Lab Rat

Hello,

Tomorrow, I officially become a lab rat. Not as in, "Hey, I hang out in a lab all the time, so call me a lab rat." More in the, "I am being studied and investigated" kind of lab rat.

I am officially a research subject in the CNTF-4 study. (type CNTF 4 in the search box).

First, a little history. I am a 34 year old mother of one. I work as a college administrator. I have been married for nine years. I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) when I was 23 years old.

RP is a family of genetic diseases that affect the retina, causing rod and cone cells to die, resulting (typically) in first of loss of night vision and then a progressive loss of peripheral vision. There is currently no treatment or cure for RP. To read more, go to the Foundation Fighting Blindness website.

So, tomorrow at 8:45 I go under the knife and have a capsule inserted into my eye. Yes, you heard correctly - I am having something INSERTED INTO MY EYE!! Ok, that little freak-out is over now. :) If you clicked on the link for the CNTF 4 study, you know a little bit about the capsule, so I won't go into the details here. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my expereinces as a research subject, not to get into the science behind the study.

So, the surgery will take place tomorrow, and I will begin a 2 1/2 year journey into the lab. I'll let you know how it goes. :)


(This post was edited and reposted from another blog after the surgery).



Jasi