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| MRI - The Other Test |
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Okay, so I managed to live through my first mammogram and an ultrasound.
Now I need to go have a MRI done. After reading up on what will transpire during the MRI, it's seems like a breeze and easy compared to the other diagnostic tests I've done.
And best of all...I get to keep my clothes on! Yippee!!
I show up at the imagine center and patiently wait for my turn. They had to squeeze me in and they told me to be there by 2:15pm. Well, finally at about 3pm a young lady comes through the door and leads me to the back room.
There she promptly shows me the lockers and a room where I can change. She hands me a paper vest and says she'll be right back with a pair of scrub pants for me.
AAARRRGGG!!! These lovely paper vests are too big I just hang out of holes I shouldn't be hanging out of and now I have to give up my own jeans? Geez, so much for a simple scan.
As a side note, because the MRI machine is basically a huge magnet, it's best NOT to wear any metal into the room, hence my having to give up my jeans with the metal zipper.
I come out of the changing room and place me things into one of the lockers and take the key. I turn to go sit down and I see the other side of the lovely paper vest story.
Sitting in one of the chairs is an older woman who is calmly flipping through a magazine wearing none other than the standard issued paper vest. I sure would like to see the one-size-fits-all woman these were designed for, because unlike my problem of the vest being too large to do any good, this poor woman's vest is not nearly large enough to cover her very well endowed older body. But unlike me, she seems to be totally oblivious to this smallness of her vest or just does not care anymore. I wrap my arms tightly around myself and go and sit in a chair and wait for my turn.
I'm soon picked up by the young lady from earlier and she leads me into the room where the MRI machine is. I see a huge circular machine with a hole right in the center and just outside of the whole is the table I will be laying on.
As I'm staring at the machine, table and the room in general my eyes fall upon an object sitting on the table. It's a box the width of the table with two holes in it. As I sit down on the table next to this box I begin to wonder just exactly what will be happening during this test.
The nurse puts an IV into my right hand so she can administer the chemical later on for the contrast views that are needed.
She then tells me to turn over onto my stomach and place each of my breasts into the holes of the box. Say what?
So after some maneuvering, I get myself turned over without having flashed the nurse too badly and lower myself into the holes of the box. She then gets a pillow and tells me to either turn my head to the left or right, but to make sure I can breathe okay.
She then tells me she needs to make sure I am positioned right in the center of the holes and lifts up my vest to take a peek.
"Please move down a little bit. Okay, now move towards me a little. No, too far, go back, okay that's good, now down towards your feet a little bit. Okay, that's perfect, don't move."
She then comes over to my right side and proceeds to do the same thing. I'm beginning to feel like the shuttle commander of Discovery and I'm trying to dock with the space station. Finally we have good contact and the tests can now begin.
Before she leaves the room to begin the tests, she tells me that I cannot move at all and asks if I am able to breathe okay? I assure her that I can breathe and that I am comfortable.
Now, I'm not exactly sure how comfortable I truly was with my arms stretched out in front of me, laying on my stomach with my breasts placed squarely inside of some box with an IV in my hand. But, hey she was happy, I wasn't about to complain.
Soon, I feel myself being moved inside of the tube and then I hear her voice over the speaker. "Don't move."
I decide to try closing my eyes and see if it will make time go faster. Just as my eyes close and I start to relax, CLANG! What the heck was that?! Oh yeah, don't move! I wonder if she can see my heart beating a mile a minute? It would have been nice to have a little bit of a warning about the initial start up of the machine.
I was thinking something this state of the art would be nice and quiet. NO! It was like sitting inside of the engine of a 747. So much for taking a nap.
As I lay there, trying not to move, I begin to wonder what exactly all of these noises mean that I hear and how much time has passed. I'm sure I've been inside this thing for an hour already. Surely, she should be just about done.
I also tell myself to just breathe normally and not to think about moving. Of course, when you want to do something normally that seems to be about the time you have a hard time doing it and you focus more on the act which then makes you more aware of how you are NOT breathing normally, which you then tell yourself to breathe normally and so on and so on. It's a viscous circle.
One of the things she stressed to me was DO NOT MOVE. If you move, then it blurs the images and they are no good. I'm actually doing pretty well about the not moving part, but as time passes, I begin to notice that it's getting harder and harder to breath.
Well, I finally realize that at one point I had begun to relax and that included my head. While I was relaxing, apparently my head was slowly turning until finally one of my nostrils was plugged by the pillow. Now, I was only able to breathe out of one nostril and that was just not working for me.
I laid there for awhile contemplating my dilemma and wondering just how much longer this was going to last and if I could make it. But I soon realized that I was just not getting enough oxygen into my lungs through just my one nostril and I would soon have to take some drastic measures.
Because I was so scared to move for fear of screwing up the tests, I decided I would try just breathing through my mouth. Heck, I've already been stuck inside this tube for 5 hours; surely she's almost done with the tests. I can breathe through my mouth for the time I have left.
So, about a minute of breathing through my mouth, I realize I have caused myself another dilemma. I am now dry and my throat is becoming sore. This is just great. How many more hours of this? I've also become acutely aware of the fact that I just plain don't feel like I am getting enough oxygen, either through my one unplugged nostril or by breathing through my mouth.
The time has come. I need to take a deep breath and get my lungs back into feeling like I do care about them and I am doing my job of providing them the clear pure air they are so lacking right at this point.
I plan this movement in my head very carefully. I know I will get only one chance and I can't blow it. It must be done with the precision and care of a surgeon performing micro surgery. I must be quick but accurate. I figure that while I am sucking in life giving air, I should also be able to turn my head at just the right angle to get my right nostril unplugged and free again. Okay, on the count of 3...2...1...
Turn and breathe! Whew! I think I did it, I got air into my lungs and my head turned. Yes! I think I will make it to the end. Good job!
At this point, I hear her approaching me and the machine. I'm thinking, wow, I'm done...good, I can finally move.
"Don't move. We're not done yet. I'm just going to inject the dye and then we can take the contrast views. Another 3 hours and you'll be done!"
You have got to be kidding me!! I try to let my mind wander, but soon find myself back into my breathing predicament. I once again go through the same ordeal, terrified to move, because I don't want to screw up the images.
She does eventually come back into the room and tells me it's all over. I made it through; I can finally sit up and bring my arms down to my side. It feels like it must be midnight out. It seems like I've been in that tube forever.
I thank her, return to the changing room and put on my own clothes. Aw, that feels so good. I look at my watch and it is only 4pm. I was only in there for an hour? Man, sure felt like a lot longer to me.
Next? Friday I have an appointment with a surgeon. Nothing too much will happen there, he'll just look at my films and read the reports and that will be it, right?
HA! 34:10 The young lions are in need and have no food; but those who are looking to the Lord will have every good thing.
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