What it's like to have a brain MRI

I had a lumbar spine MRI in May 2009, which I wrote about here.

On Wednesday, I had a brain MRI with contrast to see what's going on with my brain, because of my intermittent numbness.  The two MRIs were a little different.

I still don't know the results.  I still don't know the results of my bloodwork from 2 weeks ago; the doctor's office has not received them.  I left a voicemail with the doctor's assistant on Friday asking about it and asking her to call me back; no response (she told me on Tuesday they still didn't have the results).  I'll try again Monday.

Ok,  so for the brain MRI.  First I checked in and filled out some paperwork in the waiting room.  I saw a nurse that takes some of the same gym classes I take and said hello to her.  I thought it would be great if she was my tech but she wasn't.  But the tech I got was totally nice and friendly and the polar opposite of the tech from the evoked potential tests.  Yeah!    She came right up to me and said my name.  As we walked back I asked her how she knew who I was, and she said when you check in, the clerk puts a description of what you're wearing on the form.  Hrm.

Since this MRI was with contrast, they put in an IV first.  I had to wait awhile for the person ahead of me to finish up his MRI. I don't know what was going on with him, but it sounded like he was having some difficulty, with lots of cheerleading on the part of his tech, and a "what did you react to?  let's get you to a nurse" afterward.

Then it was my turn.  I had to lie down on a table, shimmy up til my shoulders touched this piece of plastic.  The tech put earplugs in my ears and then some padding around that.    She then put a cage/mask type thing over my face.  I wasn't expecting that.  It snaps into place.  I'm not really claustrophobic, but I could see that being a problem if you are.  She asked if I wanted a blanket; I said yes.  The table moved me into the machine.  Unlike my lumbar MRI, I could not see down my body; I could only look up, through the cage and to the top of the MRI machine.    The tech told me how long each scan would last (3 minutes, 2 minutes, this is the longest one at 5 and a half minutes, etc).    Then she took me out of the machine, the other tech injected me with the contrast dye, and I was moved back into the machine for some more scans.

I did my meditation breathing, one that I learned from Whole Living (breathe in and think the word "strong", breathe out and think the word "calm").   A friend of mine asked me to figure out if she should go on a work trip or not; I thought about that.   At one point I felt headachy.   I occasionally moved my feet or hands.  My shoulders were definitely tense.  The MRI machine wasn't as loud as I remember it from 2009, though this was a different facility and a different type of MRI.


Then it was over.  I had asked the tech how long it would take.  I think she said 15 minutes without contrast and 12 minutes with (or was it 20 and 15?)?   But it seemed to be faster than that?  The table moved, the tech took out the IV and put on some gauze and a very funky red bandage, and told me to wait while they printed the films.  I was wearing long pants, socks, shoes, and a short sleeved t-shirt (the same shirt I wore for my lumbar MRI--it's got a squirrel on the front, one of my favorite gym shirts).    I felt really cold and then I started shivering.  I don't remember the last time I shivered, but the tech got me a warm blanket (it really was warm, like it had been in a dryer) and I sat there.  A guy in blue scrubs (radiologist?) showed up with the films and asked if I was ok.  I said, I'm always cold but I'm shivering.  He asked if I wanted to see a nurse.  Nope!  He showed me the way out and I was back in the Princeton warmth.


I then drove over to the Princeton Farmer's Market and told my favorite flower farmer my story (he asked if I had today off since I was, well, wearing a squirrel shirt).  I think he got more than he bargained for as I dumped my medical history on him (back/ab/pelvic kidney/shoulder/numbness).  He is so sweet, he actually gave me green and black eyed susans for free.  How nice was that?  



Then I went back to work where I showed some of my coworkers my brain.


So the parts that are super white on the top, that's just the halogen lightbulbs from my dining room lamp.  because I don't have, you know, one of those lightboxes to light up the images.  They gave me a file folder with several pages of images.

Here's my pumpkin plant.  It is running out of space and growing up the side of the evergreen.  It has some fungus growing on the older leaves, and is still not producing female flowers (ok, Pam asked how I know if the flowers are male or female; this site explains (warning, it has a talking advertisement)!  Anyway, I had no idea about pumpkins and female flowers, but I'm getting worried that mine won't produce any female flowers...)



Then I just thought this was funny.  The other roomba charger is downstairs so one of my Hals is waiting in line!



So....
knees are great
back pain has been light except for Sunday/Monday
ab pain comes and goes but overall is fine (pelvic ultrasound is on Monday afternoon)
shoulder is getting better, slowly
numbness and lightheadedness is intermittent.  When I do have it, it's not a intense as before.

Sewing:  I will be doing some soon.  I think.  :)

Be well!!!