Donating My Body to Science

I decided to participate in another medical study when a similar study became available this summer at the same hospital, run by the same group. Home shall be at the Hospital of the University of PA from Monday afternoon until Wednesday around noon. The name of the study is "Cholinergic Anti-Inflammitory Pathway in Human Obesity and Insulin Resistance" and it's going to measure the inflammation in my body when certain chemicals are introduced, like mecamylamine. There is another group that will undergo the same inpatient visits as me, except they have various health factors that I do not possess, such as being overweight or having low blood pressure. I guess I fell into the "completely normal" group!

Today I arrived at 3pm to fill out all the forms, settle into my room and relax until the study officially starts. I was given some forms to circle what I would like each day for meals, which reminded me of those room service doorknob hangers that you use for room service at nice hotels. The last study I did required me to fast for the entire 2 day stay and that was really hard, but luckily I don't have to do that this time. I have TV and wi-fi internet to keep myself busy plus I brought my laptop from work and it has a DVD drive so I can watch seasons 2 and 3 of Arreste Development, so this really isn't bad at all. I might have to admit that I'm kinda enjoying myself! Around 5pm I got my IV put in by Rita, one of the study nurses who is very good at not causing more pain than necessary. She also reminds me to drink lots of water and I wish she was with me all the time because I never drink enough water, ever. I ate around 6pm (turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and cake) and at 7pm I was given either mecamylamine or a placebo pill. I was told I wouldn't feel the effects of the mecamylamine anyway so I won't notice any changes in the way I feel. The other study I was given medicine that gave me flu-like symptoms for 6 hours so that was rather unpleasant. Lastly, blood will be drawn every hour until 11pm and then again at 2am and then again at 5am. Sorta annoying, but at least I can fall asleep fairly quickly if I wake up.

The title of this post is somewhat misleading as I'm getting paid for this stint in the hospital. I do this one more time in October for the same duration and then I get paid. Whee! The downside of participating in this study was I had to use sick, personal, and vacation time to do the inpatient visits so after the 2nd visit is done, I'll only have 1 sick day and 2 vacations says left, which means I can't take many days off around the holidays. I like my time away from the crazies in the office!