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Dear Listfriends, "Oh my life Is changing everyday, In every possible way." That's from a song that I'm guessing most of you don't know, but it describes me perfectly right now. As some of you may have read in one of my earlier postings, I am working full time for the first time in my life, and I must say, I am loving it. I know that for a man of 27 years, it's not too good to find full time employment for the first time at this age, but where I've been, what I have felt, I might say it's a hell of an accomplishment. At any rate, to the jixt of my letter. Last Friday, I had the initial pre-op tests done for the fetal cell implant surgery. One thing bothered me. I had a lot of blood taken, and immediately following having the blood drawn, I had an I.V. bleeding time test. For the few of you who have never had this done, they make a small incision in your arm, and measure the amount of time it takes to clot. First, a few words about my past experience with hypotension. Whenever I have been on Leva-dopa or any agonist, I have had episodes of severe hypotension, where I have almost blacked out. This ALWAYS seemed to happen, unless I ate immediately before taking the pill. Well, I am not taking sinemet or any agonist right now. Granted, they did take a lot of blood, not to warrant what happened. I had one of the worst hypotensive crisis I have ever had. I almost lost consciousness. I sware, it feels like I am dying when this happens. Anyway, I didn't clot within the alloted 15 minute time frame, and now I have to go back and have it done again on Monday. Might I be anemic? I asked my mother, a registered nurse of more than 30 years, and she said "Yes." But she also said that if I were to begin taking Iron for it, I would be constipated. I sure don't want to become even more backed up than I already am. The only really good bowel movements I have are on the weekends as it is (when I am home, and I don't have to go to work). What's a guy to do? I also would like to know if anyone has heard about progress made on GPI-1046. This drug sounded so very promising a few months ago. But just like everything else that is discovered, the experimental drugs get lost in the beaurocratic process on its way down the pipe, and we'll probably never hear about it again. Does anyone have any RECENT news on this drug? I do know that the rights were sold to Amgen in Thousand Oaks Ca. awhile ago. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and respond to all of this information. Jacob Drollinger (27, 9)