Part One

Today is day 4 of 34 days in part one of Ori's new treatment plan.  The goal of part one is to get his leukemia into remission.  Then we move on to part two-a bone marrow transplant.

Ori is doing very well.  Today he will receive the last dose of chemo during this part.  He has tolerated it without any issues or nausea which has been great. He has been able to leave his hospital room to walk about and visit the playroom, and he really is enjoying the time here.

Part One of Ori's treatment plan is a new treatment called CAR-t that has been in use since 2012. It involves extracting his t-cells, genetically altering them, and then putting them back in his body.  The hope is that the t-cells will multiply and target the leukemic cells in his body.   He receives the cells on Thursday.

The process to put the cells back in his body only takes about 5 minutes, but the havoc that this treatment can have on his body can last several weeks.  He may experience all kinds of side effects as his body adjusts to the new cells, thus the requirement to stay in the hospital for such a long time.  He may be transferred to the ICU with all kinds of complications, or he may experience no side effects at all.  There is no way to predict the outcome.

The good news is that 90% of the patients who have received CAR-t have had their cancers go into remission.  And the other good news is that all of the side effects that he may experience are fully expected, treatable, and go away without causing serious harm.

We will wait and see how it all works out for Ori.