Ann of All Trades

I have been out of the office in November and December more than any other months this year due to vacation and sickness. My trip to Southeast Asia was wonderful! It was an adventurous trip that kept me on my feet the entire time. I walked, ran, and biked the grimy streets, ate weird meats and foreign treats from food stalls, petted elephants and stray dogs of all sizes, indulged in massages, drank strong coffee, hiked to natural waterfalls, and beautiful human-made sights, met strangers from all over the world, met friendly, creepy, and rude locals who take advantage of tourists, slept in great hostels with windows and a highly rated hotel without windows, got a bacterial infection, and got a viral infection... Photo highlights: So the latter part of my trip wasn't pleasant as I ended up in the hospital barely able to move. My body was fighting some foreign invasion in my blood and/or organs - I knew it. Energy couldn...

Medical records are a funny thing. I've been gathering a lot of my medical history from various doctors over the years to prepare for both of my enrollment into a clinical trial and trip to Southeast Asia. One of my prior doctors threw out my medical history that contained immunizations! The ducks are in order for enrollment into the clinical trial. I've sent the coordinator my medical records and I've passed their preliminary review. The next steps are: 1. Bloo d tests  (for  CBC with diff; BUN; Alk Phosphate; creatinine; ALT; AST; total bilirubin; HIV 1 & 2;   Hepatitis A Antibody, IgM; Hepatitis B Core Antibody; Hepatitis B Surface Antigen; Hepatitis C Antibody) The blood tests must be performed within 30 days of the first site visit. Working backwards, I plan to visit the clinical site (in Boston, MA) in February because flights are cheaper then. Unfortunately this clinical trial is not sponsored by a big biotech with lots of cash, but only by the Prin...

Start saving your hard-earned dollars now if you are at all interested in freezing your eggs, women! I had heard of egg freezing a couple of years ago, but didn't give it much attention. I was probably 30 years old. It wasn't top of mind and of any relevance to me then... until this past May when I bumped into a friend at Bottle Rock in Napa. Wendy just had a baby girl at the age of 35 or 36. I just remember she was considered geriatric when she was pregnant. She asked about my life and how I was doing. I hardly know her because she's my ex-coworker's wife, but she's one of those people who just asks away and I'm one of those who just answers away. I offer more info than necessary when people ask me questions 1:1. As we sat on the expansive grassy area listening to live bands, Wendy gets into private questions about my relationship, my age, my goals, and she suddenly says, "you should freeze your eggs!" So enthusiastically. A bit nonchalantly and d...

After getting more information on a clinical trial for IBS, I needed to send in my medical records so I make a request with my medical provider. Get this... I had to make my request for my medical records by FAX or SNAIL MAIL. What year is this?! Where is the button that I press to pull my entire medical history? Who has a fax machine? How do you use a fax machine? Dear god. I was so frustrated. To make matters worse, their fax number listed was incorrect and I had to call the hospital to get the correct fax number. When I filled out the request form, I got to choose how to receive my medical records: - Paper Copy - CD - Email, encrypted - Email, not encrypted I selected CD... NOT! Who has a CD reader?! I selected email and faxed it off. I get a phone call from the hospital that says email is really not one of the choices. Surprise surprise. OK, I'll take a paper copy. 3 weeks since I sent in the fax, I've yet to receive my paper medical history in the mail. The h...

I've booked all of my beds/rooms in Chiang Mai (Thailand), Luang Prabang (Laos), and Sa Pa (Northern Vietnam). I took a budget approach and scored beds as low as $8 USD/night in decent hostels. The one remaining city to find a place to stay is in Ho Chi Minh City. My brother lives in Ho Chi Minh City right now but rather than staying at his place, I want to splurge a bit! "Splurge" meaning ~$125/night. We'll see what I find. As I search for a hotel, I'm watching PBS' new Vietnam War documentary. There are 10 episodes that are ~ 1 1/2 hours each. I won't be able to get through all 10 before my trip, but I've already learned way more than I knew to begin with. When I visited Cuba earlier this year, my guide asked me what happened in South Vietnam, and why did Vietnamese flee? Were they persecuted? I didn't know the answer. I'm ashamed I didn't know more, but better late than never. My mom recently told me of her stories of immigrat...

I work in the biopharma industry so naturally I've been on the other side of the drug business. I can tell you the entire process of how to discover, and after a fortunate 5-10 years, market a drug. But, I'm only now exploring the consumer side. All drugs, and drug delivery methods, are tested in controlled environments prior to being marketed in our regulated trade economy. IBS therapies don't widely exist yet, but there are some being tested now! T he leading potential solution for IBS is fecal matter transplant (FMT). It sounds like what it is - t ransplantation of fecal bacteria from a healthy individual into a recipient.  There have been studies that show FMT as the solution for individuals with Clostridium difficile ("C. diff") bacterial infection. IBS is understood as a bacterial imbalance of the gut... not quite an infection. Five years ago my GI doctor explained to me that IBS is usually a result of an event or disturbance of the microbiome. My ...

IBS has no widely accepted cure right now. Gastroenterologists mostly prescribe the following: - Probiotics - Omeprazole (brand named Prilosec; indication is best for heartburn though) - Modified diet of low FODMAPs FODMAP  stands for: F ermentable – meaning they are broken down (fermented) by bacteria in the large bowel O ligosaccharides – “oligo” means “few” and “saccharide” means sugar. These molecules made up of individual sugars joined together in a chain D isaccharides – “di” means two. This is a double sugar molecule. M onosaccharides – “mono” means single. This is a single-sugar molecule. A nd P olyols – these are sugar alcohols (however don’t lead to intoxication!) Which covers nearly everything edible under the fucking sun. All that good stuff that you eat like avocado toast, doughnuts, a charcuterie of cheese, nuts, and crackers, cookies, ice cream, cherry pie, cappuccinos, butter croissant, grilled cheese sandwich... I can't have any of that. That is a...