I have had many MRIs for my young age of 21 x 2 and thought I could handle the Brain, Spine and Lumbar MRI all in one day. I am not claustrophobic and I deserve rest time with no kids. They told me it would be a couple of hours with stronger magnets but if I haven't had problems in the past, I could do it all at once. I have to admit, it was not a good decision but, they also underestimated the time spent in the machine.
I entered the cold, sterile, tight quarters at 3 PM with the idea that I would take a nap. Why wouldn't I think this, I stayed up late last night playing Wii Mini Golf just so I would welcome a couple hours of being motionless. I thought this would be a good time to meditate and even plan out my classes next year. The MRI Tech said, "This first one is only 20 minutes, then I have to change the table, so save the nap for the 2 hour spinal pictures." So, the first 20 minutes was much like my routine brain MRIs I have had off and on since I was 20. I didn't have any problems with this series, and I even got a break to use the restroom after it was over, while she changed the table for the Spine MRI. Little did I know I would be here for another 3+ hours! In case you aren't familiar with the way the MRI works, there are different series or combinations of loud clanking sounds that could run anywhere from 20 seconds to 10 minutes at a time with a short 10 second break in between. While the magnets are clicking, you are supposed to stay perfectly still. The clanking can be sorta cool if you like percussion and you know I married a percussionist so, there you go. Sometimes it reminds me of a cool tribal dance and other times it sounds like a machine gun. I can feel the vibrations moving through me different ways and often try to imagine which way it is slicing my head. I forgot to mention, this machine is the strongest MRI Machine there is - they called it "3T". These more detailed photographs of my precious insides comes with a price and I don't mean my 20% co-pay. This machine has stronger magnets than other MRI machines, which means they are louder and to my surprise, they put off a lot of heat. As I lay there, as still as I could be, my throat started irritating me and I had to clear it. I tried real hard to fight it off but couldn't make it. I squeezed my little emergency ball and she took the blanket off me because she thought I was signaling her that I was warm. She had talked out this plan earlier, but I couldn't tell her it was something different and I knew the series had to run it's full cycle which I think was 4 minutes for this particular one. When it stopped, she let me cough and clear my throat. The next time I struggled, it was because my arms heated up and my neck muscles became so tense that I thought I lost circulation throughout my body. I held on best I could but had to move my arms around between clanks. After 2 more hours passed, she rolled me out to inject the contrast (which was much more pleasant than the IV I had at WP Hospital in January - where I could smell and taste the saline as it entered my veins) I took this opportunity to wiggle around, get my blood flowing again and cool off but she didn't want me to move that much. She said it would throw off the whole test. ugh... too late, I moved my long hair out from under me and that apparently re-positioned my neck. She would have to check the pictures at the end and re-take some of them. Back in I went. I kept trying to imagine that the heat was the nice warm heating pad I use to sooth muscle cramps...that didn't help. So, I switched to the image of hot water in my hot tub then the beach...but I realized it felt more like a microwave, cooking me from the inside out. "Come on Misty, you love the heat! This should feel good!" I was yelling in my head. I couldn't wait for this to be over.
Looking back, I realize that I managed to distract myself off and on with planning out ideas I have for school next year but it was interrupted by loud noises and body aches. I even think I dozed off in the very beginning which I think is one of the things that contributed to my needing to clear my throat, I am not really sure...I must have been wavering in and out of different states of consciousness. The noise is somehow hypnotic and I was trying so hard to sleep or meditate or plan video projects that, I couldn't really control my thoughts as well as I would have liked.
The MRI tech was curious about my diagnosis and could tell that I was more than willing to talk about it so, she asked me lots of questions as we were getting started. Then before she injected the contrast, she asked if the lesions can only be seen with contrast. I didn't know the correct answer to this but assumed she meant that she couldn't see them. She also asked me where they were. So I told her, "Mostly on the brain stem, pons and something that starts with an M. And a couple on my left frontal lobe." When the contrast portion of the MRI was over, and I was finally done, she asked me if I was having trouble with my right side, motor skills. I guess she saw the lesions. I told her about my right arm going numb in 2006 and not getting a proper diagnosis for the cause and she rolled her eyes and sighed, "Duh". She was funny. She also said that I needed to go home and have a Margarita for both of us because this long session was hard on her too and I didn't take as many breaks as most people. I didn't know I had the option. When you think about it, she couldn't take a break through all this either.
I think I will go have a Margarita now - after all, I promised her. David, "Do we have any Margarita mix?"
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