Sunday, May 24, 2009

Final Exam

Day 6 of the bedrest phase. This evening they split my meal around the plasma volume test. At my 5:15pm dinner time, I got probably the funniest meal tray EVER:

NASA ward menu
So, yeah. That took about 9 seconds to eat. An hour later, three people from Johnson Space Center's Vascular Laboratory showed up. Since I cannot move from the tilted bed to go down to the main testing room, they brought all their equipment into mine: oxygen tank, re-breather, rock cylinder, IV pole, etc. After the blood draw, they put the hoses and apparatus on my head for the plasma volume testing, which went fine... and in fact seemed shorter this time. Everything seems shorter and more "normal" the second time around, somehow. (Well, except being in a bed and having a snorkel on your face, I guess that will never feel normal.)

Upon completion, I got the second meal portion, which was actually one of my favorite dinner menus: salmon, rice & veggies.

NASA study
And now I'm in the last phase of the tilt! I'm "on the moon" for about 15 more minutes, and then the bed will be lowered to a horizontal position for the last time. After sleeping and morning vitals, I'll begin the process of rising.

In far more relevant news:
Congratulations to the STS-125 Shuttle Atlantis crew, who landed safely today at Edwards Airforce Base in southern California! Another great NASA success story :)