Month: February 2008

* Update – 2:00 PM: The line is out and Peter is feeling good. He has an IV in his arm, however, so he’s not free yet. He should be getting out of the hospital shortly.

It’s time to get rid of those dangling lines! Peter is in the hospital this morning to have his hickman removed from his chest. He will be put under for the procedure and hopefully by about 11:00 AM he’ll be awake and comfortable. Now Peter might get mad at me someday for this picture, but I’ll risk it. Here you can see the hickman that is being removed. And you can see Peter flaunting his substantial brawn.

BGSU
On Saturday morning (tomorrow) Ty, Erika and Peter will fly to Ohio to visit Ty’s alma mater, Bowling Green State University. The BGSU hockey team will be raising funds for children’s cancer on Saturday. It’s a big day at BGSU with men’s and women’s basketball games during the day and a hockey game at night. During all three events there will be a silent auction with proceeds going to the Peter Eigner Benefit Fund.

Here is a quote from Ty and some additional information from the press release:

“Situations like this really show what it means to be part of the Bowling Green family. It makes me very proud to be a Falcon when I see the responses of so many alumni and community members stepping up to help a past Falcon and his family going through a tough time.”

Peter and his family are traveling to Bowling Green and will be in attendance at the BGSU-Michigan State hockey game this Saturday, and appropriately, just prior to the opening faceoff, Peter will be smiling and doing something he loves…dropping the ceremonial first puck on the ice.

Thank you to all those Falcons that are making this day happen.

Kidney Update
The tests from last week didn’t product any concrete results yet, but they have revealed a more complete picture. Peter’s left kidney appears to be damaged from surgery and inter-operative radiation. It is smaller than the right, it didn’t take as much dye during the test, and the top of it might have been slightly cut off. His right kidney has an infarct, meaning that the blood flow is cut off somewhere.

It doesn’t seem that any of this should cause major problems. And it’s not known why his blood pressure spiked well after surgery (October). The next step is to have a Renogram on April 29th and I really don’t know any specifics about the goals of that test. Time will tell!

Peter is at the hospital today having some tests on his kidneys. His blood pressure has remained a little beyond the ideal range, even with his daily dose of medication. Hopefully a scan this morning and a consultation with a specialist this afternoon will shed some light on the root cause.

Next week he’s scheduled to get the lines removed from his chest. As I mentioned before, that will be great. They don’t really bother him, but they do inhibit some childhood activities. He is still HAMA positive. Once his levels drop then more antibodies can be scheduled.

The trip to Disney World is right around the corner. I was asking him about it last night and he has some pretty clear ideas about his activities down there.

As some of you noticed, I actually did get the t-shirt sale going again. In fact, I shipped some shirts this morning. Click on the T-Shirt Sale link at the very top of the page to order. Thanks!

I believe this was taken before Peter’s first day of school with sister Ellie.

We want to wish you all a belated Happy Valetines Day, or Balentines Day as Kate would say. All is well at the Eigner house, the kids really enjoyed Valentines Day parties at school and daycare and are restocked with enough candy to last them through the winter. Peter has a consult next tuesday for his kidney, so hopefully we can get some questions answered. He is also going to have a couple other Dr. visits while he is down at the U of M. Peter is going to have his line removed on February 29th, and he is very excited about that as are mom and dad. There has been plenty of life saving chemo, blood, platlets, stem cells, antibiotics and other medicines pumped through that thing over the past year and a half. We want to also to thank all of you for your continued support, we are more and more grateful each day. Also, please continue to pray for the many kids and families who’s paths we have over the past year and a half.

Have a great weekend,

Ty