Okay, so it might be a little bit hard to see Oona's hair sticking straight up because her hair is so fine. But I thought the picture would best capture my experience this past Saturday. I survived my MRI! And thank God that that procedure is over with. I took one of the valium pills an hour before the procedure, like my doctor advised me to, but as soon as they put all these contraptions on my head and chest and slid me into the MRI machine I started crying. This makes me think my anxiety is at such a fever pitch level my body can metabolize anti-anxiety pills in seconds, I probably would need a horse tranquilizer in order calm me. The main problem was that I didn't close my eyes before being slid in and they put you in this tube and all I could see was the top of the tube that looked to be about two inches away from my face, I never thought of myself as claustrophobic but I instantly flipped out. Fortunately the two people administering the test were very, very nice. They pulled me out right away so I could calm down. I kept apologizing for crying between sobs and they were like 'don't worry a lot of people get freaked out by this machine.' They said that they could put an angled mirror on the contraption they had surrounding my head so I could look out of the tube but the mirror was tiny and I just figured it would be easiest to keep my eyes closed. One man stayed in the room with me for the whole procedure patting my head (it was stuck in the tube but he was able to reach the top of my head inside the tube and not disrupt the test) when they did my spine and then patting my leg when the did my brain MRI so I wouldn't feel alone. I wanted to hug him for offering to do that for me, I was so thankful. But I also felt so bad about my behavior, like I was such a baby. The man who stayed in the room with me asked how old I was while I was stuck in the machine waiting for the procedure to start. I told him 38 and I almost felt like I should apologize for being that old and being so scared, like it would be more acceptable if I was 20 and freaked out like that. Aghh!!! I hope to never need one of those again because the whole thing was flipping torture for me. I know the creators got a Nobel prize for that machine and it's invaluable with diagnosing certain medical conditions but having your top half trapped in a tube with all these really loud noises (the decibel level equals a jet plane taking off but they do give you earplugs to somewhat mute the sound) going on a random times is unsettling to say the least. At one point my elbow started heating up and I asked the man about it during a brief quiet time between tests he told me, 'let's just say that's normal' Oh, and you have to lie perfectly still for close to an hour and a half. My butt was feeling surprisingly bony and sore by the end and I had to pee fifteen minutes into the test. The whole procedure really tests your ability to tune things out. My suggestion for anyone that ever has to get an MRI, keep your eyes closed! I just tried to convince myself that I was listening to some sort of instrumental performance art piece and then I'd start thinking about Magneto from X-men, my husband's influence, which paradoxically calmed me.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
hair raising experience
Okay, so it might be a little bit hard to see Oona's hair sticking straight up because her hair is so fine. But I thought the picture would best capture my experience this past Saturday. I survived my MRI! And thank God that that procedure is over with. I took one of the valium pills an hour before the procedure, like my doctor advised me to, but as soon as they put all these contraptions on my head and chest and slid me into the MRI machine I started crying. This makes me think my anxiety is at such a fever pitch level my body can metabolize anti-anxiety pills in seconds, I probably would need a horse tranquilizer in order calm me. The main problem was that I didn't close my eyes before being slid in and they put you in this tube and all I could see was the top of the tube that looked to be about two inches away from my face, I never thought of myself as claustrophobic but I instantly flipped out. Fortunately the two people administering the test were very, very nice. They pulled me out right away so I could calm down. I kept apologizing for crying between sobs and they were like 'don't worry a lot of people get freaked out by this machine.' They said that they could put an angled mirror on the contraption they had surrounding my head so I could look out of the tube but the mirror was tiny and I just figured it would be easiest to keep my eyes closed. One man stayed in the room with me for the whole procedure patting my head (it was stuck in the tube but he was able to reach the top of my head inside the tube and not disrupt the test) when they did my spine and then patting my leg when the did my brain MRI so I wouldn't feel alone. I wanted to hug him for offering to do that for me, I was so thankful. But I also felt so bad about my behavior, like I was such a baby. The man who stayed in the room with me asked how old I was while I was stuck in the machine waiting for the procedure to start. I told him 38 and I almost felt like I should apologize for being that old and being so scared, like it would be more acceptable if I was 20 and freaked out like that. Aghh!!! I hope to never need one of those again because the whole thing was flipping torture for me. I know the creators got a Nobel prize for that machine and it's invaluable with diagnosing certain medical conditions but having your top half trapped in a tube with all these really loud noises (the decibel level equals a jet plane taking off but they do give you earplugs to somewhat mute the sound) going on a random times is unsettling to say the least. At one point my elbow started heating up and I asked the man about it during a brief quiet time between tests he told me, 'let's just say that's normal' Oh, and you have to lie perfectly still for close to an hour and a half. My butt was feeling surprisingly bony and sore by the end and I had to pee fifteen minutes into the test. The whole procedure really tests your ability to tune things out. My suggestion for anyone that ever has to get an MRI, keep your eyes closed! I just tried to convince myself that I was listening to some sort of instrumental performance art piece and then I'd start thinking about Magneto from X-men, my husband's influence, which paradoxically calmed me.
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2 comments:
what were the results? did you get to see your brain? why did you have it again? kudos to you for getting through it. they should give you a lolly. xoxoxo
I just got back the results which were normal. My Dr wanted me to get an MRI because I've been having periodic numbness in my right arm and nothing has shown up on x-rays or a nerve study that I did (where they stuck needles in my arm). Apparently the numbness symptom can indicate MS so he felt he would be remiss if he didn't test to see if that could be it - thank God it wasn't. So now who knows what's causing it.
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