Carrying a jug of pee, it turns out, is dangerous work.
I arrived at Northwestern Memorial Hospital so very proud of myself. I collected quite a bit of urine and delivered it to the hospital on the Red and Brown El Lines - in crowds no less. Then I opened my backpack and peeked into the series of bags that held the jug. Moisture! No!
Apparently the jugs that the hospital people give you to hold your pee for 24-hours aren't leak-proof. But, thankfully, my series of bags kept the destruction to a minimum and I turned in my specimen in fine form.
After turning in my BP monitor and my pee, I turned into a guinea pig - for real!
My blood pressure was measured standing up, sitting down and laying down. The electrical activity of my heart was measured through an ECG. I wore little probes on my index fingers to assess my arteries as I lay very still for 15 minutes.
I can't learn the results of all this studying - my research study is a double-blind one! That means nobody knows anything so that we're all unbiased.
I also got a bagel, cream cheese, coffee and a $5.50 lunch voucher. And a mid-morning nap! My check is in the mail, they say, and I'm back to science-ville next week. But hooray for all this research!
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