I got a call last night from Melody - who runs the clinical trial and assists my RA doc (Dr B). She said that Dr B had spoken with the gastro doc Dr L yesterday. They've decided to put me on a mega dose/pack of some type of prednisone to see if they can get my ulcerative colitis to settle down, as well as get my joints to de-swell, and basically buy me some time until next week when I start on the "real" clinical trial med (to suppress my immune system that is causing all this shit) since they're pretty sure I was on the placebo before. So, I start by taking 6 pills throughout today, then taper off one each day forward until I'm down to none. I feel good about it, and really hope it helps. I still have to take all my other 8 (I think!) meds on top of this... what a pill popper I am ;-) but I gotta do what I gotta do. Melody said I'm still very anemic and may have to have more iron IVs than what was planned, but we'll see how I do after next week. If the can get the UC under control, its likely that I won't need any more iron IVs. I get to go this afternoon for #3 out of 4 weekly IVs. Its not bad really, just takes a few minutes. I've got a lot of database stuff to do this morning, and then this afternoon I have to put some workshop materials together once I receive them - he has a deadline of noon. My friend Linda called yesterday and said she wanted to come down and see our new digs then we'll head off to lunch.