NoDoorway 03

No Doorway Wide Enough

Once I was accepted into Vanderbilt's clinical trial, I had to undergo an 8-day stay at their General Clinical Research Center during which my Parkinson's medications would be withdrawn and I would be monitored and studied. At the end of the 8th day, my symptoms would be compared with the symptoms I had on the first day. And then they would reach into the hat and tell me whether or not I would be "randomized" to the surgery group, or the "control" group -- one of the 15 who would continue on the same treatment they had been on before. That way, those who had the surgery could be compared to those who did not.

I called this 8-day period the "Droolfest."

In this episode, I relive it with you.