Thursday, Nov 26, 2015 (Day 21 from CART cell infusion)

Thanksgiving came and went, and I hope it’s another day that BJ won’t remember after all this is over. He still isn’t aware of very much, just like every day of the past week. He was still suffering from withdrawal symptoms (fast breathing, fast heart rate, widening pupils, irritability, anxiety, stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, yawning, sweating), and toward the evening, it worsened. He became very agitated. They had just started a blood transfusion around 3pm, when he pulled hard on the IV line that was accessing his port. When he pulled, the .75″ needle came out of his port, so the blood transfusion had to be stopped, and his port area had to be cleaned and immediately reaccessed so it wouldn’t clot. If his port were to clot, he would have to have surgery to replace the port again. 

Thanksgiving night, he became delirious, and panicked. His doctor said the delirium was caused by a combination of very high (106) fevers for the past 2 weeks, not sleeping, and all the medications to control pain and nausea. He keeps getting platelet transfusions multiple times each day. Today, his white blood cell count is 0.2. It’s still amazing to see it this low.