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Step Three

Tonight is the night I increase the dose of Pirfenidone or placebo for the last time. As of tonight, I’m on the correct amount of medication. Today was also the first time I sent a status report to NIH.

I’d say so far it’s going very well. Okay, I’ve had the “runs” a lot during these last two weeks. I’ve also had an almost non-stop headache that feels like a sinus headache, but doesn’t respond to the normal things I do for a sinus headache. And, I’ve had some joint pain in my ankles, wrists and fingers, but it’s been very mild. It’s just enough for me to be aware of it, and annoyed by the end of a day typing. These are all issues that could be totally non-related to the trial, but if they are, I think I can live with them.

In all fairness, work has been a bit stressful because I felt behind after being at NIH for a week. That could contribute to all of these symptoms.

Either way, we’ll continue along popping pills! Grin! My next mission is to find a little pill holder big enough for the nine Pirfenidone/placebo pills I now take daily, plus my other pills. On the whole I’m pretty good about remembering to take my medicine. My problem is I take it out of habit, and then can’t remember taking it. Twice I had to dump out the entire week supply of pills and count them to figure out if I’d really taken them! So, I bought one of those pill holders for my purse. It’s been working great, but the holes aren’t big enough for the three more pills I need to add. The only other option I saw at Osco yesterday was this enormous month-long box. Yeah, right, like I’m going to carry that in my purse!

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