Feb 27 2006
MRI
(I forgot to take a picture, so this one comes from Flickr.)
I’m suffering from a lot of pain in my shoulder lately. It’s the same arm that was badly sprained last Spring, and it might be related. Strangely enough it doesn’t hurt when I ski, but it does at night and when I carry things, or forget that I shouldn’t use that hand. Sometimes I almost faint.
After having done X-rays my doctor thinks it’s a inflamed tendon, and he wants me to take an MRI. Okay, that doesn’t hurt, the insurance pays the bill ($650!) and it might be a good idea that the physiotherapist knows what exactly is damaged.
MRI stand for magnetic resonance imaging and it is a machine with a couple of magnets that spin around your body. By measuring the changes in the magnetic field it can produce very detailed images and animations of soft tissue.
I arrive at the MRI clinic, and after paying and answering a couple of questions (“Do you have any metal in your body?”) I can undress and I’ve to put on a hospital gown. Then the operator puts me on a table and fixates my shoulder in a plastic harnass. Then she gives me earplugs and slides me into the machine. It’s a very narrow tube and I’m going in very far, only my feet stick out of the machine. I immediately start to hyperventilate, my heart starts to race and I shout: “Sorry, I can’t do this.” I was forgotten that I’m much more claustrophobic than I want to admit. I remember the one and only time I went into a deep cave, and almost got stuck in a very narrow passage. Not good for my anxiety.
After a lot of talking and deep breathing, and after I get an eye mask (Thanks Air Canada) I manage to go for another try. When the machine starts to operate it is a bit easier beacuse there is a lot of noise to focus on. With lots of will power I manage to stay inside the tube for the 40 minutes the whole procedure takes.
After I’m ‘saved’ out of the evil tunnel I buy myself lunch and go to the cinema. I earned it.
Wednesday, 1 March, 2006 @ 12:16
Hee, mare, wat knap dat je hebt weten door te zetten! Ik ken die dingen niet van eigen ervaring, maar ik heb verhalen gehoord van mensen zonder angstenverleden die ineens begrepen wat een angstaanval is, dus petje af. Wanneer weet je meer over die schouder?
(For all of you who don’t read Dutch: I couldn’t find the right English words without being uncertain wether they said what I wanted to say, so this one’s in Dutch)
Wednesday, 1 March, 2006 @ 12:25
This machine is made for me. I enjoyed myself immensely on the same caving trip that mare did.
(or is my memory failing me?)
Wednesday, 1 March, 2006 @ 14:17
Systran says, ìHee, mare, persevere what cleverly that have you can! I do not know those things of own experience, but I have heard tales of people without fear past which understood all of a sudden what is a fear attack, therefore petje. When weet you more which shoulder?î
And I paraphrase: Mare, Iím impressed you were able to hold on that long! Iíve never been in one of these machine myself, but Iíve heard that they provoke panic attacks in people who previously thought themselves immune. So hats off. When do you find out about your shoulder?î
Wednesday, 1 March, 2006 @ 23:29
(or is my memory failing me?)
It is, I’ve never went caving with you (and Sander). But because your enthusiastic stories I did sign up when the opportunity arose. And found out that caving wasn’t my thing.
Wednesday, 1 March, 2006 @ 23:32
They’ll send the report to my doctor, who happens to be on holiday for two weeks. I’ll try to pry it from his secretary and get a copy so I can start my physiotherapy. My doctor doesn’t want the physiotherapist to work on the wrong tendon, that’s why he wanted me to do the MRI. Or he has a stake in the MRI company, that’s also possible.
Thursday, 2 March, 2006 @ 16:40
@Allison: A great translation, the one from Systran! Yours is more accurate though :-)
Thursday, 2 March, 2006 @ 21:12
Oh, I love Systran! My all-time favourite was a mysterious poem from Mark’s sister Barbara about the “good queen of the summary toad.” A mystical rendering of the original welcome to the “good wife” who would keep Mark on the “narrow path.”
Friday, 27 April, 2007 @ 15:48
I’m having lower back problems and I have problems in tight places. When you get an MRI does your head stick out of the machine?
Friday, 27 April, 2007 @ 16:04
Obviously not when you have your shoulder, neck or head examined. But if it’s your lower back I think they can put you feet-first into the machine.