Month: October 2006

Since the previous post by Erika, things changed yet again. The Thursday harvest (#2) was completed and instead of being discharged to head back home, they learned that they needed to harvest again today. That is wrapping up as I write this (3:00 PM). Then Peter’s line in his neck will be removed and the Eigner’s will be discharged and back home tonight.

It’s been an interesting week with a fluctuating schedule, but a successful week all-in-all. This harvest is a nice milestone to check off. Ty, Erika, and Peter were able to break free of the hospital last night and take in the Minnesota Wild season opener. That was a nice break for all, but especially for Peter (thanks Tony G.).

Let’s hope for an uneventful and restful weekend for the Eigners as round 3 of chemo starts Monday already. Go Twins. Peter would love to be able to watch more games this season.

This stuff is starting to confuse me a bit, so i’m sure it’s even more so to those of you reading! I thought i’d share a little about the Harvest procedure and where we’re at. As Matt said, the first day is complete. The harvest itself entails Peter being hooked up (through his temporary line) to a large machine for about 5 hours at a time. The machine draws blood directly out of the jugular vein at a high speed, it goes into the machine to be seperated (the machine keeps what will be sent to LA for purging and freezing until transplant time), and the rest goes right back into his body through the other line. It’s not painful for him but probably looks a lot worse as he has about 10 cords hanging around him, many which are filled with blood.
Peter’s blood culture from Tuesday night came back negative last night so that was good news! Unfortunately, about an hour later he spiked a fever again so they had to do another culture which is not back yet. If there is another bacterial infection of some kind, today’s work might have been done for nothing! But there is a very short window of time in which they need to collect (harvest), so they wanted to try and get it completed. So we are hopeful the fever was unrelated. They do not know the quantity of the stem cells collected today- they have been sent to the lab, but we don’t think we’ll know the results until tomorrow morning. So the plan is to collect again tomorrow, unless they can see by today’s collection that there is no way they’ll get enough in 2-3 days through this procedure. Then we would go to Plan B (take marrow through the hips). Assuming everything looks good in the morning, they’ll collect tomorrow and potentially some on Friday as well, but hopefully just tomorrow. It IS, as Matt posted, sort-of boring!! And tomorrow we won’t even be able to cheer for the Twins!!! All-in-all, things are good. Peter’s been a little out of sorts the last few days, but I think I would be too. The bone pain should subside within the next day, and once the collection is complete they’ll get the temporary port removed from his neck. I’m sure we’ll get no argument there.
Thanks again to all of you for keeping in touch.

Peter is back in his room after the first harvest. I understand that the procedure was kind of boring and I’ll take that as good news. He has been battling a little fever and still has bone/joint pain, but other than that he’s doing well.

Things seem to change by the hour, but here is what I know at the end of a long Tuesday. As planned, the growth hormone dosage was increased. Unfortunately, the drug at this dose causes joint pain and Peter is feeling it. It’s primarily affecting his legs. To add to his discomfort, the new line was inserted in his neck this morning. He was “asleep” for that procedure. Pain medication and visiting family distract him from the pain. He’s definitely fighting, though, because his blood counts have gone up and he’s on the rebound from the last round of chemo.

They’re still waiting on test results on that bacteria infection. Hopefully it will come back negative in the morning. If so, the stem cell harvest begins at 9:00 AM and lasts five hours. Then another five-hour harvest will follow on Thursday. And if all goes well, the Eigners will then be free until the third round of chemo begins next week.

Hopefully I’ll be writing a short post to confirm the paragraph above in the morning.

Ty, Erika, and Peter are trucking down to Minneapolis right now (4PM). They found out this morning that Peter did (or does) have an infection in his blood. Infection is common, since he has sores in his mouth and his blood defenses are low. I suppose that puts the bacteria on the power play. They took more blood for testing this morning and we’ll find out tomorrow if the infection is gone. Peter has been on antibiotics since they checked into the hospital yesterday.

The doctors are still optimistic that they can complete the cell harvest this week. When Peter gets checked in this afternoon, they’ll up his dose of the growth factor as scheduled. And as long as the infection has been successfully killed off, the harvest should take place later this week.

I just got home from the hospital and Peter is doing fine. On my way home Baron (our dog) and I drove by the Brainerd Civic Center and the “Keep Fighting Pete” sign is still shining brightly. It made me realize again how really fortunate our family is. The support and prayers we have gotten have been AWESOME! Today was a really good day for Peter. His mouth sores are getting a little better and he is able to eat a little easier. His temp is completely normal, and his attitude is great. Erika, Peter and I spent the day clicking back and forth between the Central Division Champion Twins, the so so Vikings (better than Grampa Sig and Grandma Mary’s Packers) and as Peter would say “Dad,Tiger Woods is on.” You can tell by these comments Erika, Ellie and Kate rarely get the clicker at our house. Thank God Erika is such a great sport and sports fan or Pete and I would be in trouble. I also want to take this opportunity to say a huge “thanks” to everyone who attended Peter’s benefit dinner a week ago Friday. It was perfect. Everyone was treated to an unbelievable meal, and it was great for Peter, Erika and I to get a chance to see many of you. We can’t thank Jake and Becky Enebak, Chad and Gina Schumacher, Eric and Amy Frank enough for getting the benefit off the ground. Also, both Erika and I want to thank both our families for all they did getting the benefit organized. A huge thanks needs to go to everyone who donated items for the auction, it was fantastic. The staff at Legends did an unbelievable job the entire night. Chef Steve Lacey and his crew definately out did themselves. Finally to everyone who attended (and to those who could not make it), I really don’t know what to say. Like I said that night, Peter has a great team behind him and we are truly thankful for each and every one of you. There were family, friends, friends of friends and people we had never met. For each of you to give of your time and to donate to Peter’s fund meant so much to us. As we go forward, know that each of you play a huge part in Pete’s success and we thank you for that. Please keep praying, calling, e-mailing, writing and posting on this site, all of it makes us stronger.

Thanks,

Ty

Peter and parents are currently in the hospital in Brainerd. Everything is fine at the moment, but they checked in last night as a precaution. Peter developed a fever, so they called down to the U of M and were instructed to bring him into the ER in Brainerd. They were in a room by midnight and Peter’s fever subsided. He’s doing well today, but they’re keeping a close watch on his blood counts. They expect to stay in the hospital until tomorrow.