A picture taken right after my lumbar puncture at 09:21. It shows a blohaj lying on my pillow and keeping it warm for me. The pillow needed to be taken away, so my head can rest on the same level as my back. The blohaj is lying on a little pedestal at the back of the bed where doctors usually lay down patient documents etc. On top of that is a pillow and on top of that is a small blohaj, like it got its down hospital bed.

Notices where this attachment appears

1. Embed this notice
   Erik Uden 🍑 (erikuden@mastodon.de)'s status on Saturday, 07-Sep-2024 17:16:22 JST Erik Uden 🍑

   in reply to

   08:10 (Continuation)

   Some assistants took notice, they only came to me once the doctor was over with his ramblings, and asked me what that was about. I told them that he just randomly started talking, and they said “Oh, he does that sometimes, but usually not like this. Maybe because you're from Germany he wanted to talk about the elections” SURE, whatever. I'm sure the assistant is also worried about her job as much as I'm worried about my wellbeing if we'd both mobilize against this prick. Regardless, I am sure he won't come to me to talk about this again, because I just showed every sign of disinterest one can show, another patient in the room said.

   10:00
   Around this time I went to the breakfast. Every one of our breakfasts is monitored, so I got three slices of bread, two savory pieces of topping (spicy hummus and cheese), as well as two sweet toppings (sprinkles and jam). The three slices of bread also included two packets of butter. I was also supposed to eat one circular rusk and drink one cup of tea. This was a requirement for the study. There would be days where all meals are monitored.

   Just as I sat down to feast, the one (of us five) girl participants told me that she got less to eat. Apparently, as a woman, you'd get only two slices of bread and one sweet topping. That's ridiculous. I'm a twink, she has muscles. It makes zero sense to give out food by “gender”, especially if you have the data to do it by personal needs. She told me she was still hungry after eating. I told her we should revolt against this. She laughed.

   Since they only do one lumbar puncture at a time, most of the other patients weren't done. Actually, none of them were done. They were either now also lying in bed, or currently doing the procedure. I was the first of our group and the firs not the day. I have the first beds, I'll be the first for everything on our schedule. They'll always have to add 15-30 minutes for everything we do in order to know when it's their turn. The reason two of my patient mates were sitting here at the cafeteria with me is because their CSF sampling would happen after breakfast.

   10:44
   After breakfast was done, I walked back to my room, had a work call, and rested a bit. A slight pain, rather a soft feeling of a push with a minor pain in the skin above the puncture, came back once the anesthesia fully wore off. Since then I've been lying in bed, documenting this day up until now, and just thought about everything. What a great day today was!

   Another thing we talked about yesterday was the fact we were only five volunteers / patients. The study papers suggested 8, two of which would get a placebo. We're now only five. When told that there were no reserves, we assumed not enough people came to have more people than needed, however currently it seems like not enough people came overall. Is it the fear of the lumbar puncture? Is it the study overall as changes to the brain / central nervous system can be extra dangerous? Was it the many appointments in advance such as MRI scans or not being allowed to take weed? Is there something we don't know? These are the questions that go through your head when preparing for the coming days.

   To be Continued...