October 20, 2015

On October 20, 2015 by Michelle Love

BJ had a clinic appointment yesterday for blood work. His platelet and hemoglobin counts were fine, so he didn’t need any transfusions. The good news in those labs ends there.

His white blood cell (WBC) count went from 4k on Friday to 20K yesterday. On Friday, there were 12% leukemia blast cells in his bloodstream. Yesterday, there were 74% leukemia blast cells in his bloodstream. His doctor wanted him back here to check labs again today. In less than 24 hours, his WBC count went from 20K to 43K, and leukemia blast cells from 74% to 82%. That is a huge jump in that short time frame. Physically, BJ has been very tired, having frequent headaches, everything aches, and his appetite has decreased. Emotionally, he is doing ok, but he just doesn’t feel very good, which dampens his spirits.

He wasn’t supposed to get any further systemic chemotherapy after Oct. 10th due to the restrictions in the protocol of the clinical trial. However, he can’t even go another day without doing something to stop the leukemia from taking over. So today BJ is getting a chemo infusion of vincristine and methotrexate at a slightly higher dose than he received the last time. We’re all hoping that this will kill enough leukemia until the treatment portion of the clinical trial begins, and hope that it doesn’t drop his immune system too far, because he is still under treatment for the fungal infection in his lungs. Doctors are trying to prevent admitting him at this point, but there is strong concern with protecting his kidneys over the next few days. To remain out of the hospital, he’ll take allopurinol twice a day and will need to drink 6 20oz. bottles of water each day to keep his kidneys flushed. I’ll be monitoring that very closely.

Thank you for continuing to pray for BJ and his fellow warriors. If you’d like to send him a card to cheer him up, the address is PO Box 96 Denver, NC 28037. He’s sporting Panther gear for the 2nd day in a row…Very proud of those guys for their win over the Seahawks in Seattle!!