The first day of school

After what seems like forever, I finally started the Fingolimod trial. Here is the sequence of events:

Arrived at 7:35. I was supposed to be there earlier, but on a rainy Monday in Atlanta that is simply not possible. Luckily, most of the research staff was late too! Pulse and BP were taken almost immediately, as follows:

7:40  81   129/80
7:42  80   123/80
7:44  80   121/79

Then, an EKG was run and the Holter monitor was attached. We had to wait at least 15 minutes, and that time was spent giving me my instructions for the day (which in a nutshell was "You're not going anywhere, so get comfortable").

Then the rest of the day was spent in this little room:


Once an hour, a staffer came in and again checked my pulse and BP:

08:29  Dose given
09:29  80 118/76
10:29  76  112/78
11:28  76  116/80
12:26  73 112/72
13:27  84 108/73
14:27  81 104/70

Then, one last EKG and I was sent on my merry way; I return tomorrow for Day Two. Hopefully that will only last a couple hours. At the end of that visit, I'll be given little pill bottles of my very own to bring home.

So far, so good...