Treatment Started

Last night about 9:00 pm, Erica's first round of biochemotherapy. So far, so good. When I checked in this morning, Erica was sleeping comfortably.

Janna

Lines All a Go

Erica has successfully received the Hickman line (IV line) and will start her therapy tonight. Send out all the luck, thoughts and prayers for her.

Janna

How can you help?

Many of you have written or expressed a wish to help Erica, Christian and
their families in any way, we thought of one way. As many of you know, Erica and Christian ran the Miami Marathon on January 28th with the National AIDS Marathon Training Program. They have raised a lot of money for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, but still need a little more to help them meet their goals and now with Erica's medical bills we want to give them a break as much as possible. So if you are able to donate even $5, please do so; Kelly has put the link to their marathon website at the bottom the of blog. Also, her doctor's told her the best thing she could have done was to run in the marathon as she is in great shape and this is going to help her as she undergoes her treatments.

The Next Stage - Biochemotherapy

Erica will start aggressive biochemotherapy today once they put in the PIC line (IV line for the biochemotherapy). She will receive the chemo for the next 4 days and then hopefully will be able to go home to rest and relax before her next round.

Visitors - additional info

One other piece of information in terms of visitors, unfortunately children under 12 are not allowed into the room with Erica.

Janna

5th Floor, Room 6

It has been a while since I have done any postings, so apologies for posting the last blog twice. Erica is actually in Room 6, Pavillion D (Mom's cell phone service is not very good). Again, she cannot receive fresh flowers or latex balloons. Silk flowers are allowed. As for visitors it does not look like there are any restrictions on hours, but all visitors will be required to wear masks. If you happen to have a cold, please wait until you are better to visit Erica.

Janna

Moving on up

Erica is now on the 5th floor of the Weinberg building, room 615, Pavillion D. Unfortunately she cannot receive flowers. We are not sure yet of the visiting hours, but I will update when we know more. Thankfully her embolization went well and they have stopped the bleeding, so now we are waiting for more information from the team of oncologists. On the 5th floor she will be more closely monitored by the medical oncologists so they can start looking at treatments. She did received the results of her PET scan and it looks like the only melanoma is on her liver, which is a relief. Erica's pain and discomfort has lessoned and this morning she was sitting up in a chair and able to move around a little more.

Erica, Christian and the rest of the Lipman/Lopez family say thank you to all of you for your wonderful thoughts and prayers. Please continue as Erica fights her uphill battle. The support of all of you is what will help her in the days to come.

Janna