Broten’s Story

Site created on November 10, 2023

11/10/23 - Broten has been fighting not feeling well on and off for a few months. After several series of tests and specialists, he was informed today that he has an aggressive form of Lymphoma.


In late July, Broten was often fatigued, pale and had reoccurring colds and illness throughout the summer.   Early Aug, he had a physical and we requested blood work at the same time.  His blood work results were very odd and not in the normal range.  We clearly saw evidence of Anemia and explored the possibilities of autoimmune diseases.  At one point we were confident he has Celiacs, only to find out that was not the case.


Broten had an Endoscopy that showed his stomach was agitated.  He then had a colonoscopy that was perfect! After using a pill camera that told us the small intestine was not healthy and presented with many ulcers and lesions, (yes, a pill he swallowed that recorded the journey to its exit) he was scheduled for an Enteroscopy.  (Endoscopy views the upper GI tract, esophagus, stomach and the entrance to the small intestine, whereas the Enteroscopy will go further into the small intestine between the stomach and large intestine) During the Enteroscopy, they were able to retrieve several biopsy samples of the tissue, which resulted in the diagnosis of Burkitt Lymphoma.   Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and Hematology were all along for this ride. 


Burkitt Lymphoma is a form of NON-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in which the cancer starts in immune cells called B-Cells. Recognized as a aggressive, fast growing human tumor, this cancer impairs the immune system.  Broten's "tumors" are showing as cancer within his Lymph node system.


Together, his family and friends rally around him in support and determination to fight, battle and win!

Help support this amazing young man in his efforts to fight and win!!

https://gofund.me/b4fc5c3f

Event Log:

Nov 10 - 13th - Admission at Mercy. Bone Marrow Biopsy, port placement and 2 Iron infusions, 4 days of steroids and chemo prep meds

Nov 14 - Nov 17 - Admission at Children’s MPLS. 4 days of steroids and chemo prep meds, first port access, first spinal tap with IT Chemo, first IV chemo

Nov 18 - Nov 21 - Home stay w lab appt on 11/20, 4 days of steroids and chemo prep meds

Nov 22nd - Nov 27th - Admission at Children’s MPLS, first PET Scan for baselining, 5 straight days of IV chemo and 2 days with spinals with IT chemo. 1 episode of chemo sickness.

Nov 28 - Dec 1 - home stay w post chemo recovery shot. No other meds. 2nd episode of chemo illness leading to hospitalization on Dec 1.

Dec 1 - Dec 4 - Inpatient, high dose antibiotics, unstable episodes of vitals, pain management meds, first 2 bags of blood products.

Dec 5 - Dec 12 - Home stay, feeling very good, near normal. Ready for round 2!


Dec 13 - Dec 18 - Inpatient for Round 2 is the exact same plan as round 1. 5 days of straight chemo, 2 spinal taps and IT chemo. No issues, boredom was king.

Dec 18 - Dec 21 - Trip to cabin for a change of scenery. Persistent head ache and back pain. Had a tough Wednesday with lots of puking. 🤮

Dec 22 - Dec 24 - Proactive admission, lots of back pain and headaches. Had to fight to get discharged for Christmas 🎄

Dec 25 - 27 - home enjoying the holidays.

Dec 28 - Scary episode of puking blood, 911 call leading to ambulance ride to Children’s. The start of a long, scary journey from uncontrolled bleeding in the small intestine. Intubated and in a sedative state. Unstable vitals and bloodwork brought great fear.

Dec 29 - Unknown source of bleeding leads to Interventional Radiology procedure, OR based endoscopy and exploratory surgery where nothing was clearly identified as the source. Bleeding mysteriously stops. Work continues to minimize bleeding and to stabilize vitals!

Dec 30 - Jan 8 - work continues on maintaining stable vitals and NO BLEEDING. Gradual reduction in meds and sedation levels were done.

Jan 9 - 15 - Back to the Oncology floor, round 3 of chemo complete! FINALLY home after 19 nights inpatient!!

Jan 16 - Jan 17 -home sweet home

Jan 18 - appointment to check blood and receive anti fungal/bacterial infusions.

Jan 19 - Jan 25 - about as normal as cancer can be!

Jan 26 - PET scan and blood work

Jan 27-28 - prep for the LAST ROUND OF CHEMO

Jan 29 - Feb 4 — LAST ROUND. LETS GO


Feb 5 - Feb - Home for the long haul!!!


Feb 9 - Full PT, OT assessment, Blood check and platelets! 


Feb 19 - CT Scans, infusion, end of treatment baseline



Newest Update

Journal entry by Broten Blomker

Hello everyone, I think it’s time for me to make another post, you know, to keep people in the loop. DONT WORRY NO BAD NEWS TODAY!!!!!!!    At Children’s today, I went in for a surgery to get my Chemo Port removed. The surgery went great with no complications. For anyone that doesn’t know what a port is, here is my quick explanation. A port is a little device placed under the skin and most of the time placed on the right side of the chest (mine was on the right). A very basic explanation of a port is it’s used to administer IV meds. It’s just like an IV just more comfortable. Most of the time a port is given to cancer patients because the port is mostly used to give chemotherapy or other DRUGS to make me feel better. That’s what I think a port is, if you want more info, I suggest looking it up on google because the Internet will do a better job at explaining than me. Anyways the surgery went well, and the port is out, should only be sore a couple days. After the surgery I made my way over to the clinic where I got an IV infusion of something that helps my body (I forgot what it is for, and I didn’t want to ask). At the clinic I met with my primary doctor to discuss blood work and Future appointments. The blood work was great as almost everything looks good, there are a few things that are not in their normal range yet, but we will be looking at that next month and we will make decisions based on how things look. Overall today was a good day at the hospital.      

 

If I’m making a post, I might as well give some updates on what I’ve been up to. I am happy to say that I graduated high school 2 weeks ago and I am back to work at discount tire. I've been feeling super good and I haven’t felt this good since December of 2022. 

 

That’s all for now. Hopefully the next post is a good update as well. Finally, From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank everyone that has followed my cancer journey, it is extremely humbling to see so many people look at the caring bridge.       

 

Peace Out Homies

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