The Domino Effect

Check out cute Domino!  You will of course recognize big Atlas, my chestnut horse, ridden here by Kelly.  Kelly is leasing Atlas while I'm away in treatment, and her daughter is leasing adorable little Domino.  The horses are making friends, and I hope they're in for an awesome summer!

And the dominos are falling here in Chicago, as the barriers to my recovery are knocked down.

I had a CT enterography this morning.  Lots of icky contrast and a little glitch with the PICC line not withstanding, I survived the CT.

Next came my first meeting with the pulmonologist.  She was very thorough and interested.  She is concerned that the larger lung nodule could represent a fungal infection, despite the negative cultures.  Additional blood and urine studies will be done to check for fungal antibodies.  Dr. Burt, however, is confident that the nodule is related to scleroderma after hearing that the 8 week culture results are clear.  This is critical right now, as a fungal infection would keep me from the transplant.  If we proceed, I will receive anti-fungal therapy for 6 months as a precaution, as all of Dr. Burt's patients do.

Dr. Burt was, surprisingly, less concerned about my fungal exposures at the barn.  I will be able to visit Atlas, maybe with a mask, at least out of the barn.  I'm not sure exactly how it will turn out.  But, I'm encouraged!  And he suggested that I will be back to riding, perhaps sooner than perviously expected.

I met with a gastroenterologist and will have endoscopy and manometry on Monday.

I met with a new cardiologist, and had a MUCH better visit than last year.  My heart (and lung nodule) are the last two barriers to the transplant.  He felt quite optimistic that my stress echo and cardiac catheterization will be clear.

And, finally, I had my official pre-transplant visit with Dr. Burt.  My skin score has worsened once again, and my lung function remains substantially worse than at randomization last year.  He carefully reviewed all of the risks of transplant, but had trouble hiding his excitement over recently compiled results in this study.  Nothing is official, nothing is published, but I left the meeting with a great feeling that this is the right path for me.

Let the dominos fall... I'm ready to beat this thing!