vaccine update

Mark had his vein assessment and screening last week and all went well..nice veins!
Mark completed leukepheresis on Monday.
It took 3 hours for him to have his blood drawn, separated into white and red cells, then put the red ones back in his body.
They are now culturing the vaccine, which they will inject next Friday.
He also has a baseline blood test to take this Friday.
All looks good so far.

We did have a bit of increased seizure activitiy over the past few weeks. We've upped the dosage on Keppra to 3000mg which seems to help. Mark had a bit of trouble with double vision when we upped the dosage, but the doctors said his body would adapt and things definitely seem better now.

He is still going strong and has been biking, lifting light weights and playing ultimate frisbee. He's probably in the best shape of his life right now and is totally ripped! :)

What's next:
04/28/06 - 1st injection of dendritic cell vaccine
05/08/06 - MRI and meeting with Cloughsey
05/10/06 - 2nd injection of dendritic cell vaccine
05/24/06 - last injection of dendritic cell vaccine