My first appointment

Finallyyyyyyy, I had my first appointment. I know I have delayed writing this post, it has just been a crazy week. My appointment was on Monday at 8:30 am. The visit was only supposed to be a 4-hour blood draw from what I was told, but it ended up being a little bit more than that. And that alone had me uneasy. because no one I asked had ever heard of a 4-hour blood draw.

I arrived at the office promptly at 8:30 am ready to get it over with. There were 3 nurses in the room, a comfy chair, a tv, and of course a small metal table with all the fun tools to take all my blood. That is when I learned it wasn't going to be a simple, but long, blood draw visit. I sat and waited as nurses came in and out. I fill out questionnaires about my cycle and mood (which were a bit odd, more details on those later). They informed me that when they previously said that I couldn't shave or pluck my facial hair that they were wrong. Turns out I'm not supposed to shave anything at all! I'm talking from HEAD to TOE!!

Ok, so that is a thing. And then they informed me that I'd be getting examined by the doctor. For what? I inquired. I had already had a pap, full examination, and an endometrial biopsy. They've checked my heart and lung function, they've checked my leg and hip bones. Literally, everything on my body has been checked..... Well except for my hair growth, everywhere of course. So, before they could start the blood work I had to get butt ass naked so the doctor could examine me. He had a little chart and all, and he wouldn't take my word for it, cause you know I tried that. They gave me the little paper blanket for my bottom half and the open cloth top for my torso and left the room.

I got undressed and put the cloth top on, sat on the bed and wrapped the paper blanket around me, then waited for the doctor. When the doctor and my trial nurse came in the doctor asked me to stand. He told me to take off the paper blanket and open the top. I throw the blanket on the bed and say "well I guess I didn't really need all that". I should have just stood there stark naked from the beginning. Luckily, it only lasted about 30 seconds. He took a quick look at the front and a quick look at the back, and then I was ready to get the blood work started!

Most people are terrified of needles and getting blood drawn, but not me. I get an adrenaline rush and my mouth gets all watery. I always joke that it's a good thing I am not into drugs because I love needles. So, when the nurse pulls out the needle I was not worried a bit. She attempted to put the needle and IV in my left arm but it started hurting so she pulled it out and said that vein wouldn't work. Mind you, I have never had any issues with getting blood drawn. She kept tapping my wrists and arms as if it was hard for her to find a vein. She eventually put the IV in my right wrist and started the draw.

The first draw was a big one. The syringe she used looked like a short turkey baster. She pulled and pulled until it was full. And the pulling was a bit uncomfortable. After that first draw, I was finally allowed to drink my coffee and have a snack because up until that point I had been fasting. The time was 10 am by this point, and I had 4 hours to go. The manager of the facility came in to get the tv set up but it wasn't working. She couldn't log into her smart tv account. Over the 4 hours, she was in and out trying to get the tv to work, which never happened.

So, let's get to that questionnaire. It was comical, to say the least. The first one was about my mood, which made sense. One of the side effects of the drug is suicidal thoughts and depression, a common side effect in many prescription drugs. The second questionnaire was about my menstrual cycle. This may make some people uncomfortable, but it is something that I freely talk about. We, as women of the 21st century, should not be ashamed to openly talk about our cycles. It is normal and has been happening since the beginning of time. The first question that made me turn my head and think twice was the one about how I felt about my weight and if I felt unsexy from being overweight. I was alone in the room at this time, and I looked around to see if I was being punked. On a scale from 1-5, 1 being extremely low, my answer was 1. No, I don't sometimes think I am unsexy because I am a little chunky. Hahaha! The second question was if I sometimes canceled events or outings in fear that I may get my period. Like what?! Who made these questionnaires. What women seriously worries about that?!

The questionnaires had me literally laughing out loud. That is until the second blood draw. It was slightly painful and annoying. The lady doing the blood draw was not good at it. She pulled and pulled, and it was obvious that this was going to be harder then I anticipated. The draws got more painful after each draw. And since it was in my right wrist it was difficult to do anything. By the 7th blood draw, she could barely fill her tube and the last to draws she had to stick me with a needle and pull without the IV.

During the 5 and half-hour-long visit, a lot of the conversation with the nurses was about the COVID-19 virus and all of the uncertainty around it. They informed me that the trial could be affected but it was too early to say for sure. Less than 24 hours after the end of the visit I got the call that they were putting the trial on hold. I had to return the medication, luckily I had forgotten to take it that morning. Much like the rest of the world, the trial is on hold until further notice. I will share more information as I receive it. And hopefully, this won't be all for nothing.