Greetings from the Bass Center where are intrepid warrior just received 7.63 mls of T-Cells that have been cultured for 21 days and know what to do!  The administration was similar, though much shorter, than the stem cell transplant: gravity was the force at work and the liquid was clear this time. They did a similar hand-off process and gave him some pre-meds: Tylenol and Benedryl (50 mg though which is a big dose!). 

It took just a few minutes for the t-cells to travel into his Hickman line and then into his body. #Let’sGoTCells. Then Nurse Tamara rinsed the bag and the line with some saline, making sure all the cells got to their new home.  We are hopeful that these t-cells will reduce the time it takes for his immune system to reconstitute thereby getting him back into his world faster.

Sam slept for the remainder of the 4 hours (thanks to the big dose of Benedryl) that we were required to be there for monitoring (silly me had some crazy idea that he and I could use those 4 hours (which are rare/hard to come by) to talk about the next few weeks: how to set up a bit more structure (he recognizes he needs structure too :), layer back in his classes and other goals and opportunities (e.g. college search, plans for summer etc). 

We are still working through the first 100 days though, so while that is “not a thing” in some circles, it does represent a milestone for his immune system and Dr. Shah said they will take some measurements around that time so we’ll have a sense of what cells are active and how many.

Gotta love science!  We are grateful to be part of this clinical trial.  Pair #11 — LFG!

#TeamSamStrong