I kicked this phase off to a good start by losing my hair before I even got here. That double dose of Cytoxan during the aphaeresis phase was enough to have me shedding like a golden retriever. And I didn’t have that much to start with. Figure I’ll go for Bryan Cranston’s Breaking Bad look and let my beard grow out a little. Or at least until it starts falling out as well.
So I’m at Day -3 in the chemotherapy countdown right now. This started at Day -6 on Wednesday. Monday Feb. 7th is Day 0 when my stem cells are reintroduced via infusion. And so far so good. I’m definitely feeling the chemo just because the fatigue is beginning to set in and the appetite is beginning to decline, but all in all this is going well (i.e. boring). My chemotherapy protocol changed again when I arrived here in Chicago. HSCT for scleroderma is, after all, still in the clinical trial phase and not yet a standardized approach. In my case, I am on the “heart friendly” protocol and even that is being modified to improve the outcome based upon the latest information. Since I’m about their 18th patient to go through this protocol, there is not a whole lot of history just yet. With that said, for the record and for those that may follow me (since they may be the only people really interested in this) here is my particular sequence:
- Day -6 Rituxan plus Fludarabine
- Day -5 Fludarabine plus rabbit ATG
- Day -4 Fludarabine plus rabbit ATG
- Day -3 Fludarabine plus rabbit ATG
- Day -2 Cytoxan plus rabbit ATG
- Day -1 Rabbit ATG
- Day 0 Stem Cells!
- Day +1 Rituxan
- Days +2 through + 8,+9,+10,… Get the neutrophils, WBC count, and platelets up so I can get discharged.
I will say that as long as I’m going to spend three weeks in a hospital, this is a very nice facility. Northwestern’s medical center is located in downtown Chicago right off Michigan Avenue’s miracle mile. They have a stationary bike for the patients while we are here. This is the view looking out over Lake Michigan. The water right in front of us is the swim course for the Chicago Triathlon. On Saturday and Sunday mornings during the summer that stretch of water is packed with swimmers getting in their open water swim workouts. If all goes well here, I’ll get to swim there once again when I’m back here for checkups.