Entries this day: AM_whiz_and_weigh_and_shut_up Begin_EKG Kicked_out To_Do Work back_home

AM whiz and weigh and shut up

8:14am JST Monday 5 February 2007 (day 13466)

Peed in a bottle to kick off the day. I didn't drink "enough" water yesterday; pee was dark like beer.

Got back to my bed and the nurse asked me if weighing was okay. I was like, [sure; go ahead (and weigh yourself)]. She said the scale might break.

[Oh, me???]

82.8 kg = 182.5 pounds

Starting tomorrow we are supposed to accumulate all our urine in bottles throughout the day. Find my name on an empty bottle and whiz in it.

8:44am JST

The next nurse was like, [blah blah blah blah,　ね？] and then "please shirt up" wanting me to lift my shirt, but when she said "shirt" without the R it was more like, "please shut up" so I was like, "you shut up!"

I made sure she understood the pun and then taught her "raise" and then with comedic timing, I was all, "please raise your shirt" and she was like, [I'll do it (I'm warning you)] so I was like, "please close the door."

hahah we're so funny.

Begin EKG

8:52am JST Monday 5 February 2007 (day 13466)

Cn't write much for now; have to clear my bed so they can hook up the EKGs. I will get pictures. (I tried earlier, but someone didn't charge camera battery; charging it now)

Kicked out

12:27pm JST Monday 5 February 2007 (day 13466)

My QTC is 4/1000ths of a second too long.

QTC = the time from when my ventricals contract, to when they are ready to go again.

The limit is 450 ms, but I am 454 ms (milliseconds).

Thank you, angels, for taking care of me.

1:24pm JST

Just chowed free lunch with the guys, who gave their condolences.. Now it's time to pack and head out!

2:12pm JST

I'm in a taxi now, headed to the bus stop where I can get a bus to Kagoshima airport. (All transportation paid by CPC.)

To Do

2:39pm JST Monday 5 February 2007 (day 13466)

1. X Go through things to do and re-calibrate

2. Stop by EV and see if I can get onto the schedule

3. Go through bags and unpack

4. upload MT2 images

5. Write to peeps (Mike, Jeff, Robert) from trial

6. continue moving shizzle off my machizzle

Work

7:20pm JST Monday 5 February 2007 (day 13466)

I stopped by work on the way home to confirm when I can work again. Fortunately, I have a huge full schedule tomorrow. Wow.

Reiko (receptionist) jokingly asked if I had brought anything. I hadn't, and then I felt bad, because she always brings stuff for us when she goes out of town. Even to her best friend's funeral.

Ah well.

back home

8:17pm JST Monday 5 February 2007 (day 13466)

I'm safely back at home. I'll ask Dr Cutie what it means that my QTC is too long.

8 February 2007

I wrote to Dr Cutie and to Fred, because he has been doing heart stuff for a while. Fred replied:

For the study, four milliseconds isn't going to make any difference,
but they have to draw the line somewhere.  On a different day, you
would have given a different reading, and maybe low enough to get in.
Whatever.  Studies are weird, and come in all shapes and sizes.

But why are you enrolling in clinical drug trials?  For the money?
The more I learn about drug companies, the more convinced I am that
they are evil.  Enron levels of evil.  No way I would try any new
treatment unless I had a very serious condition, and I couldn't think
of anything else to try.

> Is my "slow" QTc something I should have checked?

Nah.  That measure doesn't really mean much, and you have no other
(known) symptoms or risk factors.  Just forget it.  That said, you
need to start getting annual physicals to check for prostate cancer
and shit that can be treated if caught early.

If you happen to have a 12-lead EKG, go ahead and send it to me just
for grins, but the cost-to-benefit ratio of checking you out for
cardiac or genetic defects, based on that particular piece of
unverified information, is too high: you'd pay a lot (many thousands
of USD), and it's overwhelmingly likely that the dr. wouldn't be able
to tell you anything interesting, whether you had a latent heart
condition or not.  For a healthy young guy like yourself, the
treatment would be more dangerous than the condition!

It is true that a prolonged QT interval can lead to life-threatening
arrythmias.  Sudden cardiac death occurs pretty often (300K deaths per
year in the US), but the term covers pretty much any cardiac-related
death that didn't show symptoms beforehand, including heart attacks of
people with advanced diabetes, fat people, and lifetime smokers.
Prolonged QT intervals are waaaaay down on the list of risk factors.
Far and away more common is death related to coronary artery disease.
I mean, if you had told me they checked your so-called "calcium
score," and it was over 800, we would be having a totally different
conversation.  But I'll eat my shoe if you have coronary artery
disease, and I'll eat the other one if your QT interval ever causes
you problems.

-g

(For the record, G, lest you be impressed that I knew all this off the
top of my head, I only knew about half of it.  The other half came
from my fact-checking of the first half!)