I went to Palo Alto on Friday to have my TEN VIALS of BLOOD drawn for Montoya's research study, which is officially titled: Gene Expresion and Immue System Dynamics of Infection In Acute and Chronic Diseases.
I was getting over a stomach bug (nausea, diarrhea and dehydration) last week, and was not thrilled about having so much blood drawn at such a bad time. But with this illness, is there EVER REALLY a good time? So I did my best to hydrate as well as I could prior to the blood draw*, and off I went.
As it turned out... everything went very smoothly with both the ride (in the car over the hill on the roller coaster of Highway 17) and the blood draw. The lab of the research facility up at Stanford was not very toxic, in terms of triggering MCS issues for me. Jane, the research coordinator, was VERY accommodating and nice. She is the research coordinator and the lab tech. She drew my blood herself, and did not hurt me at all in the process. I usually sing HERE COMES THE SUN during my blood draws, and she actually sang with me. We also sang another Beatles song as well (I WILL), as it took 2 songs and a repeat verse to fill all 10 vials with my blood.
I am relieved that the blood draw is over with, and recovering from the trip and the relapse back into stomach-bug-land. I hope that the research provides all of us who are participants in it with some useful information... in the 6 to 12 months that it will take us to know. I wish it was sooner than that, but time is going to pass either way. In a year from now, I will know exactly how many pathogens I have been hosting.
* I just want to add that Starry Eyes recommendation to drink coconut water for hydration prior to the blood draw was a great piece of advice. Thank you Starry! It was really helpful.
I was getting over a stomach bug (nausea, diarrhea and dehydration) last week, and was not thrilled about having so much blood drawn at such a bad time. But with this illness, is there EVER REALLY a good time? So I did my best to hydrate as well as I could prior to the blood draw*, and off I went.
As it turned out... everything went very smoothly with both the ride (in the car over the hill on the roller coaster of Highway 17) and the blood draw. The lab of the research facility up at Stanford was not very toxic, in terms of triggering MCS issues for me. Jane, the research coordinator, was VERY accommodating and nice. She is the research coordinator and the lab tech. She drew my blood herself, and did not hurt me at all in the process. I usually sing HERE COMES THE SUN during my blood draws, and she actually sang with me. We also sang another Beatles song as well (I WILL), as it took 2 songs and a repeat verse to fill all 10 vials with my blood.
I am relieved that the blood draw is over with, and recovering from the trip and the relapse back into stomach-bug-land. I hope that the research provides all of us who are participants in it with some useful information... in the 6 to 12 months that it will take us to know. I wish it was sooner than that, but time is going to pass either way. In a year from now, I will know exactly how many pathogens I have been hosting.
* I just want to add that Starry Eyes recommendation to drink coconut water for hydration prior to the blood draw was a great piece of advice. Thank you Starry! It was really helpful.