for over 18 months. The timing of this is great, because he is scheduled to go to Disney World in March through the Make a Wish foundation. With his lines removed, he’ll be able to play in the water without a wetsuit and fully enjoy the activities…. and he’ll be able to take his first shower in well over a year!

A while ago I ran another big batch of Peter’s People t-shirts and I’ll be opening them up for sale through this site in the coming days. I know that some of you missed the first sale, so come on back for this round. I’ll keep the sale open until I’m out of stock.

Erika just informed me that she got word from NYC that Peter’s Bone Marrow biopsy was CLEAR! Thank you so much for your all of your heartfelt thoughts and prayers. Peter continues to respond favorably and you are ALL a huge part of that. We will continue to pray and fight until there is a cure for this awful disease. Also, please keep Mary Virnig, “Little” Gus Guerra, Logan Fogarty, Donna Bzdok, Terri Tomlinson and Sherry Christianson in your prayers, they too are still fighting there own battles with cancer.

God Bless,

The Eigner’s

We’ve been waiting patiently (somewhat) for the results of the testing and I just heard the results of the MIBG and CT scans.

These two tests show NO EVIDENCE OF NEUROBLASTOMA.

The bone marrow biopsy results are pending, but feel free to fully enjoy these first two results. And have a wonderful weekend!

–Proud Uncle Matt

Yesterday (Tuesday) was mainly spent at the hospital in NYC. Peter had his labs done and and height and weight measured. He is 44 pounds — still lighter than he was pre-diagnosis, even though he seems to be filling out.

He also had CT scans of his head, neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. They drew blood to check his HAMA levels and gave him an injection for a MIBG scan taking place today. Along with MIBG today, he will have some bone marrow biopsies.

Test results should start trickling in today. They only thing they learned yesterday was  that Peter has ear infections. This was shocking, because he hasn’t complained about his ears at all and the NP said they were “flaming”. He has a  bad cold, but you’d think he’d recognize inflamed ear canals. I suppose it’s good that they happen to be getting medical attention at the present or things may have worsened.

After the hospital, Ty, Erika, and Peter headed to Rockefeller Plaza for ice skating. Peter brought his own hockey skates on the trip. I heard that Ty was super excited to rent himself some figure skates, but wound up with hockey skates after all. I would have paid to see Ty rounding the oval in figure skates, pushing off with his toes. But I don’t think this earth will ever see that.

Let’s hope for great news in the coming hours and days.

Here we are on the other side of a great holiday season. I was with Peter for Christmas Eve and Day at Grandma and Grandpa’s and Erika and Ty’s homes. Everything appeared just like a Christmas postcard. There was plenty of glistening snow outside and three generations of family inside, completed by five excited children. Peter and his sisters and cousins ripped into their gifts with fervor. Only if Peter was playing and his shirt would rise, you might have seen a sign of abnormality — Peter’s hickman lines dangling from his chest.

This sense of normalcy is reason to be thankful. I remember Peter sitting on my lap through last year’s Christmas church service, completely bald and fairly frail. This year you have to look a little closer to notice that his skin is dry from the accutane or that he has to take certain meds daily and get his blood pressure checked twice daily.

The next step is for Peter, Ty and Erika to visit New York City once again. They’ll be there next week for testing and examination. It’s hard to imagine this being an emotionless trip. The tests probably won’t have neutral results and we pray that Peter is retaining the upper hand over his foe. I’ll provide more updates on the exact testing schedule as I hear more.

Here is Peter in his new truck on Christmas night with sister Kate riding shotgun.