Archives For clinical trial

SGPT

July 20, 2004 — Leave a comment

so i went from having nothing to talk about today to a couple of calls that have not quite gone my way. for the last year i`ve been trekking around my old laptop under the delusion that it was just the power convertor board that had failed and it would be fairly cheap to replace.

since vic got the freelance gig we thought it would be a good idea for to get it fixed for her to use, so off it went to the nice folks at powerbookresq; well they called today, it was actually the logic board that died. so now here is the question, do we want to pay the $400 to have a 4 year old machine fixed or do we just want to get a new[ish] one with a warranty.

the second call i got was from the clinical trial i wanted to sign up for, telling me my SGPT levels are elevated, not dangerously so, but enough to keep me out of the study. normal levels are between 20 – 40, mine is 75. the reading puts me out of the running for hepititis or cirrhosis, but the guy suggested that i show a copy of my lab results to my physician. levels like that are related to drinking or consumption of tylenol. i don`t do tylenol and i didn`t even finish a whole beer on friday.

i`m trying not to panic, my medical at my office doesn`t kick in for another seven weeks and whatever this is will keep, i`m sure. i could check this up online but what good will it do me? i missed those years in medical school, so i`ll just be worrying myself probably unnecessarily.

poked and prodded

June 21, 2004 — Leave a comment

today i started the process to get involved with a clinical trial. i feel rather strongly about it. i`m not a great taker of medication and don`t particularly love visits to the doctors, so the concept of being poked and prodded for the next 15 months is a great leap for me.

in light of my cynical and conspiracy theorist nature doing this is also a great leap of faith for me but there are times when something feels so right that you just have to go with it. this is one of those times, from the time i saw the posted asking to volunteers to the initial interview this morning, i feel good about it on a gut level.

vic needed some reassurance and i think the consent forms and information packet has mostly sold her on this. there is also a small fee for participating the programme, but vic and i decided to donate the money to a worthy cause.