Wednesday, Nov 25, 2015 (Day 20 from CART cell infusion)
On November 25, 2015 by Michelle LoveBJ had a short period of time where he was speaking more clearly today. It happened after he had been off of the Dilaudid drip to get a platelet transfusion and a dose of the anti-fungal medication for his lung infection. His doctor agreed to cut the dose in half, and see how things went. After being hooked back up to the pain medication, BJ started vomiting. I called the doctor back in and he agreed to stop the drip and leave the PCA (button press for a dose of pain medication) for times when he needed it. Even though he wasn’t on Dilaudid very long, he started experiencing withdrawal symptoms. He also struggled with 2 separate periods where his temperature went up to 106 degrees. With the high fevers, he is needing platelets more often. He received a second platelet transfusion in the afternoon. He is still sleeping most of the day and night, but when his temperature climbs, he is very restless. The sleep is not quality sleep by any means.
His white blood cell count continues to drop. It is very apparent at this point, that it will continue to drop. The midnight value was 0.9k, and at noon, it was down to 0.4k. There is definitely a growing, super-charged Demolition Team of angry CART cells moving everywhere inside his body looking for leukemia cells to destroy. The high temps are a sign that they are still finding plenty of the enemy. The main concern, now that the WBC is headed in the right direction, is to get BJ through these fevers, and support him with blood products, IV nutrition, and other IV medication while this breakthrough treatment is annihilating leukemia’s ass. Each little cell that even thought about mutating into leukemia is a target.
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