If you have had an MRI of the brain then I will not be telling you anything new except my prospective of having one performed.
First they make sure you have no metal, in you or on you if you do it must be removed if that option is not possible e.g. you have a pace maker, or any type of replacement which involved metal in your body you cannot go in the magical tunnel of the MRI. (Stents in arteries depending on the type I have learned are okay as I do have one). Not only will the strong pull of the magnet being used cause any metal to become a projectile that could maim or kill you, but you would also damage a very expensive piece of equipment.
There are many types of scans performed in an MRI but I am one of the lucky ones who's to have a brain scan. And my 2nd one will also involve my throat along with my brain, to see if they can figure out why I'm now having trouble at times swallowing. The muscles that help myself and every other person on earth do this basic function we all take for granted just stops working out of the blue which can be pretty frightening at times.
Back to the procedure itself. They lie you down on a bed the size of snowboard (at least to an adult it feels that small). At this point I was offered one last time a sedative if I felt I would be feeling claustrophobic (which silly me I declined, had I had know how mundane and how slow an hour and half takes to tick by on this date I would have jumped all over it) They try and make you comfortable by placing you legs on a pillows, put a sheet over your body, ear plugs are put into your ears, thick clothes are place on both sides of your head so you can not move, you are handed a buzzer like you are suddenly a contestant on Jeopardy, but I'm told it's in case I run into trouble or if you start to go into panic mode press it and they will stop and come help you (and here I thought I'd at least have the chance to win big bucks while I am lying there..boo).... but the best part is left for last... suddenly another cloth gets put over my head and I am told to keep my eyes closed now that all of my sensory have been removed I hear the snapping of the basket that is now going to encase my head being clamped shut. Try to relax I'm told and into the MRI I go...thinking to myself I will never fit into that tube but alas I do.
The first magnetic pull is a weird sensation you have to experience this one on your own folks no words can I use here to describe what it feels like (maybe if I had been a hippy using highly hallucination drugs in the 60's I might have a metaphor but I was only born during that era) . The machine is also very noisy so I now get why they give you ear plugs I could not imagine what it would have been like without them. I will admit I cheated a few times and opened my eyes not that I could see anything with the blindfold in place but it was my way to break up the boredom like a naughty child playing a game wondering if the "great one of the control room" would tell me to get my eyes closed, but I was never called on it...party pooper.
The 1st MRI I went for I had to lie like that perfectly still for an hour and half, any little movement you make can mess up the tests I was told and who in their right mind would want to do this exciting date again (jinxed myself did I)? They do talk to you once in while from the control room mostly to see if you have not died of boredom or from panic I think to myself, but really it's to tell you how long each imagine will take and to not move a muscle while the image is being produced..
My first MRI was in May, last night I went to my second one and it sadden me to realize how far along in this disease I have progressed. They barely started when my muscles started spasming out of control from the noise, the first image he told me that he had to re-do as I was moving so much it was not clear. How to explain to someone again who has never heard of this condition that my movement was involuntary I have no control over what my muscles are doing. We made it through barely, that was probably the worst 25 minutes I have experienced in a while thank god my second one was only 25 minutes including this time being injected with contrasting dye, I would never had lasted an hour and half like my first one..
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| Showing my displeasure waiting for my Saturday night date to start |
Just a I was about to hit the buzzer to end the game because my muscles were out of control and paining me so bad, I hear the voice of the "great one" like in the Wizard of Oz that I could hear but could not see telling me we were done and he was coming to get me. It took them 10 minutes to get me off the bed of the scanner and another 10 minutes or so before I could get my muscles to move so I could walk but alas I was able. Another exciting date finished, sorry honey no bar hopping for us tonight just home and off to bed I go.
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