{"id":125,"date":"2017-02-04T17:42:18","date_gmt":"2017-02-04T22:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/?p=125"},"modified":"2017-02-04T17:42:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-04T22:42:18","slug":"boring-is-good-or-so-my-doctors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/2017\/02\/04\/boring-is-good-or-so-my-doctors-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Boring is Good!  Or so My Doctors Say&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I kicked this phase off to a good start by losing my hair before I even got here. \u00a0That double dose of Cytoxan during the aphaeresis phase was enough to have me shedding like a golden retriever. \u00a0And I didn&#8217;t have that much to start with. \u00a0Figure I&#8217;ll go for Bryan Cranston&#8217;s Breaking Bad look and let my beard grow out a little. \u00a0Or at least until it starts falling out as well.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-132 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chemo-on-Day-One-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chemo-on-Day-One-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chemo-on-Day-One-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chemo-on-Day-One-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;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&#8217;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). \u00a0My chemotherapy protocol changed again when I arrived here in Chicago.\u00a0 HSCT for scleroderma is, after all, still in the clinical trial phase and not yet a standardized approach. \u00a0In my case, I am on the &#8220;heart friendly&#8221; protocol and even that is being modified to improve the outcome based upon the latest information. \u00a0Since I&#8217;m about their 18th patient to go through this protocol, there is not a whole lot of history just yet. \u00a0With that said, for the record and for those that may follow me (since they may be the only people <em>really<\/em> interested in this) here is my particular sequence:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day -6 \u00a0 \u00a0 Rituxan plus Fludarabine<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day -5 \u00a0 \u00a0 Fludarabine plus rabbit ATG<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day -4 \u00a0 \u00a0 Fludarabine plus rabbit ATG<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day -3 \u00a0 \u00a0 Fludarabine plus rabbit ATG<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day -2 \u00a0 \u00a0 Cytoxan plus rabbit ATG<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day -1 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Rabbit ATG<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day \u00a00 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Stem Cells!<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Day +1 \u00a0 \u00a0 Rituxan<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Days +2 through + 8,+9,+10,&#8230; \u00a0 Get the neutrophils, WBC count, and platelets up so I can get discharged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-139 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Stationary-Bike-View-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Stationary-Bike-View-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Stationary-Bike-View-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Stationary-Bike-View.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>I will say that as long as I&#8217;m going to spend three weeks in a hospital, this is a very\u00a0nice facility. \u00a0Northwestern&#8217;s medical center is located in downtown Chicago right off Michigan Avenue&#8217;s miracle mile. \u00a0They have a stationary bike for the patients while we are here. \u00a0This is the view looking out over Lake Michigan. \u00a0The water right in front of us is the swim course for the Chicago Triathlon. \u00a0On Saturday and Sunday mornings during the summer that stretch of water is packed with swimmers getting in their open water swim workouts. \u00a0If all goes well here, I&#8217;ll get to swim there once again when I&#8217;m back here for checkups.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I kicked this phase off to a good start by losing my hair before I even got here. \u00a0That double dose of Cytoxan during the aphaeresis phase was enough to have me shedding like a golden retriever. \u00a0And I didn&#8217;t &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/2017\/02\/04\/boring-is-good-or-so-my-doctors-say\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Boring is Good! Or so My Doctors Say... - Sailing SV Celtic Cross - Dave Kurtz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/davidwkurtz.com\/wordpress\/2017\/02\/04\/boring-is-good-or-so-my-doctors-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boring is Good! 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