Craig Smith

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Craig has chosen NH+C’s Cancer Care & Infusion Center for monthly infusions to treat his autoimmune disease. Half the year, Craig flies to Northfield from his winter home in Arizona for this care. The rest of the year, he drives down from his home in the Twin Cities. 

He’s been doing it for 11 years.

In all that time, Craig strives for balance: Enough energy between treatments for his work as a nursing home administration consultant. The right location between his two homes, for continuity of care all year long – and for a well-rounded care team that understands his complicated health challenges well, and has the resources to respond in emergencies. 

Craig has chosen NH+C over infusion centers closer to home . . . and over Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Craig’s first experience with NH+C was in the Long Term Care Center. While on vacation in Florida, Craig got so sick he went to an Emergency Department. Tests there diagnosed polymyositis, a rare autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks muscle tissue. Symptoms include chronic inflammation, progressive weakness, and muscle pain mostly in the shoulders, hips, thighs and neck. 

“It was affecting all the muscles in the trunk of my body,” Craig says. “The ED doctor worried it would attack my heart, which is a muscle. He said we should start treatment right way. He kind of scared me.”

Craig opted for a heavy dose of steroids so he could drive his new RV home. Thanks to his two sons who flew down to help him with the 30-hour trip, Craig made it to Mayo Clinic in Rochester; a reaction to the steroids left Craig paralyzed in his trunk, unable to move his legs, arms or head. 

His Mayo team began weekly intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) infusions, using healthy donor white blood cells to flush out and replace the cells attacking his immune system. Progress was minimal.

Craig needed nursing home care. “Being a nursing home administrator, I knew my choices,” he says. He chose NH+C’s Long Term Care Center because of its excellent reputation.

“I was totally dependent on the nursing home staff to rotate me, bathe me, feed me, take me to the bathroom. And they were awesome,” he recalls.

Doctors gave Craig a 50-50 chance of leaving the nursing home. He was 62 years old.

“I was pretty depressed at that point,” he says. His care team continued weekly IVIG infusions through NH+C’s Cancer Care & Infusion Center. On the third or fourth treatment, “I woke up in the middle of the night and I could actually move my arm for the first time. I thought, ‘I have a future.’” 

Craig stayed in the Long Term Care Center for six weeks, then went home with outpatient physical and occupational therapy. After 10 months, he was able to go back to work.

Infusions became his lifeline . . . and his schedule. 

Craig started with four-day monthly treatments. “It had to be four consecutive business days,” he explains. (He’s progressed to one-day treatment since then.) So he’d block his calendar and buy his plane tickets.

“Thanks to the team here in Northfield, we've been able to coordinate that every month,” Craig says. “My doctor is at Mayo, but driving down to Rochester every time for infusions was just that much more inconvenience.”

Craig checked out many infusion facilities. “This is the only facility that has private rooms,” he says. “I need privacy to be on my computer, on my phone, to work continuously during treatment,” which lasts six hours each day.

“So for 28 days of a month, I have a normal life, thanks to these folks here,” Craig says. “As the four weeks go by, I get weaker until the next treatment.”

The infusions “are my godsend. And I know they're going to be done the right way here,” he says. “The CCIC staff is terrific. So is the Pharmacy team, and Lab. They all know what they're doing. They coordinate my needs on every visit.” 

The one time Craig had an allergic reaction to his infusion, an ED doctor was at his side within minutes. “To be able to have infusions in a hospital setting so if I need emergency care – that’s really valuable,” Craig says. “I know that I will be attended to quickly. That reassurance is what keeps me flying back here.”

The CCIC team “is meticulous. They know me, they know what care I need, they know what to watch for, and they take nothing for granted,” Craig explains. “They make sure they communicate with each other. And they listen to me when I’m communicating to them. They know my full profile as a patient. It just helps my confidence.

“I believe in this team. I wouldn't trade it.” 

When Craig started infusion therapy, “Mayo gave me a life expectancy of six to nine years. I'm on Year 11. So I'm pretty blessed. It’s been a tough road, and I've had to make adjustments, but I've never deviated from my infusions here at Northfield Hospital.” 

NH+C coordinates with Mayo on Craig’s care, from his regularly scheduled labs to his many specialists including cardiology, rheumatology, and pulmonary physicians. They coordinate through various complications over the years, from rheumatoid arthritis to a car accident a few years ago that broke Craig’s back. 

“It’s a testament to continuity of care,” Craig concludes. “Over 11 years with many different conditions, and ongoing treatment, NH+C and Mayo coordinate with each other to make sure my care is convenient for me, and consistent.”

“As long as I can, I will keep coming here.”