Tuesday, May 05, 2009

buzzing brain


I had a brain MRI today. I'd never had one before and it's a pretty weird experience.

I'm not worried about anything in particular. I just thought it would be a good idea, after hearing an oncologist speak at the Conference For Young Women Affected By Breast Cancer that I attended last February.


It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. It turns out that I am not at all claustrophobic (and I was so relieved that the technician managed to access a vein for the contrast injection on the first try that nothing after that fazed me at all).

But boy, was it loud. And my neck is still stiff from the brace they used to hold my head steady. It's been hours since I left the hospital and I feel like I am still vibrating. It felt like a jackhammer being used right beside my head. My teeth were chattering from the vibration.

And I am exhausted (although that my be from waking up every forty-five minutes again to make sure that I didn't oversleep).

I'm not going to worry too much about the results (although I may change my mind about that in the next few days).

My CT results from last week were good (still no tumours in sight).

And besides, there were several women at the young women's conference who had recently had surgery for brain metastasis. Every month seems to bring more options for the treatment of cancer.

And it's nice outside.

I am either going to take a nap now or go pick up dog poo in the back yard.

And then I'll go for a walk.

3 comments:

JuliaR said...

I had an MRI for my chest and another for my liver. They were totally loud! On tv (for example "House") those MRIs hardly make any noise. Yeesh. I can't imagine how extra loud it would be if your head is the subject matter.

Nat said...

Glad it went ok -- hope everything comes up clear.

Hope you've stopped vibrating... although it could amuse the childen. hehehe...

Julia: They can't film "real" MRIs because of the magnet. It would erase the film or the digital recording.

laurie said...

oh isn't that cool to know. i guess yes it is "magnetic resonance" - and that would be why no metal. i learn so much cool stuff from this blog.