Ups and downs of life

Whew. What a day. This was as much of a roller coaster ride as I've had here.

I was prepared for it to be a good morning. A cardio nurse (we'll call him Nurse M.) had visited me two days ago to take a look at my notoriously difficult veins. He sounded positive as he said that he'd be in at 6:15 on Thursday to put in an IV cath so that the cardio team could take blood from me from a single port for the three required blood draws during the 4+ hour long scheduled cardio test. In addition, the nursing staff was going to draw another half dozen or so vials for testing from that same port.

Well, Nurse M began on the cardio arm this morning. He brought a heating pad and a UV light to see the veins with. When he didn't feel comfortable with the left arm, he moved to the right, looked again with heat and light, and stuck me (#12). Strike one.

He tried again. Strike two.

Now, don't start thinking poorly of Nurse M. This guy is an expert. They brought him in especially for me. He's drawn blood a thousand times. I'm just a challenge.

Nurses have been coming in and out of my room, and I've been prayed over by my lovely monitor. They're all rooting for stick #3. Before he sticks, though, he brings in two more people from the cardio team to look, too. They suggest that he try one vein on my left arm.

They leave, he tries, he strikes out, and to my horror, he leaves! He has been in communication with the powers that be, and they've decided to postpone my cardio tests.

For the next hour, I'm stressed about being kicked out and sent home. To be honest, I'm a little frustrated, but no one can help what's happening. They've always gotten the blood they needed in the past. It may have taken patience and extra sticks, but they always fulfilled the requirements and sometimes it happened on the first shot.

Make no mistake - I want to be here. I want to stay. I want them to stick me until they get what they want. I'm willing to give them the hand, foot, both arms, neck, or head if that's what it takes. (Red - former subject - you know how I feel. I don't want to go home.) Don't be afraid to dig around with the needle, either. I've got a high tolerance for pain. When I shot myself with the nail gun in November, I didn't even cry.

Fortunately for me, I had a visitor today! Heather Archuletta, the Pillownaut herself, was back for her 6 month bone density scan. It was great to meet Heather. She's the reason that I'm here. Her multiple interviews and incredibly in-depth blog about her experience gave me the curiousity, confidence, and exposure to the actual study that I needed to pursue this adventure.

Come to find out, we're from the same neck of the woods! Heather, who has moved around more than I have is now living in a home about a block and a half from a house I used to live in! It's an incredibly small world.

So, Heather's visit raised my spirits and the nurses and monitors are all pulling for me, too. They're a great bunch. As of 4:00 p.m., I've heard nothing from the cardio guys or the higher ups at NASA about my fate. I'm hoping that no news is good news. Stay tuned. We'll see what happens next.

Test Subject Monitors

Day 8, and life continues to be good.

It's starting to hit me that I can't go outside, or choose what I'm going to eat, or how much I'll eat, or when I go to bed, or when I get up, or when I feel like being tested, or that I am never really alone. The bathrooms have no cameras in them, but just outside the door are dozens of people who want to know if you've gone #1 or #2. It's so strange!

Have I explained to you about the monitors? The "test subject monitors" are great folks. Their job is to watch me and write down what I'm doing at all times. I am the focus of a whole binder worth of sheets including lines such as "6:45 Subject brushes teeth. 6:47 Subject changes clothes. 6:50 Subject checks e-mail. 6:56 Nurse X takes vitals of subject."

On and on and on the list grows. It's a constant update. If I go to the common room and watch a movie or a b-ball game, they'll update it about once every 15 minutes, but it's not as if they can leave or get distracted and trust me to keep watching. And when I'm up and around, they're scribbling away furiously. It's kinda fun to mess with them like that, walking from place to place, starting one activity and then moving on to another. (he he he)

Each monitor can watch one or two subjects. Since there are only 4 of us right now, it's pretty quiet, but they say that it gets pretty crazy when the beds begin to fill.

The hard part is, when we are sitting in our rooms they sit in the hallway or in the nurses station with the camera monitor, just watching. Some of them do word searches or sudoku puzzles, but they can't do anything distracting, like reading a magazine or book themselves. They're stuck there, watching us.

So I'm purposely out in the common room a lot, or chatting it up with them. I realize that they signed up to do the job, no matter how boring, but it seems to make it better for everyone if they're enjoying themselves, too. We've played games, joked around, and watched tv/movies together.

If I can keep them on my side, I've got a good feeling about making it through. Mess with the monitors, though, and I'm done for! (In jest, we've already discussed cattle prods, super soaker water guns, and scare tactics.)

So, this one's dedicated to the hard working, note taking, super observant crew of test subject monitors. Thanks for keeping an eye, or 20, on me!

P.S. Both the Bears and Lady Bears won last night! I didn't watch the Lady Bears game until this morning, so I was jumping up and down with excitement 9 hours after they won! Go Baylor!

P.P.S. The correct answer to yesterday's contest was bbq beef, macaroni, squash, broccoli, green beans, white roll, and fig newtons! Good guesses, those of you who didn't get it! Good detective work to those who did! Post cards are on their way!

It's a race!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, get on your feet! It's time for the first of many Space Monkey races! The races are simple and will require you simply to keep up with this blog and respond to me as quickly as you can when you have the answer to the question that I pose. The winner will receive a super fantastic, heart-pumping, tear-shedding prize.

So, without further ado. Today's first test is -

The first person to contact me (in any way) and tell me what I'm going to have for dinner tonight (use your resources) will receive the first NASA postcard from me, straight to your mailbox! Unless you are certain that I have your mailing address, please also include that when you contact me.

Note: I have lots of postcards and stamps, so if you're not the first, don't fret. You can still get one! Send me your address, the address of your little nephew, your granddaughter, or your mom. I've got lots of time and lots of postcards!

Count Down to Head Down!

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Sabbath

It's Sunday, and that means it's time for me to set aside the pressures and work of the week and rest. No jogging around the halls, no breaking a sweat folding origami cranes.

I have to admit, though, that I did my laundry. Yes dear friends. I have labored. I repent. No more laundry on Sundays.

Speaking of repenting, though, I'm using the Book of Common Prayer now. I'm trying to follow it morning, noon, and evening, but I seem to be missing the noontime ones. I'm still new to this. It's only been 3 days. Still, though, I'm really excited about joining in the prayer and worship of millions of others. It's a sense of community that I appreciate a lot in general and especially here.

I had a really quiet day. I worked on the latest puzzle, played a game of monopoly with Yellow, the guy who goes head down tomorrow, read some of Marle's Door (I read The Glass Castle yesterday. Again, thanks Raymonds!), and watched some b-ball. I also made a space shuttle out of clay. Here's a pic.

I can't figure out why the local station isn't broadcasting the Lady Bears' game on tv. They're showing Tennessee instead. Seriously! Can't a girl get a break?

Not to worry, friends who know what a Lady Bear freak I am, I'm watching on my computer. I LOVE high speed internet! The Bears are going to win, and then defend the heck out of the Jackrabbits (who shot at least 16 3-pointers tonight!)!

Sorry to hear about Coach Kim's kidney stone and medicine reaction. What a relief that BU has 3 Hall of Fame coaches on staff!

Boy do I wish I were with my Lady Bear-fan-friends tonight. To those of you in Lubbock, give a Sic Em Bears for me!

Oh, I wanted to show you, too, how strict they are about counting calories. Dessert last night was Famous Amos cookies, and I got a triple decker. It was really a cookie and a half. They untwisted cookie #2 and scraped off most of the icing, stuck the half on the whole, then realized I needed a little more icing, which was put in the little bowl. How funny! (I've also gotten purposely broken pringles chips and halves of pretzels.

Lazy Saturday

Ah, the weekend. No different for me than any other day around here. Except for the fact that it's generally quieter because the primary staff gets weekends off, so there's not as many tests run.

In fact, my day has been really quiet. I had my first saliva collection this morning. As soon as I wake up, I'm given a cylindrical wad of cotton and told to make it as spitty as possible. I didn't do a very good job today. There's a learning curve here. There's saliva, and then there's SALIVA. I'm going to do better next time, I promise.

Then I had all morning off. I read some, worked the puzzle some, folded two more cranes, and watched the Baylor men beat Virginia Tech! Woot! Go Bears! They've won two games in the NIT now. On to Auburn (a #1 seed) for their next game.

After a great chicken parmesan lunch with garlic bread and cheesecake for dessert, I had a functional fitness test to record my muscle strength. It was kinda like yesterday's test. I did crunches for 2 minutes, inverted pull-ups, push ups, maxed out a sit and stretch reach, and then maxed out my leg press. (Is 360 lbs. good?)

Poor soul that I am, the rest of my schedule says that I'm now required to eat dinner before bed! Do they think I'm a machine! Don't they know I only have so much time in the day! How can they put this pressure on me!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Too easy Drill Sargent, too easy.

(The photo here is yesterday's turkey dinner. Yum!)

The human pin cushion - the saga continues

Well Dad, I've got veins like yours. They're safely tucked deep down inside my body, under layers of skin, fat, and muscle. They like it down there, where it's warm and dark and cushioned . . .

I've been trying my best to be good, really I have, but I had the nurses shaking their heads in frustration today. Lab work required 13 or 14 (I lost count) vials of blood to be taken from me this morning. A great nurse yesterday (who drew blood the first day) put a heating pad on my arm to see if the veins would rise with heat and be easier to access. She was happy with the results, and marked two veins for the next morning's draw.

Well, this morning at 6:15, the heating pad went back on and 15 minutes later, the first nurse entered to draw blood. She didn't seem too thrilled when the first stick produced no blood. So in came nurse #2 for stick #2. She got me on the first try and began to fill vials. Unfortunately, 9 vials later, I dried up.

She then tried another vein (stick #3). No luck. That brought on nurse #3 and stick #4. Again, no luck. I'd now been lying there for about 45 minutes, was throwing off the breakfast schedule, and the nurses were looking nervous.

They seemed to have given up hope when from out in the hall I hear a cheer. The cardio experts, who are given my left arm to poke (while the other lab work comes from the right arm), have agreed to let them poke my left arm, so off we go again.

Nurse #4 enters and sticks me with #5. She hits the mother lode and fills up the remaining vials quickly. We all celebrate!

After breakfast, I have my first of 4 isokenetic labs. Basically, I'm maxing out my knee, ankle, abs, and back muscles in short reps on a couple machines that look like steroid induced weight lifting machines at a gym. It's not even hard enough to break a sweat.

All in all, the day went great. We started a new 1000 piece puzzle, I had my first physics lesson, finished a book provided by the Raymonds (thank you! The Water Room was good!), and watched a little NCAA b-ball.

Sadly though, I had to say goodbye to a new friend. Red and I were just getting to know each other. I'm confident that she and I would have had a good time together. She did absolutely nothing wrong. It just didn't work out. I don't think I can say any more. But she didn't do anything wrong!

Best wishes to you, Red, as you return to your home, work, family, and dogs! Our time here was too short, but we'll stay in touch. You've really got me thinking about impacting lives like you do.

Good night everyone. Lights out in 50 minutes! They're serious!