Clinical Trial Begins

Adrienne had a very long day at the hospital yesterday for her first test dose of the new drug called ABT-263. She takes this drug orally but there were more tests and 8 hours of blood draws after she took it. She was frustrated at the amount of time she spent there, at the awful taste in her mouth and general yucky feeling, and not being able to eat for 12 hours. She finally arrived home at 11:30 pm last night with the "fun" task of saving her urine for the next 24 hours. Thankfully, she is feeling better this morning. She went in for more labs today and to deliver her 24 hour urine.

Friday actually starts Day 1 of a 21 day cycle and it will be another long day. At least she doesn't have classes on Fridays. She again has to fast but she is supposed to bring a low carb breakfast with an egg with her and eat it when they tell her. They won't provide the food but they will reimburse her, which seems a bit ridiculous. She'll take the drug for 14 days straight and have blood draws each day since the drug can severely affect her platelets. This is only for the first cycle and hopefully things will settle down after that. Adrienne is a bit discouraged with the whole thing right now but I keep telling her it will get better. I hope I can keep my promise.