Right now there is a 3000 milliliter plastic jug full of my pee in my fridge.
It's not full, honestly.
Today I sauntered off to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to join a study which is trying to figure out if kidney medication can be used prevent kidney and blood pressure problems in people with Type 1 diabetes.
I read through an 8-page consent form with Dr. Yang, who is really nice. He explained that to participate in this study I will visit Northwestern in three months and then every six months and bet fitted with a 24-hour blood pressure monitor. I'll also get a jug to collect 24-hours worth of pee!
Then I return the next day to turn in my monitor, turn in my chilled jug of pee (seriously, it's supposed to be kept on ice! I can't make this crap up.) and get a bunch of other tests. I enrolled in the extra "endothelial function" test, which I can only describe as an exercise that uses my fingers and arms to determine how my arteries are doing while I'm pretending to sleep. I think.
The Day 2 stuff is still pretty unclear to me, since I'm in the midst of my 24 hours of pee-collecting and BP cuff wearing. I looked like a weirdo all day at work with this big blue arm band that clicked, but that's nothing compared to the pee-collection situation.
I carry my pee jug, the ice to keep it cool (which leaked all over a bag, making me think that pee had spilled inside my desk) and my pee "hat" to the bathroom. I pee in the hat (which is designed to be peed in), then pour the pee in the jug, clean out the hat stealthily, and sneak back to my office to hide my pee in my desk.
Seriously!
I'll report back tomorrow and hopefully I didn't gross anyone out too much.
Now I just have to figure out how to get my pee jug on the El and back to Northwestern.
The things I do for science (at $150), it's just incredible.
1 comment:
Wow. Who knew that such a large portion of science involves managing your own pee?
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