Hello, Team Naaman! Tuesday Naaman enrolled in the clinical trial for humanized CAR-T at CHOP and completed the bloodwork and exams for that. Wednesday was an even longer day, with 6:00 am arrival at radiology for a central line placement (right side of neck) and over to Buerger Center for pheresis. CHOP does this all outpatient, which was a big change for us, but given that it was our third collection, Naaman handled it like a champ. At Yale, Naaman was admitted for collection and everything was done inpatient. At CHOP, every step is outpatient and in different buildings. Yes, Naaman had a line put in at the surgery center and got in his stroller to go across the connector to the outpatient clinic! And back to surgery later in his stroller for line removal. It also helps that our Yale Child Life specialists have prepared him so well for his ninja cell days, because Child Life wasn’t available for CAR-T this time. Naaman did charm the nurses into getting him toys, snacks, and a prize to take home.
Humanized CAR-T collection is done, and now Naaman awaits T-cell manufacturing for infusion likely end of January/early February. He will need to stay in Philadelphia for six weeks after infusion, living 15 minutes from CHOP. The social worker is helping us arrange a place to stay, so he will have a taste of city life for a while. We haven’t figured out all of the details yet, but luckily for us, Philadelphia is a car ride away, not a plane ride.