Testing one two...

Today I took a day off from work to drive down to San Diego for a clinical trial evaluation and intake meeting. The folks at UCSD are very nice and make it a point to make you feel comfortable. The drive took a little over two hours and hit some moderate traffic on the way so I made good time. I’m taking part in a clinical trial to see if HIV meds affect memory and possibly motor functions. The great thing is the results go to me and to my doctor as well. So we can see if there is anything we need to adjust to correct the difficulty I’ve been having with my memory. Needless to say I forgot to bring the address part of the map-quest printout. I also forgot to bring the phone number of the place. I also forgot the woman’s name I was to meet. I also drove past the exit and that caused about 45minutes of backtracking to find the right street. I’m not a bad driver nor am I bad with directions it was just a mess of one way streets and huge stretches of street with nowhere to turn around. I called a close friend and asked him to get into my e-mail and get the address and phone number and then finding the place was easy. The interview consisted of some motor skill tests and some nasty memory tests. It lasted for about an hour and a half. I go back this Monday for a full day that will consist of more psyc eval and an MRI, blood work, a drug screen and of all damn things a lumbar puncture.

This is a recent problem.
I used to chalk it up to stress but I have been relatively stress free and the problem seems to be getting worse. Age? Stroke? Toxoplasmosis? Past drug use? TUMOR? It seems to have gotten worse since I started back on the meds. I’m thinking that’s the problem and just my luck these folks are doing a study to prove or disprove that theory. They were also keen to make me comfortable because I was referred to them by the senior physician. I guess that’s something that is rare for them? Now for all you med students (JIM) Do you see any problem with getting an L.P. and having a blood patch done with a person who is HIV positive. Is there any danger of the blood patch compromising my system? Virus getting directly into my spinal cord seems like something I want to avoid. Or is it already there? They say the blood patch is no problem but I want to ask everyone just in case. It’s the one thing I’m worried about.