This was my first time ever to have an MRI. I really did not know what to expect. Well, I sort of did, but not really. As if that makes sense. Anyway I was nervous all day yesterday. One of my co-workers noticed that I was, because she asked if I was okay and whether I was nervous.
It was a long day. I started the day working 4 hours. Then it was to my Physical Therapy appointment. I was happy to report that I had no low back pain for two days in a row after work. We are getting there for that part. Plus I now know what to do when I do feel the pain. Stop and rest for one, plus I have a repertoire of stretches and strengthening things to do to help relieve the pain. That is working for me right now. Hooray!!
From there I drove home. About a 1/2 drive. That gave me time to do a potty stop and to pick up the directions to get to the Imagining Center I was going to for the MRI. And discover it is 104 degrees outside. Yuck!! I allow myself 50 minutes to get there. Good thing I did, what is normally about a 35 minute drive did take me 50 minutes. Traffic!! And heat!! My car wants to stall when I idle in the heat too long. So I turn off the air conditioner which helps the car, but then I start roasting without the air conditioner. Blech! At first I could not figure out what caused the horrendous traffic back up other than it being the beginning of a Holiday weekend (Labor Day). Turns out one of the traffic lights was flashing red so it had to be treated like a stop sign. Boy oh boy, did that create a pile up. It was worse for the people going the other way, or so it seemed. Of course I could not see how bad it was piled up behind me either. After that traffic moves a little smoother with some sitting two or three times for a light change. With the air conditioner off to prevent the stalling.
Along the way I saw a bad sight. There had been a fatality accident of some kind. There was a covered body along the road side which definitely cues you in that some one died. There were a lot of cars stopped on the other side of the road. Looked like several cars rear ended each other. My first thought a pedestrian had been hit. But when I looked online for local news, the one who died was inside a car. Details not listed yet, so I am not sure how it happened. It was sad to see that.
I pull into the parking lot at exactly 5:05 pm. The time was supposed to be there. Good thing I gave myself extra time or I would have been late with the bad traffic. The Imagining Center is new and looks very nice. A pleasant waiting room. Cool inside, yay I could cool off! I filled out my paperwork and then shortly I was led to the women's dressing room. I had to take off all metal things, my rings, watch, barrette in my hair etc. Oh and yes I did remember to take off my bra. The person doing the imaging asked me about that. She was happy I realized that I needed to do that. I was given a set of scrubs to wear. They had lockers with keys which allowed me to lock everything up. All I had with me were my glasses, hearing aids and my book to read while I wait for my turn. I'm still reading the Margaret Truman book.
After lots of questions it was time to go. Of course the glasses and hearing aids had to come off. The gal who did the imaging was wonderful. She spoke clearly so I could understand her and was very gentle and calming. She is probably used to seeing very nervous people go through this. She warned me what it would sound like, but I said most likely I would not hear it without my hearing aids on.
It was a strange feeling to be sort of immobilized. My head and shoulders were what needed to be very still since that was the main area that was being scanned. She said no coughing or moving. Just breathe normally and she gave me an alarm button in case I had problems and needed to get out of that thing. I decided I would just close my eyes rather than have a cloth over them. I was good, I kept them closed. I started to panic a little at the start and had to work to get myself breathing normally. I decided I would count to stay in control. That worked really well for me. As I expected I could not hear the machine at all, but I could feel the vibrations. I discovered I felt a lot more calm when ever I could feel the machine working. When it was between things and quiet then it got scary for me. I felt like I was floating in space or something. Very strange feeling. Then when it started up again, I relaxed. The gal touched my foot to let me know she was coming back in and pulled me out of the machine. Turns out that was the first part and I had to go in again. Ack! She asked if I was ok. I told her yes and in I went again. Oh, I counted to 400 the first time in and the second time in I counted to over 200. So the second time through was not as long. Counting really helped me get through it and kept my mind from wandering too much.
They were very curious how it was for me as a very hearing impaired person and asked me to describe how much I could hear. Like I said before, I told her mainly I was feeling the vibrations. The experience was not as scary overall as I was afraid it would be. Should I ever have to go through this again, I will not be as scared. Won't find out the results until after the long holiday weekend. I am hoping for good results. Of course.
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